Recently I’ve talked about tattoos, eye patches, and peg legs - things that are synonymous
with pirates for most people. Today I wanted to talk about another association with pirates:
the parrot. This trope entered popular culture first with the Daniel Defoe novel, The Life
and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, which was almost certainly inspired by two buccaneer’s
that were marooned. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island further added to this with
Long John Silver’s talking parrot, Cap’n Flint, but did historical pirates actually
have parrots as pets?
Before we answer that question I want to thank today’s sponsor Gaia Industrees! Gaia manufactures
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Getting back to the topic of this video and the question “Did Pirates Have Parrots?”
the answer is a remarkable “YES!”. In this instance we have an account of a 1676
buccaneer raid on Alvarado, Mexico written by William Dampier.
Dampier wrote: “The tame Parrots we found here were the largest and fairest Birds of
their Kind that I ever saw in the West-Indies. Their colour was yellow and red, very coarsely
mixt; and they would prate very prettily; and there was scarce a Man but what sent aboard
one or two of them. So that with Provision, Chests, Hen-Coops, and Parrot Cages, our Ships
were full…”
Now obviously not all of these buccaneers wanted a pet bird, but back in Port Royal,
Jamaica parrots would have been both easy to sell and quite lucrative. Just like today
these beautiful, exotic birds were in demand and it wasn’t unusual for wealthy Europeans
or Colonialists to keep them for pets.
Native Americans also kept parrots for pets and skeletal remains as well as feathers have
been found as far north as Utah and Colorado, well outside of their native ranges. It’s
quite possible that sailors and pirates may have traded with native peoples to obtain
these birds as well.
African parrots were kept for thousands of years and were mentioned in literature as
being pets, likely reserved for the ultra wealthy or nobility. For example in Shakespeares
play “Henry the Fourth” the title character, Henry, Prince of Wales, remarked “That ever
this fellow should have fewer words than a parrot, and yet the son of a woman!”. There
are also quite a few portraits of people with parrots and the birds were often given as
gifts.
Pirates, in all that they did, seemed to have liked to emulate the upper class and so it
would make sense that they would also want a parrot. This might have given them an air
of prestige when they made port or maybe they just thought the birds were cool. It wasn’t
just pirates that kept parrots, many sailors of the time period would have come across
them and either sold them or kept them for companions.
In addition to parrots monkeys were also popular pets both for sailors and the rich back in
Europe. We have an account of a 1667 voyage from Brazil to Portugal written by Denis de
Carli, an Italian Monk, who wrote: “The ship was like Noah’s ark, for there were
aboard it so many several sorts of beasts, that what with the noise, and the talk of
so many people as were aboard, we could not hear one another speak. The loading was a
thousand chests of sugar, three thousand rolls of tobacco, abundance of rich wood for dying,
and making of cabinets, elephants teeth; besides the provision of wood, coals, water, wine,
brandy, sheep, hogs, and turkeys: besides all this, abundance of monkeys of several
sorts, apes, baboons, parrots, and some of those birds of Brasil”
Again, sailors - and pirates - may have came across monkeys and captured them to sell or
just thought they were interesting pets and decided to keep them. There is at least one
confirmed privateer/pirate ship that had a monkey aboard: the Dauphine, which wrecked
in Saint-Malo in 1704. The remains of what turned out to be a barbary macaque were discovered
in the shipwreck.
So in this case it turns out that 2 very popular pirate associates are true and it’s possible,
if not probable, that the real pirates of the Caribbean would have indeed had parrots
as well as a monkey like Jack, but I would bet against him turning into a skeleton under
the moonlight.
I hope you all enjoyed this episode and I want to thank all of you so much for your
support. I especially want to thank my Patreon top tier subscribers 1660, Larry W, and Patrick
Chamberlain. If you can help out on Patreon or with a donation via PayPal that is much
appreciate.
I also want to thank Gaia Industrees once more for sponsoring this video as well and
if you have a second please go and check them out and remember to use the code PIRATESPORT
for 25% off. As always please like the video, subscribe, and if you have any ideas for future
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