East India Trading Company

"The East India Trading Company has need of your services."

- Cutler Beckett to William Turner

The East India Trading Company, otherwise referred to as the East India Company or abbreviated as EITC, was a joint-stock company and megacorporation formed for pursuing and monopolizing trade with the East Indies and the Caribbean. The East India Company traded mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, saltpetre, tea and opium. The Company was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600. Shares of the Company were owned by wealthy merchants and aristocrats. The government owned no shares and had only indirect control. The Company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own private armies, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions.

Foundation
"Had a brush with the East India Trading Company, did we, pirate?"

- Commodore James Norrington to Jack Sparrow



The English East India Trading Company was established by British explorers who discovered the exotic riches of the East Indies, particularly India, during their initial voyages to the region. With trading voyages sponsored by English merchants hoping to profit from gold, silver, ivory, silk and spices, the company grew in size and power. It began to expand into the Caribbean when the attention of the company's leaders turned to the area's rich plantations. This expansion was led by it's Governor/Chairman Lord Cutler Beckett. The company ultimately expanded so much that any threat posed to it was a threat to Great Britain itself.

Piracy was one of the biggest problems for the Company. In the late 1720s, several EITC ships was sent to join Admiral Lawrence Norrington's Royal Navy fleet and participate in his hunt for Edward Teague, Keeper of the Code and one of the most notorious pirates on the Seven Seas. Though Norrington managed to capture Teague for a brief time, his mission miserably failed.

The company was based in London, led by a single Governor and a Court of Directors. Through one of its employees, Cutler Beckett, it was known to have condoned the transport of slaves from Africa to the Caribbean. However, Jack Sparrow, captain of the Wicked Wench, refused to carry out this sinful task, and Beckett had his ship torched and Sparrow himself branded a pirate.

The Shadow Lord
"I serve the Company, whatever they need me to do."

- Benedict Huntington to Marcella Magliore

In the early 1730s, Benedict Huntington, the Company's manager for Hong Kong, attempted to eradicate piracy in the East Indies, attacking the hideouts of Chinese pirates led by Mistress Ching and Sao Feng. When he failed, he used the havoc created on the Seven Seas by the Shadow Lord, to attack all Pirate Lords of the Brethren Court. In his quest, he followed Jack Sparrow, the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Though he had some success, in the end, Huntington's quest was a failure.

In 1740, the Company sent a fleet of ships to the Bahamas to participate in one of the many conflicts in that area.



In the Caribbean
"What is the East India Trading Company doing in the Caribbean?" "Well, we are East of India. Just the long way around. After all, when goods do not cross borders, then armies will."

- Will Turner and Lord Cutler Beckett

Meanwhile, Cutler Beckett remained a loyal member of the company, attaining the title of Lord and rising to the position of Governor. He relocated to Port Royal, with great ambitions for the company's future. He intended not only to eradicate piracy on the Seven Seas, but also to monopolize them completely by assuming control of Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchman. He wielded more executive power than Governor Weatherby Swann, forcing him to cooperate by sending favorable reports of Beckett's actions back to England. During this time, the British government was careful to protect the Company's ships, and supplied marines and vessels of the British Royal Navy as guards and escorts in case of pirate attacks.

The company also tightened its control over maritime commerce in the Caribbean by imposing heavy fees and tariffs on other merchants and businessmen. This made it increasingly difficult to conduct business for those not affiliated with the company. This stranglehold on Caribbean shipping drove honest sailors and merchant captains like Captain Bellamy to make port in lawless places like Tortuga, beyond the company's reach.

Exterminating Piracy
"We need prisoners to interrogate. Which works best when they are alive." "I am exterminating pirates, as commanded by the Company."

- Cutler Beckett and Davy Jones

Around this time, it was revealed that the Company was doing much more than that. It made deals with other forces in the Caribbean, such as the infamous Jolly Roger. The alliance was to eradicate piracy. As the Company prepared for attack, many of the settled islands of the Caribbean (Port Royal, Tortuga, Padres Del Fuego) were mysteriously destroyed by explosions. The Port Royal explosion was a result of a careless planting of gunpowder (same for Padres del Fuego, as well), while the Tortuga explosions were an open war against Piracy. The Battle of Padres occurred, and the EITC implemented their force with Jolly Roger's magic, and allowed him to begin his Invasions against the three islands. The alliance ultimately broke with the discovery of Spanish Conquistador El Patron's lost weapons, after the Battle of Raven's Cove.

With the eventual capture of the heart of Davy Jones, thus passing command of the Flying Dutchman to Lord Beckett, an armada of over three hundred vessels was assembled, with the express aim of eradicating piracy across the world. This armada was led into confrontation with the Pirate Lords of the Brethren Court during the Battle of Calypso's maelstrom, though this proved to be a decisive victory for the pirates. The HMS Endeavour, Beckett's flagship, was destroyed by the combined efforts of the Black Pearl and William Turner's crew aboard the Flying Dutchman, and Beckett himself was killed in the onslaught. The ships of the East India Trading Company fled the scene, and the organization's influence in the Caribbean seemed set to fall.

Symbols and trademarks
"Deo Ducente Nil Nocet. [Nothing can harm us when God leads us.]"

- Company motto

The East India Trading Company utilized a well-known trademark which it stamped, stenciled and painted on all cargo loaded aboard transports. The design featured the Company's initials separated by triple crosses, making the overall design resemble an anchor, and also featured on the flags of the Company's merchant and warships. It served as both a guarantee of quality and to ward off thieves and pirates. Objects bearing this logo reached as far afield as the cannibal island of Pelegosto.

The Company also maintained a coat of arms: a gold-on-maroon design featuring waving pennants and sea lions supporting a shield of ships and roses. The Company's Latin motto was displayed beneath. This symbolized the Company's scope and grand goals.

Known employees
"I have trained all the Company agents impeccably. They can spot a pirate on sight."

- Benedict Huntington to Barbara Huntington

Known ships


"I do want you to remember, Jack, that the EITC has more ships than the British Royal Navy."

- Cutler Beckett to Jack Sparrow

Behind the scenes

 * In real-world history, the organization was mainly known as simply the "East India Company," whose motto was "Auspicio Regis et Senatus Angliae [By the Command of the King and Parliament of England]". Also, the Company seems to have far greater power in the POTC world than it had in real-world history. One example of that is the Company's expansion in the Caribbean, which never happened.

Appearances

 * Jack Sparrow: Silver
 * Jack Sparrow: Sins of the Father
 * The Price of Freedom
 * Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean
 * Legends of the Brethren Court: Rising in the East
 * Legends of the Brethren Court: The Turning Tide
 * Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters
 * Legends of the Brethren Court: Day of the Shadow
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Isles of War
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
 * The Star of the Sea
 * The Compass of Destiny!
 * Tears of the Goddess
 * Pirates of the Caribbean Online
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)

Non-canon appearances

 * A Pirate's Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas
 * LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game