For as long as humans have been going to sea, they’ve been bringing their furry companions with them. Parrots, cats, and dogs have long been valued crew members.
For example, Captain Cook had dogs and cats aboard HMS Endeavour in 1768. They were even subject to the equator line crossing ceremony along with the rest of the crew.
Joshua Slocum, who sailed around the world solo from 1893 to 1894, was gifted a goat in Jamestown by a friend who suggested that the goat would be as “companionable as a dog.” The goat proceeded wreak havoc aboard Spray, eating a chart of the West Indies and Slocum’s straw hat before being disembarked at the next port.
Today, sailors continue to bring their pets to sea, and some of these seafaring pets have their own followings on social media. Here are 7 sailing pets with a presence on Instagram. Combined they have over 120K followers!
7 SAILING PETS OF INSTAGRAM
JACKTHESAILINGDOG – 9.9K FOLLOWERS
Jack the poodle sails the Caribbean aboard Angelsea with his humans Deb and Gary. He sails, snorkels and lets his fabulous golden locks blow in the breeze.
SALTYSEACAT – 49.3K FOLLOWERS
Salty the cat lives aboard a Bruce Roberts sailboat in Scotland, along with a Springer Spaniel and a Goldfish.
MONIQUE THE CHICKEN (GUIRECSOUDEEADVENTURE) – 55.2K FOLLOWERS
Monique the chicken has spent the last 5 years sailing around the world with 26-year old Guirec Soudée, The two have had plenty of adventures together: becoming trapped in Arctic ice for 130 days, surviving 15 m waves, and being briefly imprisoned by the Canadian coastguard. Soudée recently became the youngest person to navigate the Northwest passage solo. Meanwhile, Monique is making waves with her first book!
SHACKLETON (ARCTICLIFEBOAT) – 1.0K FOLLOWERS
Shackleton is helping two architects renovate and outfit a 100-man survival lifeboat into a self-sufficient home. Their plan: to make a 3500km voyage to Arctic Norway.
IMABOATCAT – 4.3K FOLLOWERS
Peanut the boat cat claims he was adopted under false pretenses but judging by his feed he seems to be enjoying the sailing life aboard his Valiant 42.
View this post on Instagram
BOATPARROTS – 156 FOLLOWERS
Meet LeeLoo and Atti, aboard SV Avalon. Unlike their pirate parrot ancestors, these two seem more interested in playing dress-up than pillaging and marauding.
BAMBI_ON_A_BOAT – 562 FOLLOWERS
Bambi is canine crew aboard SV Alvor. This sweet rescue pup is now living the dream with beach days and boat life.
Fiona McGlynn is an award-winning boating writer who created Waterborne as a place to learn about living aboard and traveling the world by sailboat. She has written for boating magazines including BoatUS, SAIL, Cruising World, and Good Old Boat. She’s also a contributing editor at Good Old Boat and BoatUS Magazine. In 2017, Fiona and her husband completed a 3-year, 13,000-mile voyage from Vancouver to Mexico to Australia on their 35-foot sailboat.