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Cabin Boy

For other uses, see Cabin Boy (disambiguation)
Cabin Boy AWE
"You can start in as cabin boy, and cook's assistant, while you learn how to rig the sails, and all the rest of what it takes to be a sailor."
―Jack Sparrow to Chamba[src]

A cabin boy or ship's boy was a title given to a young boy who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain. Cabin boys were usually 13-16 years old, and also helped the cook in the galley and carried buckets of food from the ship's kitchen to the forecastle where the ordinary seamen ate. They would have to run from one end of the ship to the other carrying messages and become familiar with the sails, lines and ropes and the use of each in all sorts of weather. They would have to scramble up the rigging into the yards whenever the sails had to be trimmed. They would occasionally stand watch like other crewmen or act as helmsman in good weather, holding the wheel to keep the ship steady on her course.

History

"I was a cabin boy on many ships, visited lots of ports."
―Jack Sparrow to Amenirdis[src]

Raleigh Beckett began his rise to wealth as a cabin boy on a trading vessel, and by the time he died, he had acquired a fleet of ships, and sired three strong sons to inherit and expand the business.[1] In his youth, Hector Barbossa would work as a cabin boy aboard a ship, where he got to know how life on the sea operated, seeing the captains living in spacious and elegant quarters, then decided to engage in piracy.[2] Jack Sparrow also served as the cabin boy aboard the Troubadour, the pirate ship belonging to his enigmatic father Captain Edward Teague, as well as the Koldunya, the ship of Boris "Borya" Palachnik, a rogue pirate and Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea.[3] While pursuing a legitimate career as a merchant seaman for the East India Trading Company, Sparrow associated himself with some of the cabin boys, including Tim aboard the Fair Wind[4] as well as Sam Hopkins[5] and Chamba aboard the Wicked Wench.[6]

CabinBoyCheeringPromo

Will Turner once worked passage from England as a cabin boy aboard a British merchant ship.[7] During Lord Cutler Beckett's war against piracy, a Cabin Boy was among the singing pirates and wenches who sang Hoist the Colours while sentenced to death by hanging at the gallows.[8] The Cabin Boy aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge was a scrappy little survivor whose toughness belies his diminutive size, but it turns out that there is a touch of the hero in this young pirate.[9] Although he initially signed on to sail under Jack Sparrow, the Cabin Boy became the youngest member of Blackbeard's crew during the quest for the Fountain of Youth, and under Hector Barbossa following Blackbeard's death.[10]

Notable Cabin Boys

Behind the scenes

"I worked passage from England as a cabin boy. After my mother passed, I came out here looking for my father...Bill Turner."
―Will Turner to Jack Sparrow[src]

The title "cabin boy" would first be uttered in Irene Trimble's junior novelization for the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.[7]

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's early screenplay draft for The Curse of the Black Pearl, Will Turner told Jack Sparrow that he "worked passage from England as a cabin boy."[13] Although this line of dialogue never made it to the final cut of the film, it was retained in the 2003 junior novelization.[7] Will most likely served as cabin boy in the merchant vessel that was attacked by Barbossa's cursed crew of the Black Pearl. However, it is unknown if this is canon to the film or not.

In Pirates of the Caribbean Online, there was a sword called Cabin Boy's Cutlass.[14]

Only the handheld version of the 2011 non-canonical video game LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game features a cabin boy.[15]

Cabin boy is one the ranks a player can earn in Pirates of the Caribbean: Master of the Seas.[16]

In Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island, the main character Jim Hawkins serves as a cabin boy aboard the Hispaniola.[17]

Appearances

Sources

External links

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Price of Freedom, Chapter Four: Cutler Beckett
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Interview Geoffrey Rush PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN SALAZAR'S REVENGE: "And I imagined that, for financial reasons, he went and joined the ship as a cabin boy and got to know how life on the sea operated. Then he saw the captain's quarters and thought, 'There's no way I'll ever get to go to Naval College and go up through the ranks. I'll just kill a few people and take charge.'"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Price of Freedom, Chapter Ten: Revelations
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Price of Freedom, Chapter One: Fair Winds and Black Ships'
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Price of Freedom, Chapter Thirteen: "Red Flag...Ho!"
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Price of Freedom, Chapter Six: The Wicked Wench
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: The Visual Guide, pp. 34-35: "Queen Anne's Revenge Crew"
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
  11. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Eleven: Pirates and Rogues
  12. ↑ Fluch der Karibik, p. 139
  13. ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
  14. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean Online
  15. ↑ LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
  16. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Master of the Seas
  17. ↑ Treasure Island