Davy Jones' loose

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Davy Jones in anticipation of a well-filled crate as a result of crashing ships, illustration by John Tenniel (1892)

Davy Jones 'Locker (dt. Davy Jones' box / cabinet ) is an English idiom for the bottom of the ocean as the final resting place of drowned sailors - the "seaman's grave" or "wet grave". The term is used as a euphemism for death on the high seas, e.g. B. in the expression to be sent to Davy Jones 'Locker - ' to be sent in Davy Jones 'box'.

Davy Jones is used as a nickname by sailors to refer to the devil of the sea . If, for example, the competition has reached the goal faster in an order, a foreign power or a pact with the devil is assumed.

origin

literature

Davy Jones , illustration by George Cruikshank for Tobias Smollett's The adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1832)

Daniel Defoe used the expression Davy Jones' Locker as early as 1726 in his book The Four Years Voyages of Captain George Roberts : "Heaving the rest into David Jones's Locker, ie the sea". However, there is still no association with the accident.

The earliest known reference to a negative meaning of Davy Jones is in the book The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett from the year 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.
(Eng .: That Davy Jones is, in the opinion of the seafarers, the monster who rules over all evil spirits of the deep. One sees him in various forms on the eve of hurricanes, shipwrecks and other disasters to which the seafaring life is exposed sit in the rigging and thus warn the wretched who are doomed to death and suffering.)

Jones describes the same story as a creature with big eyes, three rows of teeth, horns, a tail, and blue smoke that comes out of its nostrils.

In 1824 Washington mentions Irving 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's a thousand pities, added he, if he has gone to Davy Jones's locker.
(Eng .: He came in a storm, he said, and he went in a storm; he came in the night and he went in the night; nobody knows where he came from and nobody knows where he was going. As far as I know He set sail again with his box and may well go ashore to plague people on the other side of the world; it would be a shame, he added, if he had ended up in Davy Jones' locker .)

In 1835, Edgar Allan Poe had one of the two seamen exclaim in his story King Pest : "Whose name is Davy Jones!", Whereby this (depending on the interpretation) refers to death or the devil.

In 1840 Richard Henry Dana told in his book Two Years Before the Mast about his life on board a brig a few years earlier. Davy Jones is mentioned several times, both in the texts of some sea shanties and in statements by seafarers, always in connection with death at sea.

Theories on the origin of the legend

The exact origin of the legendary figure Davy Jones is unknown and there are a number of possible explanations. One claims that the name goes back to a pirate named David Jones who roamed the Indian Ocean in the 1630s . But this theory is generally questioned because the said pirate was actually not famous or notorious enough to establish such a reputation.

Other sources assume a British pub owner who is mentioned in the song Jones's Ale is Newe from 1594. It is alleged that this Jones locked up drunken sailors in his beer cupboard (ale loosely) and then loaded them on any ship. The name could also be traced back to Duffer Jones , a well-known short-sighted sailor who frequently fell overboard.

Mythological-religious origins can also be found, e.g. For example, the Welsh sailors who worship Saint David (also called Dewi ) for protection in times of danger . Some sources call him Deva , Davy or Taffy and refer to him as the thief of evil souls . In the West Indian region there is the term duppy for a malevolent spirit. The last name Jones could have come from the prophet Jonah , whose story is linked to misfortune for seafarers.

Modern renderings by Davy Jones

Pirates of the Caribbean

Davy Jones Cosplay

Davy Jones is the villain in parts two and three of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series , portrayed by Bill Nighy and computer generated using motion capture technology. He commands his ship there, the Flying Dutchman (ship name and figure of Jones were inspired by the legend of the Flying Dutchman ) along with his crew of beings who are still half human, half sea creatures that have grown together with the ship. Davy Jones is depicted as a cross between human, octopus and cancer , with a beard made of tentacles (similar to the head of the Cthulhu ), a cancer arm with oversized cancer scissors instead of his left hand and a cancer leg that looks like a wooden leg. Further attributes are a tobacco pipe and a key hidden in his tentacle beard to the chest that contains his beating heart. On an organ he plays wildly temperamental music with the help of his many tentacles, which can be interpreted as an expression of his tormented lovesickness and his bitterness.

The cause of his grief lies before the film begins: He was once a sailor who fell in love with the pagan goddess Calypso . This gave him the task of safely transferring the souls of those who died at sea to the afterlife. It sits on the ocean floor as Davy Jones 'Empire (Davy Jones' Locker) . After ten years, it is said, the curse is broken, provided that his beloved has remained loyal to him during this time and is waiting for him that day. Since Calypso had not waited for him after ten years, the deceived Jones turned away from his task. Since then he has been tearing people into the depths of the sea on their ships and incorporating them into his crew as soon as they, out of fear of death, declare themselves ready to serve him. They then turn into cursed undead who slowly lose their identity and become part of the ship.

As punishment for this betrayal, Davy Jones was transformed into his inhuman form by Calypso. He can only die by causing damage to his heart locked in a hidden chest. In the confused, partly contradicting narrative of the film, it remains unclear whether he had to cut out his heart before starting the task or whether he only did so in response to Calypso's infidelity out of lovesickness. In the course of the third film, it is the prerequisite for being the captain of the Flying Dutchman and taking on the task of transferring souls: the person whose living heart lies in the chest is also the (almost) immortal captain of the ship. Davy Jones dies when his heart is pierced with a dagger by the fatally wounded Will Turner (assisted by Captain Jack Sparrow ) at the end of Part Three. Turner then takes Jones' place as the new Captain and keeps his own heart in the chest.

watch TV

  • In several episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants , the term is used as a play on words and the English word is used loosely to mean locker : The Flying Dutchman threatens to send Mr. Krabs into Davy Jones' locker, which is filled with smelly sports socks. In another episode he ends up in a locker himself while singer Davy Jones throws socks at him.
  • Davy Jones is often mentioned in the TV series Rockos Modern Life .
  • In an episode (season 1, episode 59) of She-Ra , a mouse named Davy Jones appears to help the pirate Seehawk.

Comic

  • In the comic series Hellboy , Davy Jones' Locker describes an underwater space filled with glasses in the shape of a person. The room belongs to the evil fish-like witch Bog Roosh , who draws her strength from the souls of the drowned sailors.
  • In the anime and manga series One Piece , Davy Jones is considered the inspiration for the Davy Back Fight - a game among different pirate crews, in which the winner can take over crew members from the losing crew. The coins used in this game are tossed into the sea as a form of payment for Davy Jones. (Anime: Episodes 207-219)

Games

  • In the "Black Rose" pinball machine there is a movable ramp called Davy Jones Locker.
  • In the computer game The Secret of Monkey Island , the main character Guybrush Threepwood describes a store owner's safe as “one of Davey Jones' Lockers”.
  • In The Curse of Monkey Island , a later part of the Monkey Island game series , the would-be pirate Wally boasts with the statement "I'm so tough, that in junior high I stuffed Davy Jones in his locker!" In the further course of the game you will also find a flying Welshman . This "dark" contemporary got lost on the open sea and can only be found in the harbor when the island's lighthouse has been successfully put back into operation.
  • In the fourth world of the video game Banjo-Tooie , the boss, a gigantic monkfish named Lord Woo Fak Fak , is in a cupboard labeled D. Jones .
  • In the PC game King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella , the message "She has been sent back to Davy Jones' locker" appears every time Rosella swims too long in the sea.
  • In the game Blood Money (1989), a shop on an underwater level is called Davy Jones Equipment Locker
  • In Wizardry 8 , the Davy Jones' Locker box that the player finds at the bottom of the sea contains the best items in the game.
  • In the English tabletop game Pirates of the Spanish Main , Davy Jones is a special crew member of the haunted faction, with his flagship Flying Dutchman .
  • In the game Battlefield 1942 , the names of the individual computer-controlled soldiers are visible and an Allied soldier bears this name.
  • In the game Assassin's Creed III , a man from the crew of the Aquila occasionally shouts "Say hi to Davy Jones for me!" when sinking an enemy ship.
  • In Assassin's Creed IV , a man from the Jackdaw's crew will occasionally shout "Send them down to Davy Jones!" When the attack on a ship begins.

music

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This term is also mentioned in Benjamin Britten's operas dealing with the sea : Peter Grimes and Billy Budd . In the first, this term manifests itself in the song of the second scene of the first act and is introduced by the main character:

When I had gone fishing / When he had gone fishing / When You Know'd gone fishing / We found us Davy Jones. / Bring him in with horror, / Bring him with terror, / And bring him in with sorrow! / Oh, haul a-way.

In Billy Budd , too , Davy Jones appears in the dramaturgy based on a song, this time performed by the character Red Whiskers in the third scene of the first act based on a "vocal round" of the crew:

We're towing to Malta / The rock of Gibraltar / With only a halter / And Davy Jones lying below, / So pray to the Devil below.

In both cases, the above explanation of the meaning of the term in the Anglophone-speaking area is clearly verified.

literature

  • Davy or David Jones' Locker is mentioned in two books by Neal Stephenson : In the 1999 novel Cryptonomicon and in Quicksilver , the first volume from Stephenson's Baroque trilogy .
  • In Eric Linklater's teenage fantasy novel The Pirates of the Deep Green Sea (1949), Davy Jones plays a leading role as a benevolent underwater monarch.
  • Davy Jones is a wooden whale and companion in John Rea Neill's Lucky Bucky in Oz book in the Oz series .
  • The term Davy Jones is also mentioned in Herman Melville's book Moby Dick .
  • In Franzobel's The Raft of Medusa, the horror of the sea is described in detail.

Web links

Commons : Davy Jones  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bartleby.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. (January 1, 2000). Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 6, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. As of July 16, 2006 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bartleby.com
  2. ^ Brewer, E. Cobham (January 1, 1898). Davy Jones's Locker. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, http://www.bartleby.com/81/4705.html . As of April 30, 2006
  3. ^ Rogoziński: The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pirates . January 1997, ISBN 1-85326-384-2
  4. ↑ Frank Shay: A Sailor's Treasury. Norton. As of July 16, 2006