Crew of the Flying Dutchman (2024)

The crew of the Flying Dutchman consisted of a large number of crewmen aboard Davy Jones' ship, the Flying Dutchman. Davy Jones' monstrous crew is made up from the doomed sailors who have opted to serve one hundred years before the mast rather than face certain death at sea. With every year that passes, the crewmen become less human, their bodies taking on traits from the sea, until eventually they become part of the Flying Dutchman itself. After Jones' own death, the crew turned back to normal, with Will Turner as the new captain of the Dutchman.

History[]

Scourge of the Seven Seas[]

The Flying Dutchman must have already had a crew by the time Jones became her captain, but it is unknown of whom this crew consisted and whether or not he kept this crew when he abandoned his duty. However, over the years and decades Jones recruited a large number of crewmembers. On one occasion, Jones offered Jack Sparrow a proposal: in return for raising the Wicked Wench from the ocean floor, Jack would give Jones his soul after being captain for thirteen years. Two years later he recruited "Bootstrap Bill" Turner.^[1]

When another eleven years passed, Jones demanded Sparrow's debt back. Bootstrap marked Sparrow with the Black Spot and the Kraken started hunting him. During a meeting near a scuttled ship, Jones and Sparrow agreed that Sparrow may pay his debt by recruiting 100 souls for Jones. Jones kept William Turner as a Good-faith payment aboard the Flying Dutchman.^[1]

Sparrow and his crew however went to Isla Cruces in order to get the heart of Davy Jones which was buried there. As Jones was unable to go ashore, he sent a landing party led by Maccus to the island. The fish-people fought Sparrow and his mates and managed to get the Dead Man's Chest, not knowing that it was empty. They returned to their ship and the Dutchman attacked the Black Pearl. When the faster Black Pearl escaped, the crew rotated the Kraken Hammer and summoned the giant creature which dragged the ship along with its captain into Davy Jones' Locker. However, James Norrington stole Jones' heart and brought it to Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company, who was now able to control Jones.^[1]

Serving the East India Company[]

For the next few months, Beckett had Jones assist in exterminating pirates from the world. However, after the Flying Dutchman destroyed numerous pirate ships with no survivors, Beckett reinforced Jones' crew with a large number of EITC soldiers led by Admiral James Norrington.^[2]

Following the skirmish off of the Black Sand Beach, the Dutchman followed the Empress, the ship of the Chinese Pirate Lord Sao Feng. Under Norrington's command, the crew successfully attacked and captured the Empress, killing Feng and several of his pirates in the process. However, when Norrington discovered that his former fiancée Elizabeth Swann was among Feng's crew, he helped them escape, an act which caused the Dutchman's crew member Bootstrap Bill Turner to kill him and propelled the rest of the crew to raise a mutiny against the contingent of EITC troops onboard. However, the mutiny was short-lived because Ian Mercer took Norrington's place as commander over the Dutchman.^[2]

During the battle around Calypso's maelstrom, some of the Dutchman's crew boarded the Black Pearl while the rest had to defend their own ship against the attackers from the pirate vessel. Throughout the battle, Jones killed Mercer, many of the EITC Marines were killed by the pirates, and Morey was decapitated by Barbossa. Jones was ultimately killed by Will Turner, whose heart was cut out by his father and who became the new captain of the Dutchman. The surviving crewmen regained their humanity and helped the pirates in destroying the HMS Endeavour.^[2]

A new captain[]

Following the battle of Calypso's maelstrom, some of the now-free crew members decided to stay in the world of the living,^[4] while the rest of the crew followed their new captain, Will Turner. With him in command the Dutchman returned to its original mission, the collecting of those who died at sea and ferrying of their souls to the afterlife.^[2]

Approximately twelve years after the battle of Calypso's maelstrom, the Dutchman arose out of the sea off the coast of Jamaica, not far away from the house of Elizabeth Swann and her son Henry Turner, the boy who had deliberately jumped into the sea to end up on the Dutchman so he could be reunited with his father. The crew members were below deck when Will confronted his son on the main deck but they sensed that there was a stranger onboard and Will heard their voices. Afraid that the crew would attempt to force Henry to join them, Will ordered Henry to leave the ship and forget him.^[3]

Nine years later, Henry broke the legendary Trident of Poseidon, successfully ending all curses of the sea. Will Turner steered the Dutchman back to his wife's home. Once the ship was anchored, the crew worked on lowering the sails, while Will left the ship and rowed ashore to be reunited with his family.^[3] The crew's further fate is unknown.

Crew Member[]

The crew was subdivided into two main groups: crewmembers and slaves, although the distinction of these groups was fluid and not clearly visible.^[5] However it is possible the slaves did not participate in fighting on Isla Cruces; in another words, those who fought on Isla Cruces are possibly crewmembers instead of slaves.

Coral-covered, weed-wrapped, polyp-pimpled grotesques, these terrifying creatures are more loyal members of Davy Jones' ruthless gang. While they are under the curse of the Flying Dutchman, they cannot be killed, and therefore, they know no fear. No murderous mission they undertake can be any more nightmarish and punishing than daily life on their own ship. Many regret choosing to serve their harsh captain, for as Jones points out – "life is cruel, why should the afterlife be any different?"^[6][1][2]

Major Crew Member[]

The crew had a hierarchy similar to the ones on other ships, so some of the crewmembers had positions making them superior to others, these are:

• The Captain (Davy Jones, later Will Turner)
• The Four Trusted Mates (Maccus (First mate), Ratlin, Penrod and Angler)
• The Quartermaster (known only by his title)
• The Boatswain (Jimmy Legs)
• The Head Gunner (Ogilvey)
• The Navigators (Koleniko (primary navigator) and Greenbeard)
• Other named Crew:
  • Clanker
  • Crash
  • Hadras
  • Wyvern

Koleniko, Jimmy Legs and Maccus were in fact the ones who kept order on the ship on behalf of Captain Davy Jones.^[7] Their rule was strict and backed up by harsh punishments such as whipping and locking into the Brig.

It is possible that Palifico was Jones' personal bodyguard.^{[citation needed]}

Another distinctive group is the team of three elite fighters consisting of Cannon Arm, Morey and Quartermaster.^[8]

Everyday life[]

Jones recruited new crew members by offering dying sailors life in exchange for one hundred years of service aboard his ship. However, he did not tell them that during this time they would go through a painful transmutation turning them into fishmen and after one hundred years they would become a part of the ship itself, like Wyvern. In their leisure time the crewmen used to play Liar's Dice using years of service as bets since they had no other important possessions.

Unlike their captain, the crewmembers could go ashore every time when Jones allowed them to do it. They also had the possibility to mark any person with a Black Spot, though only Jones could remove it. It is unknown whether they also had the ability to teleport themselves or whether Jones could teleport them if he wanted to. However, the crew seemed to teleport to the deck after Will Turner killed Jones so it is likely they could teleport themselves.

Behind the scenes[]

• The crew of the Flying Dutchman first appeared, and was identified by name, in the 2006 junior novelization for the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.^[9]
• Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio originally conceived of Davy Jones and his crew as ghostlike creatures. Determined to come up with never-before-seen fantastical characters, director Gore Verbinski wanted them to be more specifically of the sea, with gravity and weight, as if the souls of shipwrecked sailors had fused with the detritus of the ocean floor.^[10]
• The entire crew of the Flying Dutchman (except Bootstrap Bill Turner) were completely Computer-generated, including Davy Jones.^[11] Their performances were recorded using motion capture during actual filming on the set, rather than in a motion capture studio during post-production.^{[citation needed]}
• The work on Davy Jones and his crew by Industrial Light and Magic earned Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest the 2006 Academy Award for Visual Effects.
• In Pirates of the Caribbean Online, Isla Tormenta is the only place populated with Davy Jones' crew.
• It is unknown if the Flying Dutchman crew were classified as a pirate crew in the films. However, most of Davy Jones' crewmen (specifically Maccus, Angler, Penrod, Quartermaster, Palifico, Ratlin and Hadras) were classified as pirates in the "Character Treasures" in the PS2/PC/Wii version of the At World's End video game. In The Secret Files of the East India Trading Company, it was written that Davy Jones himself was once a mortal pirate prior to his responsibility of ferrying souls of deceased sailors to the Land of the Dead.
• When Henry Turner meets his father on the Dutchman in the opening scene of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the words "Part of the crew, part of the ship" can be vaguely heard while the crew are talking among themselves belowdecks.
• In the non-canon video game Sea of Thieves the Flying Dutchman is crewed by creatures called the Ocean Crawlers.

Appearances[]

• Jack Sparrow: Dance of the Hours
• Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean Online
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization) (First appearance)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (video game)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (comic)
• The Journey of Will Turner!
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: The Movie Storybook
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Penguin Readers)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (comic)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War (Mentioned only)
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Non-canonical appearance)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization (Mentioned only)

Sources[]

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide

See also[]

• Flying Dutchman
• Davy Jones
• Will Turner

Notes and references[]