In 1731, Spanish coast guards boarded British Captain Robert Jenkins’ ship, tortured him, and sliced off his ear before telling him to “take it to your king.” Jenkins did something even better. He pickled the ear, carried it around for eight years, and eventually showed it to Parliament, where his testimony sparked public outrage that forced Britain into a nine-year war with Spain. The War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-1748) saw one of the largest naval invasions in history fail spectacularly at Cartagena, where 18,000 British soldiers died mostly from tropical diseases.

By the time the war ended, about 35,000 people were dead, and the peace treaty essentially returned everything to exactly how it was before. The only lasting legacy? George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation got its name from an admiral who fought in this war, all because one stubborn sea captain refused to stop talking about his ear.

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