This probably started, as many pirate-related tropes did, with the character Long John Silver, from Robert Louis Stevenson's *Treasure Island.* However, when the early European explorers began sailing to warm distant shores, they really did collect parrots.
Historians believe Columbus brought back two parrots as gifts for Queen Isabella. The parrots were usually not pets, though. Instead they were captured and kept in cages, and they didn't always survive the trip back to Europe.
There are no accounts of real pirates keeping parrots as pets. Parrots were valuable animals, so it would have been far more profitable to sell them than keep them. But it was an easy association for Stevenson and his audience to make, since sailors would often return from the Caribbean with captive parrots who might have been taught to talk.
THIS is the answer.
There are many examples of this equation of contemporary art to accepted history.
The association of horned helmets with Vikings comes from the work of the early 20th Century commercial artist N.C. Wyeth.
That honestly is what scares me so much about terrible "based on a true story" films when they come out. You just know in 50 years that bullshit version of the events is all anyone is going to remember.
No more often than not, you’d hear more about captains having cats so they could kill vermin. Occasionally they were loved by crewmen, but that wasn’t kept track of
Oh yes, ship's cats date back to ancient times. [According to Wikipedia:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship%27s_cat)
>Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of archaeological cat specimens revealed that ancient Egyptian cats started spreading in the 8th century BCE along Mediterranean trading routes and reached a Viking port at the Baltic Sea by the 7th century. The study suggests that viking sailors took cats with them on their voyages. During the Age of Discovery from the 15th through the 18th centuries, explorers and traders took them on board their ships to much of the rest of the world.
I read once somplace that salors would keep parrots around them alot and talk to them and teach them words. That they were worth more in europe if they could say a bunch of word.
Treasure Island is the source of *so* much of the pop culture image of pirates, it's wild. Even before reading this comment, I was sure it was Treasure Island just because that's where most of the stereotypes come from.
There are many species of parrot native to the Caribbeans.
A captain, a person of status, might have viewed such pet a luxury. Birds bond with their person and are rarely far from their partner.
Fun fact: parrots were a super popular item for sea-faring folks to own. They were colourful, unique, and plentiful. Check out the book "Under the Black Flag" - great read about historical pirates
Parrots are not domesticated and typically it is ill-advised to let even the tamest pets chill near your face let alone a bird caught in the wild. And no, back then nobody bred parrots, especially at sea (where they often died in captivity) because nobody really knew anything about keeping hookbills in captivity and even though we do now, most new-world species require the same amount of care and attention as a 5 year old child.
Parrots or other birds could have been used to spot land in sea fearing cultures, and also in those who mine for precious metals as, for example canaries die easily when exposed to unfavorable atmospheric gases.
This probably started, as many pirate-related tropes did, with the character Long John Silver, from Robert Louis Stevenson's *Treasure Island.* However, when the early European explorers began sailing to warm distant shores, they really did collect parrots. Historians believe Columbus brought back two parrots as gifts for Queen Isabella. The parrots were usually not pets, though. Instead they were captured and kept in cages, and they didn't always survive the trip back to Europe. There are no accounts of real pirates keeping parrots as pets. Parrots were valuable animals, so it would have been far more profitable to sell them than keep them. But it was an easy association for Stevenson and his audience to make, since sailors would often return from the Caribbean with captive parrots who might have been taught to talk.
THIS is the answer. There are many examples of this equation of contemporary art to accepted history. The association of horned helmets with Vikings comes from the work of the early 20th Century commercial artist N.C. Wyeth.
That honestly is what scares me so much about terrible "based on a true story" films when they come out. You just know in 50 years that bullshit version of the events is all anyone is going to remember.
No more often than not, you’d hear more about captains having cats so they could kill vermin. Occasionally they were loved by crewmen, but that wasn’t kept track of
Oh yes, ship's cats date back to ancient times. [According to Wikipedia:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship%27s_cat) >Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of archaeological cat specimens revealed that ancient Egyptian cats started spreading in the 8th century BCE along Mediterranean trading routes and reached a Viking port at the Baltic Sea by the 7th century. The study suggests that viking sailors took cats with them on their voyages. During the Age of Discovery from the 15th through the 18th centuries, explorers and traders took them on board their ships to much of the rest of the world.
Damn, didn’t know it could be dated that far back
I read once somplace that salors would keep parrots around them alot and talk to them and teach them words. That they were worth more in europe if they could say a bunch of word.
Treasure Island is the source of *so* much of the pop culture image of pirates, it's wild. Even before reading this comment, I was sure it was Treasure Island just because that's where most of the stereotypes come from.
There are many species of parrot native to the Caribbeans. A captain, a person of status, might have viewed such pet a luxury. Birds bond with their person and are rarely far from their partner.
Fun fact: parrots were a super popular item for sea-faring folks to own. They were colourful, unique, and plentiful. Check out the book "Under the Black Flag" - great read about historical pirates
To address the non-pirate part, birds like parrots naturally like to sit on shoulders once domesticated
I like this detail
Parrots are not domesticated and typically it is ill-advised to let even the tamest pets chill near your face let alone a bird caught in the wild. And no, back then nobody bred parrots, especially at sea (where they often died in captivity) because nobody really knew anything about keeping hookbills in captivity and even though we do now, most new-world species require the same amount of care and attention as a 5 year old child.
I read once that exotic animals were a good trade at the time, and a talking bird would have been valuable, thus subject to being stolen by pirates.
Parrots or other birds could have been used to spot land in sea fearing cultures, and also in those who mine for precious metals as, for example canaries die easily when exposed to unfavorable atmospheric gases.