Pintel and Ragetti were once pressed into service by the English Navy.
- "Darling, I am truly unhappy to have to tell you this, but...through an unfortunate and entirely unforeseeable series of circumstances that have nothing whatsoever to do with me, poor Will has been press-ganged into Davy Jones' crew."
- ―Jack Sparrow to Elizabeth Swann, on Will Turner
Impressment, colloquially "pressed" (through the phrase "pressed into service") or "press-ganging", was a type of conscription of men into a military force, especially a naval force, via compulsion, intimidation and physical coercion, conducted by an organized group (hence "gang"), with or without notice. The related term referring specifically to the practices used by the merchant marines or pirate ships called shanghaiing; using trickery to coerce sailors into joining a crew. Most commonly associated with Great Britain and Ireland, it was used by the British Royal Navy during the 17th and 18th centuries as a means of crewing warships. During the Age of Piracy, such practices were used by pirates and supernatural crews, notably Davy Jones' crew and Blackbeard's crew.
History[]
- "Before I was 'pressed by our estimable Royal Navy to be a powder monkey, I used to ride the horses on my father’s farm."
- ―Robert Greene to Jack Sparrow
Robert Greene was just a ten-year-old boy when he was pressed into service by the British Royal Navy in Bristol, but he escaped the ship in Port Royal and signed aboard the merchant ship as a cabin boy. After he was kidnapped by the infamous rogue pirates, young Jack Sparrow unwillingly served for a few days aboard the La Vipère.[1] Pintel and Ragetti were pressed into service by the English Navy, but jumped ship after a year of beatings, bad food, and boredom.[2][3] Davy Jones would send his pet leviathan, the Kraken, to destroy a ship, then press-gang the crew into service on the Flying Dutchman, with many sailors having met this end.[4] During the search for the Dead Man's Chest, Jack Sparrow claimed that Will Turner was press-ganged into Davy Jones' crew, though in reality Jack tricked Will into squaring his debt with Jones by serving aboard the Dutchman.[5] Years later, a number of sailors in the Captain's Daughter tavern signed on to sail under Jack Sparrow, but would instead be press-ganged as crewmembers aboard Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge.[6]
Behind the scenes[]
Press-ganging is first mentioned through Pintel and Ragetti being "pressed into service" in the 2006 reference book Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide and later in the 2007 reprint The Complete Visual Guide.[2][3] The term itself would first be used in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.[5]
Appearances[]
- The Price of Freedom
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (junior novelization)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Movie Storybook
- LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Non-canonical appearance)
Sources[]
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide (First mentioned)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide
- The Secret Files of the East India Trading Company
External links[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Eleven: Pirates and Rogues
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide
- ↑ The Secret Files of the East India Trading Company
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides