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Davy Jones: The Welsh Pirate

One story suggests that the Davy Jones character came from the frightful pirate David Jones, who sailed during the 1630s in the Indian Ocean. However, there is little known about him, which only makes this concept even more unclear.

"During the 1630s, a pirate captain named David Jones sailed through the Indian Ocean, but many historians believe that he was not famous enough to be remembered for quite a long time." [Kouachi, Mecheri & Zerrouki 25]

There are also rumours of a Welsh pirate Dafydd Jones, though it is unclear if these are the same two people. Either way, there is too little known about the figure(s) in order to make strong connections. But, having said that, if the myths of his ruthlessness are true, there is definitely a connection that can be made to our contemporary Davy Jones.

Davy Jones: The Pub Owner

A slightly stronger theory that has been circling around is the figure of a London pub owner, who would drug and/or heavily intoxicate his customers and sell them to ship captains, where they would wake and find themselves unwillingly in the middle of the ocean, or technically, 'Davy Jones' Locker'.

Some stories go on to say that Jones eventually became bankrupt, stealing a ship and becoming a pirate himself. He would sail around the Atlantic, keelhauling or decapitating other crews as well as locking them to their sinking ships.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any direct references to quote, but I have linked some articles below that discuss this theory.

Davy Jones: The Prophet

There are some rumours that Davy Jones, or at least the origins of his name, derives from Saint David, the patron Saint of Wales, as well as the figure of the prophet Jonah from the Bible, who was swallowed by a whale.

I think it better to include this in the words of W. Pinkerton, in the scholarly journal Notes & Queries in 1851:

During many years of seafaring life, I have frequently considered the origin of this phrase, and have now arrived at the conclusion that it is derived from the scriptural account of the prophet Jonah. The word 'locker', on board of ship, generally means the place where any particular thing is retained or kept, as "bread locker", "shot locker", "chain locker", &c. In the sublime ode in the second chapter of the Book of Jonah, we find that the prophet, praying for deliverance, described his situation in the following words:—"in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about; the depth closed me round about; the earth with her bars was about me." The sea, then, might not be misappropriately termed by a rude mariner, Jonah's locker—that is, the place where Jonah was kept or confined. Jonah's locker, in time, might be readily corrupted to Jones's locker; and Davy, as a very common Welsh accompaniment of the equally Welsh name, Jones, added, the true derivation of the phrase having been forgotten. [Pinkerton 509]

Davy Jones: The Devil

A very early (perhaps even the second after Defoe's writing in 1726) mention of Davy Jones' and his Locker is in 1751, in Chapter XIII of Smollett's The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle. Here, Jones is described as a devilish sort of character, with a terrifying appearance that almost resembles the typical imagery of Satan:

“By the Lord! Jack, you may say what you wool; but I'll be damned if it was not Davy Jones himself. I know him by his saucer eyes, his three rows of teeth, his horns and tail, and the blue smoke that came out of his nostrils. What does the blackguard hell's baby want with me?[...]” This same Davy Jones, according to the mythology of 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, shipwrecks, and other disasters, to which a seafaring life is exposed; warning the devoted wretch of death and woe. No wonder then that Trunnion was disturbed by a supposed visit of this demon, which, in his opinion, foreboded some dreadful calamity. [Smollett 105]

This was then illustrated in 1832 by George Cruikshank, visualising all of the characteristics mentioned above.

Whilst this depiction is rather different to the one we get in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, with horns rather than tentacles and blue smoke rather than the classic pipe, it's still interesting to see how Davy Jones was sometimes thought to be as horrifying as we see him now, simply based on his involvement with death at sea.

Overall, I hope that we get to find out more about the initial myths and legends that surround Davy Jones in real-world context, as I think that the information from word-of-mouth stories that we have so far are compelling already. I would love to read more older texts that reference him or his Locker, so that we might gain a better understanding of his place in seafaring history.

CITATIONS:

[Abdenour Kouachi, Ahmed Soufyane Mecheri, and Zina Zerrouki. Tracing The Origin Of The Stereotypical Image Of Pirates. 2021. https://bucket.theses-algerie.com/files/repositories-dz/1921423357564832.pdf]

['Notes and Queries'. Vol. 3, Issue. 86. 1851, pp. 490-512. https://archive.org/details/sim_notes-and-queries_1851-06-21_3_86/page/512/mode/2up]

[Merchant Mariner Guide. Davy Jones: The Legend, The Pirates, and The Flying Dutchman. 2023. https://merchantmarinerguide.com/blog/f/davy-jones-the-legend-the-pirates-and-the-flying-dutchman?blogcategory=History+]

[Famous Pirates. Davy Jones - Legend, Facts and Biography of Famous Pirate. http://www.famous-pirates.com/pirates-facts/davy-jones/]

[Owlcation. Old Sea Legends: The Incredible Story of Davy Jones and His Locker. 2023. https://owlcation.com/humanities/Old-sea-legends-The-Incredible-story-of-Davy-Jones-and-his-Locker]

[Marine Insight. The Real Story Behind The “Davy Jones’ Locker” 2022. https://www.marineinsight.com/maritime-history/the-story-behind-the-term-davy-jones-locker/]