"AWKK!, AWWKK, --- SQUEEK, ME-OW, WOOF, Even, BAA-AAA-AAA & CLUCK-CLUCK-CLUCK!!!", --- Pirate's Pets And Other Animals...

     Yes, there often were a lot of critters on pirate ships!  Monkeys were amusing and very available to catch on tropical islands, so were parrots of all kinds, --- from small parakeets to the African gray parrots (the best talkers) and double yellow heads to the big macaws.  Of course, some parrots live almost one hundred years.  (The parrot in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel "Treasure Island", who was called Cap'n Flint, was supposed to be two hundred years old!)

                 

     Then, there were cats on board as companions, but also to deter the blooming rat population.  Rats came on board while ships were in port.  They ate valuable supplies, chewed up the lines, even bit the pirates, viciously.  Yes, a good ratter was very much appreciated! Pirates also had dogs, as companions too and as guards.  Goats were kept for fresh milk, chickens for their yummy eggs.  Pirates caught sea turtles and kept them alive on deck by turning them upside down and occaissionally pouring water on them.  (Turtles were a valuable source of fresh meat and pirates relished them..)  Space on deck and in the hold was often quite crowded, plus a bit smelly with all the manure!  Just more of that messy, messy life at sea!...  ;)