Cotton stood inbetween fellow pirates Crimp and Ladbroc during Jack's inspection of the crew, and was the sixth person to be seen by Sparrow. He was hired in Tortuga by Jack Sparrow, William Turner and Joshamee Gibbs to be part of his crew during his voyage to the Isla De Muerta in order to defeat his rival, Captain Hector Barbossa and Barbossa's cursed crew. Cotton and his parrot later became members of Jack Sparrow's motley crew serving aboard the commandeered British Royal Navy vessel known as the HMS Interceptor. Cotton's trusty parrot, however, would speak for him after this. Cotton would later reveal the secret, and Mungard kept his word. In an attempt to keep his life, he threatened to have the tongues of anyone who revealed his secret cut out. By the end of the bidding, the pirate Mungard ended up accidentally shooting the Pirate's Code.

Cotton was part of a bidding war for the prostitutes Scarlett and Giselle. Cotton's Parrot was a parrot and a resident of Shipwreck City in 1728.