Anything & Everything, History, Myths & Facts, Pets & Animals 
No Comments Why do pirates always carry parrots?
[Congratulations Marcus Chua of P 4-Diligence from Opera Estate Primary, for winning the Primary 4 level Kids ASK! Competition held in his school!
This question stood out and got me thinking- if you could create a new image for pirates, what pirate pet would you pick for them?]
Image is a picture of Parrot Jack from Pirates for parties.com, performing a parrot show for a children’s birthday party with the Parrots of the Caribbean & is retrieved from: http://piratesforparties.com/images/parrot_show_4.jpg
There are no historical accounts to show that real pirates of the past carried parrots. However there are fictional accounts and many assume that this started from the popularity of the book ‘Treasure Island’ in 1881 by Robert Louis Stevenson. In the book, there is a pirate named Long-John Silver who kept a parrot for a pet.
According to Tobias Gibson of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean, in Fact and Fiction’, it is safe to conclude that pirates probably had parrots as pets even though there are insufficient written accounts. This is because historical evidence shows that it was common for animals to be transported by ships, and during the time of the Golden Age of Piracy, selling and buying exotic animals was a common business and was popular among royalty in Europe.
Tobias Gibson wrote: “The more exotic the animal, the more in demand and the more valuable the animal would be. A talking bird would fetch a few doubloons in the Royal Courts of Europe, as would New World Monkeys. We also know that if something was of value, then pirates would plunder it. Some pirates were known to emulate the lifestyles of royalty. Whatever was good enough for the royal courts was also good enough for the well-to-do Pirate. To own an exotic animal would have been a status symbol. If parrots were popular with the upper class, then pirates would want them for either status or financial gain.”
Reference:
Tobias Gibson . (January 16, 2007). A Pyrate’s Life: pirates, parrots and pets. In Pirates of the Caribbean, in Fact and Fiction. Retrieved 26 November 2009, from http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/pirates/pirates.html.
Cecil Adams. (October 12, 2007 ). Why are pirates depicted with a parrot on their shoulder? . In the Straight Dope. Retrieved 26 November 2009, from http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2729/why-are-pirates-depicted-with-a-parrot-on-their-shoulder.
If you want to read more on the topic, here are books that you can check out at our libraries.
All Rights Reserved, Franklin Watts, 2008.
Pirate ship by Julia Bruce
Publisher: London : Franklin Watts, 2008.
Call No.: J 910.4 BRU
Click here to check for item availability
All Rights Reserved, Capstone Press, c2008.
The golden age of pirates : an interactive history adventure by Bob Temple
Publisher: Mankato, Minn. : Capstone Press, c2008.
Call No.: J 910.4 TEM
Click here to check for item availability
All Rights Reserved, PowerKids Press, 2008.
A day in the life of a pirate by Emma Helbrough
Publisher: New York: PowerKids Press, 2008.
Click here to check for item availability
All websites are last accessed on 26 November 2009. Please refer to the terms and conditions on the homepages for use.
For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.
Ms Sharifah A. Latif
Assoc. Librarian, Children’s Services
