Davy Jones's locker

For Davy Jones, a villain in the films Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, see Davy Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean). For the fictional place in the third movie, visit Davy Jones' Locker (Pirates of the Caribbean).

Davy Jones’ Locker is an idiom for the bottom of the sea — the resting place of drowned sailors. It is used as a euphemism for death at sea (to be sent to Davy Jones' Locker). Davy Jones is a nickname for what would be the devil of the seas. The origins of the name are unclear, and many theories have been put forth, including incompetent sailors, a pub owner who kidnapped sailors, or that Davy Jones is another name for the devil – as in, “Devil Jonah”. This nautical superstition was popularized in the 1800s.

Literature

Daniel Defoe mentions the phrase in his 1726 book The Four Years Voyages of Capt. George Roberts: "Heaving the rest into David Jones' locker..." The phrase appears not to have yet taken on the later connotations of misfortune.

The earliest known reference to Davy Jones’s negative connotation occurs in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett, published in 1751:

This same Davy Jones, according to sailors, is the fiend that presides over all the evil spirits of the deep, and is often seen in various shapes, perching among the rigging on the eve of hurricanes, ship-wrecks, and other disasters to which sea-faring life is exposed, warning the devoted wretch of death and woe.

Jones is described in the same story as having saucer eyes, three rows of teeth, horns, a tail, and blue smoke coming from his nostrils.

In 1824 Washington Irving mentions Jones’ name in his Adventures of the Black Fisherman:

He came, said he, in a storm, and he went in a storm; he came in the night, and he went in the night; he came nobody knows whence, and he has gone nobody knows where. For aught I know he has gone to sea once more on his chest, and may land to bother some people on the other side of the world; though it is a thousand pities, added he, if he has gone to Davy Jones's locker.

Herman Melville mentions Jones in Moby-Dick: "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." In Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel Treasure Island, Davy Jones appears a number of times, for example in the phrase “in the name of Davy Jones”. In J. M. Barrie’s novel Peter Pan, Captain Hook sings a song: "Yo ho, yo ho, the frisky plank, You walks along it so, Till it goes down and you goes down To Davy Jones below!"

John Masefield mentions Davy Jones as being the man of Mother Carey in his Salt Water Ballad "Mother Carey". This was set to music by Frederick Keel

Theories

The origin of the tale of “Davy Jones” is unclear, and many explanations have been proposed. David Jones was a pirate on the Indian Ocean in the 1630s, but most scholars agree that he was not renowned enough to gain such lasting global fame. Sources have cited the British pub owner who is referenced in the 1594 song "Jones's Ale is Newe." He may be the same pub owner who supposedly threw drunken sailors into his ale locker and then dumped them onto any passing ship. He could also be Duffer Jones, a notoriously myopic sailor who often found himself overboard.

Some believe the name came from Welsh sailors who would call upon Saint David for protection in times of mortal danger. Some also think it is just another name for the devil. Some call him Deva, Davy or Taffy, the thief of the evil spirit. Some think Jonah became the "evil angel" of all sailors, as the biblical story of Jonah involved his shipmates realizing Jonah was an unlucky sailor and casting him overboard. Naturally, sailors of previous centuries would identify more with the beset-upon shipmates of Jonah than with the unfortunate man himself. It is therefore a possibility that "Davy Jones" grew from the root "Devil Jonah" - the devil of the seas. Upon death, a wicked sailor's body supposedly went to Davy Jones's locker (a chest, as lockers were back then), but a holy sailor's soul went to Fiddler's Green.

Etymology

Davy may stem from Duppy, a West Indian term for a malevolent ghost, or else, perhaps, from Saint David, also known as Dewi, the patron saint of Wales, or perhaps Davy Jones derives from the prophet Jonah, whose story is considered bad luck for sailors. Having said that, "Jones" is of course an extremely common Welsh surname. [1] As Saint David is the patron saint of Wales, the name Davy Jones may simply indicate the Welsh origin of the legend. Another suggestion is that the name Davy may be derived from the word Daeva, an evil spirit in Persian mythology that loves to cause harm and destruction.

Reputation

The tale of Davy Jones causes fear among sailors, who may refuse to discuss Davy Jones in any great detail. Not all traditions dealing with Davy Jones are fearful. In traditions associated with sailors crossing the Equatorial line, there was a "raucous and rowdy" initiation presided over by those who had crossed the line before, known as shellbacks, or Sons of Neptune. The eldest shellback was called King Neptune, and the next eldest was his assistant who was called Davy Jones. The Current Navy Hymn Anchors Aweigh refers to Davy Jones in its current lyrics adopted in the 1920's:

Stand, Navy, out to sea, Fight our battle cry; We'll never change our course, So vicious foe steer shy-y-y-y. Roll out the TNT, Anchors Aweigh. Sail on to victory And sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray!

Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh. Farewell to college joys, we sail at break of day-ay-ay-ay. Through our last night on shore, drink to the foam, Until we meet once more,

Here's wishing you a happy voyage home.