Abandon ship

Lieutenant Gillette ordering his men in a longboat to abandon ship.

"Everyone, abandon ship. We are sinking fast..."

―Ammand

Abandon ship was a term meaning to leave completely and finally, ceasing to operate or inhabit a sailing ship or any other sailing vessel. This was given as an order by a ship's captain or officer, commonly in response to an impending threat. The tradition state that the captain should be the last person to leave their vessel alive before its sinking, and if they're unable to evacuate the crew and passengers from the ship, the captain will choose not to save himself even if he has an opportunity to do so.

History

The crew of the Black Pearl after Jack Sparrow gives the order to abandon ship.

"Abandon ship. Abandon ship or abandon hope."

―Joshamee Gibbs

By the Age of Piracy, the phrase "abandon ship" was used before leaving a sinking ship at sea. When the rogue pirate sloop Koldunya attacked and heavily damaged Captain Hector Barbossa's pirate schooner, the Cobra, Barbossa ordered his crew to abandon ship. Years later, as the HMS Interceptor was commandeered by Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, Lieutenant Gillette of the British Royal Navy gave the order to abandon ship after the longboat he and his men were in was about to be crushed by the HMS Dauntless. Jack Sparrow later gave his crew aboard the Black Pearl the order to abandon ship when Davy Jones dispatched the Kraken to attacked by the Pearl. Cotton's parrot was known to have squawked "Abandon ship" at several points in time during Captain Jack Sparrow's adventures, notably when Sparrow's crew was attacked by the many-headed serpent on the island of the Cloak of Caladonis. As the pirates of the Brethren Court's Armada realize they are outnumbered by the East India Trading Company Armada, Cotton's parrot squawked "Abandon ship!" twice as it started flapping its wings, headed back toward Shipwreck Island. Later, when Lord Cutler Beckett fails to give an order as the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman fired upon the Endeavour, Lieutenant Theodore Groves gave the order to abandon ship. During Blackbeard's attack on the Black Pearl, Hector Barbossa was put in another position where he thought to give the order to abandon ship, the words he never thought he would utter again.

Behind the scenes

"The Pearl was pitching and yawing violently. So violently we could not maneuver...could not man the cannons...so violently it actually came to my mind to give...the order. THE order! THE order! The order no man who calls himself captain ever dreams he’ll be givin’! Abandon ship."

―Hector Barbossa

"Abandon ship" is first uttered and experienced by Lieutenant Gillette in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

In the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, when Captain Jack Sparrow asks his crew if they think that he's not serving in their best interests as captain, Cotton's Parrot squawks "Walk the plank." This was the line as written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay. However, the parrot squawks "ABANDON SHIP!" in the junior novelization and the movie storybook.

In the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, after noticing the fleet of the Pirate Lords looked small beside the vast numbers of the East India Trading Company Armada, Cotton's Parrot squawks "Abandon ship!" as it flapped it wings, headed back toward Shipwreck Island. In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's Calypso's Fury screenplay draft, the parrot does not say anything as it headed back toward the island.

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay draft for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, when Hector Barbossa told Jack Sparrow the dramatic tale of his encounter with Blackbeard, Hector said the Black Pearl was pitching and yawing so violently it actually came to his mind to give the order to abandon ship. Although this line of dialogue never made it to the final cut of the film, it was retained in the 2017 online game Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War.

In Terry Rossio's original 2012 screenplay draft for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Jack Sparrow would have given the order to abandon ship once his ship, the Cuttlefish, got damaged, only to discover that the ship was already empty.

Appearances

• Jack Sparrow: Sins of the Father
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom (Mentioned in flashback(s))
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (First appearance)
• Legends Lost!
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (comic)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: The Movie Storybook
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War (Mentioned in flashback(s))
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Non-canonical appearance)
• Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life (Mentioned only) (Non-canonical appearance)

External links

• Abandon ship on Wikipedia