Cartographer

This article is about the title. You may be looking for the artisan employed by the East India Trading Company.

George Swift was a notable cartographer active in Saint Martin in 1751.

"I am a cartographer in the employ of the King himself. I was sent here to complete the survey of the territory in Louisiana we have rightfully taken back from the Spanish. My ship here was beset upon by pirates—I believe I am the sole survivor. These lowly, er... fisherpersons saved my life and are escorting me upriver until a replacement crew and ship are sent."

―Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III to the Harbormaster

Cartography was the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography was built on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) could be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively. A cartographer was the individual who made maps.

History

"The captain of this ship is giving orders."
"My ship, makes me captain!"
"They be my charts."
"Well, that makes you...chart man!"

―Hector Barbossa and Jack Sparrow

When Jack Sparrow and the crew of the Barnacle visited New Orleans, searching for the Sun-and-Stars amulet, the Harbormaster asked them to show their official papers, which they didn't have. Improvising, Jack Sparrow lied that they were actually on a secret mission transporting a powerful member of the French aristocracy. Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III, who was the only one among them who could pass for a nobleman, then spoke in flawless French, introducing himself as a cartographer in the employ of the King of France himself. Though he was still skeptical, the harbormaster knew he would risk ending up on a guillotine if the young man was telling the truth and he interfered with his mission, so he let them all enter the city.

An expert Company cartographer painting the world map in Lord Beckett's office.

An artisan worked as an expert cartographer for the East India Trading Company chairman Lord Cutler Beckett during of Beckett's search for the Dead Man's Chest. He painted a large world map in Beckett's office. About two months later, in Davy Jones' Locker, as Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa argued over the captaincy of the Black Pearl, Barbossa pointed at his charts that would lead them back from the Land of the Dead to the world of the living, to which Sparrow replied that possession of the charts would make Barbossa a chartman.

Swift and Sons Chart House was one of the oldest cartography shops in Saint Martin. Sailors from all over the Caribbean went to the shop in search of reliable maps of the seas and stars. Its reputation was a source of tremendous pride to its owner, Mr. George W. Swift, who spent a great deal of his time and resources making sure that only the best of the best purchased his merchandise.

Behind the scenes

Cartographers were first mentioned in the junior novelization for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl by Irene Trimble, published in 2003. Although cartographers make their first appearance in the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the character was only identified as an "artisan" in other media, based on the film's screenplay, notably the reference books Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide and The Complete Visual Guide. The artisan in Dead Man's Chest was also identified as "an expert Company cartographer" in The Secret Files of the East India Trading Company.

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's first screenplay draft of The Curse of the Black Pearl, Joshamee Gibbs said that Jack Sparrow commissioned the Black Pearl when he was a cartographer in England. In the 2003 junior novelization, Gibbs explains to Will Turner that Jack worked as a cartographer's apprentice when he obtained his famous compass.

In Terry Rossio's original script for Dead Men Tell No Tales, Philip Swift lost contact with Syrena and eventually became a cartographer's apprentice in Kingston, Jamaica, spending several years in search of a legendary mermaid treasure called the Mermaid Trove, hoping to be reunited with his love.

Appearances

• Jack Sparrow: The Age of Bronze (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization) (First mentioned)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (First appearance)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Mentioned only)
• The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Movie Graphic Novel

External links

• Cartography on Wikipedia