I will have to find my pirate hat that I have used in some of my lectures and talks, what advantage can having a bird on board a ship out at see, they can be trained to call an alarm if they see another ship, especially the raptors, a birds eyesight is far better than our own, ships pets would normally be the cat or Pigs, the sad thing is any animal would of been put in the cooking pot if they needed food. you have not met my Buster, he can be very nasty to others I am just glad he loves me