The latest Sea of Thieves update, Smuggler's Fortune, is live, and it brings new voyages, skeleton sloops, bugfixes, and especially the Pirate Emporium, where you can spend real money to purchase pets (opens in new tab). And the first thing I did after buying a pet was to stuff it into a cannon and put it into orbit.
Okay, that's not the first thing I did. I'm not a monster. I bought my new monkey pal, Virgil, a little pirate outfit. I carried him around on my arm. I played music so I could see him dance. I watched him sleep on the windowsill of my sloop (sooooo cute). I pet him gently with my hook-hand. I took him for a little swim.
I even fed him some bananas, which he was quite happy with.
Then I stuffed him into a cannon and put him into orbit.
Well, I had to try. And honestly, I was just curious if I could fire myself out of a cannon while Virgil was perched on my arm, but you can't. Carrying a pet is like carrying a crate or a chest—you can't hold a weapon or even sprint unless you put your pet down first.
But you can fire your pet of of a cannon. It's pretty funny.
And, no worries. When they reach a certain distance, they just teleport back to your side when you're not looking, none the worse for wear. I tried it with my new parrot, Plucky, with the same results.
Can you (somehow harmlessly) harpoon your pet like you can other players? I'm not sure. I placed Virgil on the dock but the moment I'd jump back on the ship to aim the harpoon at him, he'd already teleported back to me, even though we were only a few feet away. I guess he just can't bear being separated from his cruel master.