On Stranger Tides (novel)

"Join us, wholly adopt our goals as your own, or be killed right now where you stand."

- Philip Davies

On Stranger Tides is a novel by Tim Powers published in 1987. In 2006 or 2007, Disney optioned it for a film and decided to use it as the basis for the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Publisher's Summary
Puppeteer John Chandagnac, who was sailing to Jamaica to get revenge on the uncle who had stolen his father's inheritance, has no choice but to join the buccaneers who have taken him prisoner&mdash;and soon, known now as the pirate "Jack Shandy", he finds himself learning to survive in a treacherous new world of cutlass-fights, sea-battles, and voodoo magic on sun-blinded tropical islands. The legendary Blackbeard, a child of voodoo whose spirit is infested with ghosts, is assembling an empire of ruthless navy of pirates, living and undead, to voyage to the fabled Fountain of Youth, and Jack Shandy must use magic, swordsmanship, and even his puppeteer skills to free himself and the girl he has fallen in love with from Blackbeard's deadly supernatural domination.

Characters

 * John Chandagnac/Jack Shandy - a puppeteer forced to become a pirate.
 * Philip Davies - a notorious pirate, one of the captains of the sloop Jenny.
 * Johnny Con/Edward &quot;Ed&quot; Thatch/Edmund Morcilla (Blackbeard) - a pirate who wants to achive immortality, captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge.
 * Benjamin Hurwood/Ulysse Segundo - former professor who wants to resurrect his dead wife.
 * Leo Friend - Hurwood's assistant who wants to achive immortality.
 * Elizabeth "Beth" Hurwood - Benjamin Hurwood's daughter.
 * Stede Bonnet - Blackbeard's puppet, captain of the sloop Revenge.
 * Joshua Hicks/Sebastian Chandagnac - Shandy's treacherous uncle.
 * "Governor" Sawney/Juan Ponce de León - the former governor of New Providence Island, an immortal Spaniard.
 * Anne Bonny - a female pirate in Nassau.
 * Arthur Chaworth - one of the captains of the Vociferous Carmichael.
 * Sam Wilson - captain of the Whitney.
 * Skank - Shandy's first mate.
 * Robert Maynard - a British Royal Navy lieutenant who is responsible for Blackbeard's first death.

Locations

 * Andros Island/Isle de Loas Bossals - an island in the Bahamas where Hurwood summons the ghost of his dead wife.
 * New Providence - a pirate island in the Bahamas, brought under British rule by Woodes Rogers.
 * Florida - a peninsula covered with jungles, location of the Fountain of Youth.
 * Jamaica - an island in the central Caribbean, ruled by the British.
 * L'Arcahaye - a French village on Hispaniola.

Ships

 * Vociferous Carmichael - a merchant ship captured by pirates, later converted into a pirate ship and renamed the Ascending Orpheus.
 * Jenny - a pirate sloop, originally captained by Philip Davies but later by Jack Shandy.
 * Revenge - a pirate sloop captained by Stede Bonnet.
 * Whitney - a British Royal Navy man-of-war, destroyed somewhere in Florida Keys by Davies and Shandy.
 * HMS Delicia - a British Royal Navy brig which brought governor Woodes Rogers to the New Providence Island.
 * Charlotte Bailey - English privateer, sunked in 1630 in battle with Spanish galleon, later brought to surface as a spectral ghost ship crewed by the undead.
 * Nuestra Senora de Lagrimas - Spanish treasure galleon, sunked in 1630 in battle with English privateer, later brought to surface as a spectral ghost ship crewed by the undead.
 * Adventure - a pirate sloop, the last ship captained by Blackbeard before his first death.
 * Queen Anne's Revenge - Blackbeard's flagship, hidden somewhere by Blackbeard before his first death.

Connection with Pirates of the Caribbean
On September 11, 2009, the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film was announced, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. After the title was announced, those familiar with Tim Powers' novel suspected there was a connection. On October 6, 2009, Powers was able to confirm that Disney had optioned his book in April 2007.

When asked about how his book would mix with the Pirates of the Caribbean film, Powers said the trip to the Fountain of Youth is probably the most obvious thing(because of it being revealed at the end of At World's End). He mentioned that the main character of his book and Jack Sparrow are totally different characters, but Barbossa and Blackbeard might be able to overlap.

On March 2010, it has been confirmed by Jerry Bruckheimer that the search for the Fountain of Youth will be the plot basis and that both Barbossa and Blackbeard would appear in the film, with Blackbeard as the villain, portrayed by Ian McShane. In 2010, one of the ships used in the films, the Sunset, was reconstructed to portray Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge.

Elements from the book to the film
Terry Rossio stated that the On Stranger Tides novel was stylistically integrated into the Pirates of the Caribbean universe when making the fourth film. The film would include:
 * Angelica – a character loosely based off of Beth Hurwood, the daughter of the Benjamin Hurwood, one of the villains of the novel. In the film, Angelica was made to be the daughter of Blackbeard and was redesigned on account of Penélope Cruz's casting.
 * Queen Anne's Revenge – Blackbeard's ship that appeared in the film, while it made a brief appearance in the novel.
 * Zombies – some were part of Blackbeard's crew like in the novel.
 * Blackbeard – as the main villain in the film, like in the novel.
 * Juan Ponce de León – appeared as a corpse aboard the Santiago in the film, while in the novel, he was very much alive under the guise of Governor Sawney.
 * Fountain of Youth – Jack Sparrow and Blackbeard search for it in an unnamed island, while in the novel Jack Shandy and Blackbeard searched for it in Florida.