Old sea legends: The incredible story of Davy Jones and his Locker

Some legends say Davy Jones was captain of the famous Flying Dutchman

Davy Jones' Locker by John Tenniel, 1892

Many will have heard of Davy Jones and his famous locker, maybe through the old legend itself or maybe because of the immensely popular movies of The Pirates of the Caribbean. The story of Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: A dead men's Chest is nothing like the real stories of Davy Jones except for the fact that he is captain of the famous Flying Dutchman. You have got to love the role of Davy Jones in that movie, not only the great way he looks but also his speech and behavior make him a great villain. Sailors used to tell terrifying stories to eachother about Jones, but who or what was Davy Jones exactly? Where does the legend come from and what is Davy Jones' Locker?
When the stories about Davy Jones began is unclear but it was probably be around the 1500's when people started trading and fighting at sea more and more. The earliest known written reference to davy Jones was in the "Four years voyage of Captain George Roberts" by Daniel Defoe, 1726. But this was only a short mentioning of the saying "to be sent to Davy Jones' Locker". There are different stories about Davy Jones and who or what he was, some depict him as the devil some as the evil God of the Seas. But in yet other stories he is a murderer or captain of a ghost ship.

The different stories of Davy Jones:

• Pub Owner: In one of the stories Davy Jones was the owner of a British Pub who would get sailors intoxicated and lock them in his ale locker and later lock their unconscious body in ships that were passing through the harbor. The story also tells of his pub going bankrupt and him deciding to become a pirate by stealing a ship from the harbor. He then supposidly sailed the Atlantic Ocean and hijacked other ships where he would decapitate or keelhaul most of the ships crew. The surviving crew would be locked in the ship and the ship would be sunk. The story also tells of this pub owner selling his soul to the devil.

• Captain of the Flying Dutchman: In some stories Davy Jones is the captain of the Flying Dutchman named "Vanderdecken". The Flying Dutchman supposidly was a ghostship that had to wander the seas forever because it could not make port. The story goes that Vanderdecken hailed out to the sky on a trip from Holland to Batavia: "God or Devil... I will sail around the Cape, even if it means sailing towards our last judgement". then the Devil took control of the ship and as a price the ship had to sail the seas forever, the dead crew working on forever without saying anything ever again...

• The Jonah theory: In the Bible Jonah became the Devil of the seas when the crew he was with found out that he was being punished by God because of his disobedience. The crew casted him overboard. Some say that Davy Jones came from "Devil Jonah" and a wicked sailor would go to Davy Jones' Locker.

• David Jones: There once was an actual pirate captain by the name of David Jones who sailed the seas around the 1630's. But this pirate captain wasn't that well known and most historians do not think he could not have gathered such worldwide fame.

• Satan: Some believe it is simply another name for Satan, made up by sailors.

Davy Jones in The Pirates of the Caribbean

 

Davy Jones' Locker

Davy Jones' Locker is a sailor's synonym for the ocean floor. A locker was another name for a chest back in the days of sailing. "Being sent to Davy Jones' Locker" means so much as dying at sea. In some stories evil and wicked sailor's who died at sea became locked up in the chest by Davy Jones and had to spend eternity trapped in there.

Davy Jones in Movies and Books:

Movies:
The Pirates of the Caribbean: A Dead men's Chest, Davy Jones was the main villain (see the video clip above) he was supposed to bring souls from sunken ships to the afterlife with his ship the Flying Dutchman. In stead of going to the afterlife he proposes that the dead men come and work on his ship for a 100 years claiming the afterlife is even worse. Davy Jones also commands the mythical beast the "Kraken".

Books:
Davy Jones is mentioned in a lot of books but mostly only in some phrase like: "going to Davy Jones" or "Going to Davy Jones' Locker". Almost every book about the life on a ship mentions this at least once. Moby Dick for example contains this phrase: "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".
Lots of songs and poems also contain references to Davy Jones and his Locker.

• The Dutch Golden Age: a short history of The Dutch East India Company (or VOC)
  A short history of the Dutch East India Company or VOC. And some information about their most well-known ships like the Flying Dutchman.