After reading the other post about coin under the mast step, and the superstition or history behind it, I thought I might bring up another old tradition. Earrings. I am not talking about 20th century traditions, but in the old sailing days. From what I understand, old sailors…. or rather, sailors in the old days, would wear a loop earring. It was always a loop, and not a partial loop or hook like thing. Definitely not a post, since they didn’t have posts in those days, I don’t think. It was always made of gold or something valuable. Someone told me that the amount of gold was just enough to bury a sailor when he died. So, another sailor can just take the earring to provide for a funeral. The reason for the closed loop was they didn’t want it to fall off and get lost, hence no funeral money. I think I remember reading something about it in the book Moby Dick. I have no idea about right ear vs. left ear thing. Does anyone know, or have heard about the history of this little jewelry? Also, it would be interesting to know how many sailors of today wear one, or are closet earring wearers, and in which ear.
Earring for guy sailors
- Thread starter JC on Bainbridge
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Awww Rick...
Rick, If your supposition is true, there's going to be a lot of looting or loud music in every high school I've been around.
Dave Crowley s/v Wind Dreamer
Rick, If your supposition is true, there's going to be a lot of looting or loud music in every high school I've been around.
Dave Crowley s/v Wind Dreamer
HOLE(S)
If Mother Nature wanted a hole in my ear lobe, I would have been designed with one! Paul s/v Pretty Lady
If Mother Nature wanted a hole in my ear lobe, I would have been designed with one! Paul s/v Pretty Lady
ear ring
my understanding is the tradition came from the clipper ship days and indicated the sailors had gone around both Cape Horn and Cape Hope. it was in the left ear because that ear faced both capes when they were rounded. the closed loop indicated a successful circumnavigation. Clipper ships didn't really start going the "wrong" way until the CA gold rush days. Bryce
my understanding is the tradition came from the clipper ship days and indicated the sailors had gone around both Cape Horn and Cape Hope. it was in the left ear because that ear faced both capes when they were rounded. the closed loop indicated a successful circumnavigation. Clipper ships didn't really start going the "wrong" way until the CA gold rush days. Bryce
Enough already !
Now after this forum, I know we really had enough of the winter and it is time to re-commission and get sailing. The what do you drink was the most fun to read all winter & I even got a few recicipes - Dark & Stormy is on my list. The earring thing has put us all over the top, but the reasoming learned for an earring is pretty neat. When I round the Horn I'll definetly get one. To all sailors have a safe and enjoyable sailing season. God Bless. Joe Daly s/v Trinity
Now after this forum, I know we really had enough of the winter and it is time to re-commission and get sailing. The what do you drink was the most fun to read all winter & I even got a few recicipes - Dark & Stormy is on my list. The earring thing has put us all over the top, but the reasoming learned for an earring is pretty neat. When I round the Horn I'll definetly get one. To all sailors have a safe and enjoyable sailing season. God Bless. Joe Daly s/v Trinity
Folklore & Tradition
both Bryce and Tim are right. Later it was kinda diluted down to crossing the equator, and now if you can pick up a guitar or are gay. I think the gays wear it in the right ear though. SAilors always in the left. It was the Brittish sailors who first brought tattoos back to the white-mans culture too. from Tahitian contact, Cook and his ships, but tattooing started in Samoa, then spread across Polynesia. This was a manly thing not for women, a tradition
both Bryce and Tim are right. Later it was kinda diluted down to crossing the equator, and now if you can pick up a guitar or are gay. I think the gays wear it in the right ear though. SAilors always in the left. It was the Brittish sailors who first brought tattoos back to the white-mans culture too. from Tahitian contact, Cook and his ships, but tattooing started in Samoa, then spread across Polynesia. This was a manly thing not for women, a tradition
Better vision?
I've also heard that sailors with earrings are better look-outs. One of the acupuncture points for vision is in the ear lobe, lending some credence to the folklore. My left ear was pierced as part of ... um ... err ... a motorcycle .... um ... club ... thing ... to identify purveyors of a certain leafy green vegetable *666 Hard to tell folk you are sailor in Colorado.
I've also heard that sailors with earrings are better look-outs. One of the acupuncture points for vision is in the ear lobe, lending some credence to the folklore. My left ear was pierced as part of ... um ... err ... a motorcycle .... um ... club ... thing ... to identify purveyors of a certain leafy green vegetable *666 Hard to tell folk you are sailor in Colorado.
Two holes
I'm sailor, not a pirate; a musician, not a rock star. I'm also a lifelong homo sapiens. None of those reasons have anything to do with the two earrings in my left earlobe. The upper one is a diamond stud; the lower, a gold hoop with a small guitar charm dangling from it. I just felt like getting 'em done. The lore about "the side facing the Horn" is pretty cool -- I never knew that. I've also been told by plenty of folks that the whole right ear/left ear sexual orientation code is a bunch of BS. If I ever wanted to get another earring (unlikely, but you never know), it wouldn't matter to me in the slightest which ear it was hanging in -- and I'm sure my wife wouldn't start worrying about whether I'd decided to switch teams. Some things are just so-o-o silly. PEte s/v EmmieLou (Oday 322) Little Silver, NJ
I'm sailor, not a pirate; a musician, not a rock star. I'm also a lifelong homo sapiens. None of those reasons have anything to do with the two earrings in my left earlobe. The upper one is a diamond stud; the lower, a gold hoop with a small guitar charm dangling from it. I just felt like getting 'em done. The lore about "the side facing the Horn" is pretty cool -- I never knew that. I've also been told by plenty of folks that the whole right ear/left ear sexual orientation code is a bunch of BS. If I ever wanted to get another earring (unlikely, but you never know), it wouldn't matter to me in the slightest which ear it was hanging in -- and I'm sure my wife wouldn't start worrying about whether I'd decided to switch teams. Some things are just so-o-o silly. PEte s/v EmmieLou (Oday 322) Little Silver, NJ
For planting if washed ashore
Sailors wore gold ear rings for the undertaker. If their bodies washed up on shore it ensured that they would receive a proper burial. The more gold the better burial they would receive ... and it was good barter for favors when their loot ran low.
Sailors wore gold ear rings for the undertaker. If their bodies washed up on shore it ensured that they would receive a proper burial. The more gold the better burial they would receive ... and it was good barter for favors when their loot ran low.
Grandfather says crossing the Equator
I pierced my ear in 1970, more as a hippy/biker thing. The left ear, of course, because that's the ear that Mr. Clean has pierced. Well, according to my grandfather's memoires it happened when a sailor crossed the equator. He left Norway in 1906 (age 12)as the cooks helper aboard a 3 masted Barque named Sophie. Crossed the Atlantic a few times before changing (jumping) ship in the US. Somewhere along the line he worked on a ship sailing coal down to South America and bringing bananas back. He crossed the Equator several times but refused to get his ear pierced. He even saw Haley's Comet during one crossing. He owned a boat yard and built boats on Long Island during the 40's & 50's. When he retired to FL, Metro Goldwyn Meyer brought the Bounty to Tampa Bay as a tourist attraction. He got to talking to somebody and they ended up hiring him as head of maintenance and restoration. He had the ship hauled and replaced several hull planks as well as worked on the conversion to tourist attraction. I went to visit in '69. He was 75 yrs old and when I arrived at the Bounty he was hanging upside down (in a harness) from the Bowsprit, painting it. To tie in with the other thread on this forum, He ordered a 4'x4'x60'timber from British Columbia and had it brought through the Panama Canal to Tampa. He proceded to trim it round and taper it by hand using an adze, which is like a sideways axe. When they stepped it up as a new mast there was a coin under it. I don't remember which mast was replaced or what coin they used. He was a subject of newspaper articles and radio interviews (with his heavy Norwegian accent)centering on his dying breed of sailors and craftsmen. He was happy to see that the Tall Ship movement around the world has revived the breed. He passed in 1996 at age 102. Tom s/v Orion's Child (trying to uphold the family traditions)
I pierced my ear in 1970, more as a hippy/biker thing. The left ear, of course, because that's the ear that Mr. Clean has pierced. Well, according to my grandfather's memoires it happened when a sailor crossed the equator. He left Norway in 1906 (age 12)as the cooks helper aboard a 3 masted Barque named Sophie. Crossed the Atlantic a few times before changing (jumping) ship in the US. Somewhere along the line he worked on a ship sailing coal down to South America and bringing bananas back. He crossed the Equator several times but refused to get his ear pierced. He even saw Haley's Comet during one crossing. He owned a boat yard and built boats on Long Island during the 40's & 50's. When he retired to FL, Metro Goldwyn Meyer brought the Bounty to Tampa Bay as a tourist attraction. He got to talking to somebody and they ended up hiring him as head of maintenance and restoration. He had the ship hauled and replaced several hull planks as well as worked on the conversion to tourist attraction. I went to visit in '69. He was 75 yrs old and when I arrived at the Bounty he was hanging upside down (in a harness) from the Bowsprit, painting it. To tie in with the other thread on this forum, He ordered a 4'x4'x60'timber from British Columbia and had it brought through the Panama Canal to Tampa. He proceded to trim it round and taper it by hand using an adze, which is like a sideways axe. When they stepped it up as a new mast there was a coin under it. I don't remember which mast was replaced or what coin they used. He was a subject of newspaper articles and radio interviews (with his heavy Norwegian accent)centering on his dying breed of sailors and craftsmen. He was happy to see that the Tall Ship movement around the world has revived the breed. He passed in 1996 at age 102. Tom s/v Orion's Child (trying to uphold the family traditions)
Interesting sailor, your grampa
92 is a nice ripe old age. He sounded like a very interesting person with tons of real life stories. Were you able to get him to documents any of those memories? You did mention memoirs, I bet they were interesting reads.
92 is a nice ripe old age. He sounded like a very interesting person with tons of real life stories. Were you able to get him to documents any of those memories? You did mention memoirs, I bet they were interesting reads.
landau, I wonder what a navel ring means?
Hmmmm.... left ear for going east, right ear for going west, nose for running into ground, navel for .. .. .. hmmmmm.....*pop I don't think I will go for one of those. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen a guy with one. Not that I can see anyway.
Hmmmm.... left ear for going east, right ear for going west, nose for running into ground, navel for .. .. .. hmmmmm.....*pop I don't think I will go for one of those. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen a guy with one. Not that I can see anyway.
JC, That's 102 !
Yes, I have a photocopy of his typewritten memoirs (my Aunt typed it for him) that includes some poor quality photocopies of pictures, newspaper articles and drawings. It's been a while so I need to go back and re-read it. I have an arial Photo of the boatyard taken circa 1950 and several other photos of the boatyard. My mother and her 4 sisters grew up there and I spent my early summers there (mostly catching "killies" and baby eels using bread in a milk bottle with a string around the neck). My grandfather always used to say that he had a heaven for boys (the boatyard) but he had 5 girls! My mother would disagree that it was a place only for boys. The girls would string a cable from one corner of the "boathouse" to the lower diagonal corner and slide down it hanging from a clothes line pulley into a pile of mahogany shavings. She told me about this but of course she wouldn't let me do it when I was young! During his time at the boatyard he built 30-some boats, mostly cabin cruisers in the 35'-45' range. The plans all came from his head. When he retired, before he started work on the HMS Bounty, he built models of the sailing ships he'd sailed, from scratch. My mom has one in a glass case. It's the only one that had the sails flying. He put the sails on, put a fan behind to fill them then sprayed with a clear laquer to stiffen them. They just hang now, kind of like mine do, way too often! Tom s/v Orion's Child
Yes, I have a photocopy of his typewritten memoirs (my Aunt typed it for him) that includes some poor quality photocopies of pictures, newspaper articles and drawings. It's been a while so I need to go back and re-read it. I have an arial Photo of the boatyard taken circa 1950 and several other photos of the boatyard. My mother and her 4 sisters grew up there and I spent my early summers there (mostly catching "killies" and baby eels using bread in a milk bottle with a string around the neck). My grandfather always used to say that he had a heaven for boys (the boatyard) but he had 5 girls! My mother would disagree that it was a place only for boys. The girls would string a cable from one corner of the "boathouse" to the lower diagonal corner and slide down it hanging from a clothes line pulley into a pile of mahogany shavings. She told me about this but of course she wouldn't let me do it when I was young! During his time at the boatyard he built 30-some boats, mostly cabin cruisers in the 35'-45' range. The plans all came from his head. When he retired, before he started work on the HMS Bounty, he built models of the sailing ships he'd sailed, from scratch. My mom has one in a glass case. It's the only one that had the sails flying. He put the sails on, put a fan behind to fill them then sprayed with a clear laquer to stiffen them. They just hang now, kind of like mine do, way too often! Tom s/v Orion's Child
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