The Hook!
While it might have sounded far-fetched to see so many pirates with pegs and hooks, this was an accurate rendition. In battle, many pirates would lose some limbs from time to time and they had to replace them with something like a hook or a wooden peg.
The Smithsonian Institute explains that the ones losing body parts in a fight would also receive compensation, noting it was an “early form of worker’s compensation.”
Wait until you hear about the pirates’ earrings!