- "Gillette, Mr. Sparrow has a dawn appointment with the gallows. I would hate for him to miss it."
- ―James Norrington to Gillette
The gallows were a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered. Pirates were mainly the individuals given an appointment with the gallows.
History
- "We know you're in possession of a map."
"So confiscate the map, and to the gallows with him!"
"Have you a map?"
"...No." - ―Henry Pelham, John Carteret, King George, and Jack Sparrow
As lieutenant governor of Jamaica, Sir Henry Morgan brought many a pirate to a hastened death on the gallows.[1] Throughout his time in the British Royal Navy, James Norrington intended to see that anyone who sailed under a pirate flag or wore a pirate brand gets a short drop and a sudden stop at the gallows. Norrington continued to believe that shortly after he was promoted to commodore, at which time he had captured the notorious pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, who would stand at the gallows at Fort Charles days later before making an escape.[2][3] When he took control over the British colony of Port Royal, Lord Cutler Beckett had Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann arrested, with Elizabeth facing the gallows.[4] Beckett later led a mass execution of all persons who were associated with piracy.[5]
The gallows were always ready at the Tower of London to execute pirates, smugglers and mutineers that had been sentenced to death. In 1750 when Joshamee Gibbs was brought to be hanged a former pirate Hector Barbossa personally brought the rope and gave it to Gibbs to make the hangman's noose. However, Gibbs escaped that fate by burning the Mao Kun Map which forced Barbossa to take him as a guide on a perilous journey to the legendary to the Fountain of Youth.[6]
Behind the scenes
- "Draw the main! We're shoving off to race the gallows!"
- ―Jack Sparrow to his crew
Gallows first appeared in Irene Trimble's junior novelization for the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.[2][3]
In Terry Rossio's 2012 screenplay draft for Dead Men Tell No Tales, Philip Swift would have been captured by the Spanish, and after some time spent in prison, they would take him out, seemingly to hang him at the gallows, only for him to discover they were actually taking him to another location.[7]
Appearances
- Jack Sparrow: The Timekeeper (Mentioned only)
- The Price of Freedom (Mentioned only)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- Smoke on the Water (Mentioned only)
- Banshee's Boon
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
- Pirates of the Caribbean Online
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Mentioned only)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization) (Mentioned only)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: The Movie Storybook (Mentioned only)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
- The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Sources
External links
Notes and references
- ↑ Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, p. 17
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
- ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
- ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES by Terry Rossio