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Printable information sheet to attach to Alvarojm´s Pirate Geocoin
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Davy Jones's Locker is an idiom for the bottom of the sea: the state of death among drowned sailors. It is used as a euphemism for death at sea (to be sent to Davy Jones's Locker), whereas the name Davy Jones is a nickname for what would be the devil, saint, or god of the seas. The origins of the name are unclear and many theories have been put forth, including incompetent sailors, a pub owner who kidnapped sailors, or that Davy Jones is another name for the devil. The earliest known reference of the negative connotation of Davy Jones, occurs in Scottish author Tobias Smollett's The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, published in 1751. “ This same Davy Jones, according to sailors, is the fiend that presides over all the evil spirits of the deep, and is often seen in various shapes, perching among the rigging on the eve of hurricanes:, ship-wrecks, and other disasters to which sea-faring life is exposed, warning the devoted wretch of death and woe. ” In the story Jones is described as having saucer eyes, three rows of teeth, horns, a tail, and blue smoke coming from his nostrils. The tale of Davy Jones causes fear among sailors, who may refuse to discuss Davy Jones in any great detail. Not all traditions dealing with Davy Jones are fearful. In traditions associated with sailors crossing the Equatorial line, there was a "raucous and rowdy" initiation presided over by those who had crossed the line before, known as shellbacks, or Sons of Neptune. The eldest shellback was called King Neptune, and the next eldest was his assistant who was called Davy Jones. In 1824 Washington Irving mentions Jones's name in his Adventures of the Black Fisherman: “ He came, said he, in a storm, and he went in a storm; he came in the night, and he went in the night; he came nobody knows whence, and he has gone nobody knows where. For aught I know he has gone to sea once more on his chest, and may land to bother some people on the other side of the world; though it is a thousand pities, added he, if he has gone to Davy Jones' locker. ” In Edgar Allan Poe's "King Pest" of 1835, Davy Jones is referred to dismissively by the anti-hero, Tarpaulin, when King Pest refers to "that unearthly sovereign" "whose name is Death." Tarpaulin responds, "Whose name is Davy Jones!" Herman Melville mentions Jones in the 1851 classic Moby-Dick: “ There was young Nat Swaine, once the bravest boat-header out of all Nantucket and the Vineyard; he joined the meeting, and never came to good. He got so frightened about his plaguy soul, that he shrinked and sheered away from the whales, for fear of after-claps, in case he got stove and went to Davy Jones. ” In J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play and 1911 novel Peter and Wendy, Captain Hook sings a song: “Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life, The flag o' skull and bones, A merry hour, a hempen rope, And hey for Davy Jones.” The Current US Navy song "Anchors Aweigh" refers to Davy Jones in its current lyrics adopted in the 1920s: “ Stand, Navy, out to sea, Fight our battle cry; We'll never change our course, So vicious foe steer shy-y-y-y. Roll out the TNT, Anchors Aweigh. Sail on to victory And sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray! Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh. Farewell to foreign shores, we sail at break of day-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-hay-ay. Through our last night on shore, drink to the foam, Until we meet once more, Here's wishing you a happy voyage home.” The concept of Davy Jones was conflated with the legend of the Flying Dutchman in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, in which Davy Jones' locker is portrayed as a sort of purgatory. For the Davy Jones portrayed in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. The term has also been used repeatedly in the animated TV series SpongeBob SquarePants to represent an actual locker in the bottom of the sea where Davy Jones (of the Monkees fame) keeps his gym socks.[