Seafarers need to be able to see a long distance. Otherwise they won't spot an approaching ship until too late. Or they'll accidentally sail past an island.
The higher you are, the further you can see. The highest place on a ship is the top of the mast so the crow's nest goes there. It's not actually the nest of a crow. It's a lookout spot.
In piratical times the crow's nest was called a "basket", which it actually was - the sort of large, deep basket roving traders or peddlers carried on their back. The name "crow's nest" came much later when there were no longer as many sailing ships. They had been replaced by steam ships, and the pirates's "basket" was now a steel platform with a rail. From a distance it looked like a nest of branches. The platform hung just below the funnel so the lookout got soot on his his nice clothes. If he wore black instead, the soot didn't show. But now he looked like a crow, which, of course, is also black.
What Dog Knows, P67
Sylvia Vanden Heede, illustrated by Marije Tolman
ISBN 978-1-776570-37-9
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