The Little-Known History of Seafaring Pets

by Vittoria Traverso

 

Sailors from the British ship HMS Amethyst playing with Simon. Courtesy Maritime Quest 

It gets hard to tell when you go back that far, but humans—Homo erectus in this case—probably crafted the first seaworthy vessel some 800,000 years ago. Since then, our ability to build boats and take to the seas has been critical to many of the most important human processes, from migration and commerce to exploration and, of course, war. But we did not become a seafaring species alone.

Alongside brave seafaring men—and women, when they were allowed on board—there were often equally courageous pets...https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/