“Do you fear death?” often asked Davy Jones, the legendary captain of the ghost ship Flying Dutchman, in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Davy Jones, the fictional character- an octopus-faced man who has his heart kept in a chest as a forever-memory of his love’s betrayal- is a cruel sailor, with everlasting greed for violence.
For most of us, this octopus-faced Davy Jones comes to mind when somebody mentions ‘Davy Jones’ Locker.’ For the observant, of course, Davy Jones’ Locker is from where Jones raises the Black Pearl after making a pact with Jack Sparrow in the movie. Not just this movie, but there are many other movies, novels and poems that have told us the story of Davy Jones Locker.
What is Davy Jones’ Locker?
It is true saying that there’s always an element of truth in fiction and the stories around Davy Jones’ Locker do a better job of the truth. However the real story behind the phrase is quite different from the fictionalised version of it, some details of the legend seem to be true.
The phrase “Davy Jones’s Locker” is an idiom that refers to the seabed, the resting place of thousands of sailors drowned at sea.
Sailors use the phrase to denote the afterlife of seafarers or even objects including ships that are destined to be rested in the bottom of the ocean.
Nevertheless, the phrase, in its euphemistic sense, has been part of the English language for a quite long period, the origin of the word remains disputed.