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"We are an unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things." The title of this article is conjectural. |
- "Let no joyful voice be heard. Let no man look up at the sky with hope. And let this day be cursed by we who ready to wake...the Kraken!"
- ―Davy Jones upon releasing the Kraken.
The Destruction of the Edinburgh Trader was a battle between the Edinburgh Trader and the Kraken, resulting in Will Turner's escape and the destruction of the ship. This was also the first battle in the search for the Dead Man's Chest.
Prelude[]
Escape with a Key[]
- "Master Turner, feel free to go ashore…the very next time we make port!"
- ―Davy Jones to William Turner
The Flying Dutchman following the Edinburgh Trader.
Will Turner, who had leeway to leave the Flying Dutchman, silently escaped the ship one night after his capture with the Key to the Dead Man's Chest in his possession. When Davy Jones found out it was missing, he quickly realized that Jack Sparrow was attempting to recover the Dead Man's Chest despite his offer for more crew members, so he gave chase to Turner.
Davy Jones summoning the Kraken.
The crew of the Edinburgh Trader caught Will at sea and brought him on board. As the Dutchman came up on the Trader, Jones had Bootstrap Bill Turner (Will's father) taken up on deck, so as to punish him for aiding in Will's escape. However, instead of giving Will the mercy of killing him in ship to ship combat, Jones used the Kraken Hammer, summoning the Kraken to destroy the Trader, in spite of Bootstrap's horror.
The Battle[]
The Trader's halt[]
- "Mother Carey's chickens! What happened?"
"Must have hit a reef." - ―Bursar and Quartermaster
When the Flying Dutchman was spotted by the crew of the Edinburgh Trader, Captain Bellamy used his spyglass to confirm which ship was approaching. Will Turner climbed up to the mast of the ship and deduced that the Dutchman was getting closer and closer to them, inferring that he had condemned not only himself, but also his rescuers. Desperate to warn his allies, Turner yelled at Bellamy that the ship he was staring intently at was the Dutchman, but in that moment, the Trader came to a halt after apparently hitting a reef, as the ship's Quartermaster guessed. By the impact, Turner almost fell to his death on the Trader's deck, however he managed to avoid such a fate by holding onto the sail's ropes.
Captain Bellamy checking what had hit the Edinburgh Trader before giving his final order.
Bellamy along the Cook and the Bursar of the Trader moved to the railing to find the supposed reef with which they had impacted, however they only saw pure sea water. Without understanding what had happened, Bellamy gave the order to his helmsman to turn the rudder to set sail to another direction, an order that was repeated by the Deckhand and the Cook.
The Kraken Strikes[]
- "Kraken!"
- ―Cook
The Kraken start its attack.
At that moment, the Trader suddenly came to a halt because the Kraken hooked on to the ship, unknown to its crew. As Captain Bellamy gave orders to the crew, he was suddenly grabbed by a giant tentacle and was pulled into the sea. A Sailor noticed Bellamy's undoing, but was to scared to say something to the Cook and the Bursar before the two came to understand what he was attempting to communicate to them. They found out when Bellamy emerged from the water one last time. The captain was last seen screaming as the huge tentacle whipped him around, rising high into the air before slapping him back under the water again to his death. Much to the fear of the crew, this alerted the whole crew of the Kraken's presence. As the Kraken's tentacles slowly moved up the hull of the ship, the crew members of the Edinburgh Trader frantically armed themselves with cutlasses, pistols, axes, muskets and spears to attempted to defend themselves from the Kraken. William Turner who was already on the rigging into the main mast, was able to take in the scene from above.
A screaming sailor falls into the Kraken's mouth.
The Kraken's tentacles were too strong for any of these smaller armaments, and many crewmen were grabbed. The Bursar of the ship, believing the Kraken attack was because of the widowed spirit, desperately attempted to make an offering of Elizabeth's dress but was soon snatched by a tentacle himself. The Kraken then snapped the main mast, forcing Will to spring onto the next one as it fell. As he climbs up the mast, one of the Kraken's tentacles curls around the mast beneath him. Although the other crewmen have trouble defeating the Kraken's many tentacles, Will drew his sword and slashes at one tentacle before stabbing it. In one final move, the Kraken brought down two enormous tentacles onto the ship causing it to break in half. This allowed the Kraken to surface at the center of the destruction and easily drag crew members into its open mouth, dropping one screaming sailor with a tentacle. Will dove into the water away from the Kraken as the pillar of the final mast that he was holding onto was crushed.
Aftermath[]
- "The chest is no longer safe. Chart a course to Isla Cruces. Get me there first, or there'll be the devil to pay!"
"First?"
"Who sent that thieving charlatan on to my ship, who told him of the key?...Jack Sparrow."" - ―Davy Jones and Koleniko
Will escapes the attack.
While neither Davy Jones or the crew of the Flying Dutchman suffered any casualties, the Kraken suffered some, as it was left with slight injuries inflicted by the weapons of the Edinburgh Trader's crew, albeit its injuries were not from major damage.
Every crewmember of the Edinburgh Trader was killed, except Will Turner. The rest of the survivors, including the Cook and the Sailor, were killed by the crew of the Flying Dutchman under Davy Jones' orders. In the aftermath of this, Jones ordered Bill Turner to be sent to the brig, where he would spend the next couple months, slowly merging with the ship. Will, though silently stowed on board the Dutchman. When the Dutchman sailed to Isla Cruces, Will went with them, intent on finding the Dead Man's Chest and Jack Sparrow.
Behind the scenes[]
The destruction of the Edinburgh Trader appeared in media relating to the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.[1]
In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay for Dead Man's Chest, as Davy Jones' crewmen turn the capstan to summon Jones' leviathan, the Kraken, it was said that Jones was quoting, "Let no joyful voice be heard. Let no man look up at the sky in hope. Let this day be cursed, by we who ready to wake the Leviathan."[3] While unclear, the line "Leviathan" was spoken as "Kraken" by the final version of the film,[1] Jones was quoting the Book of Job from the Bible, though a paraphrased version of chapter 3, verses 7 and 8 ("Lo! that night—let it be gloomy, Let no singing come into it. Let the cursers of day mark it, Who are ready to wake up Leviathan."), as confirmed by Elliott in the audio commentary.[4]
Orlando Bloom and his stunt double Zach Hudson appeared on top of the mast of the Edinburgh Trader. According to Elliott and Rossio, Hudson did the stuntwork on the mast, though Bloom was up there at some point.[4] Peter Bailey, a model builder for the film, also detailed Hudson's stuntwork of diving from a falling special effects rigged mast, a shot that was repeated about seven times for rehearsal before the final filming.[5]
Appearances[]
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization) (First appearance)
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- ↑ The timeline established by Dead Men Tell No Tales (which takes place in 1751) sets the events of Dead Man's Chest circa 1729.
- ↑ Wordplayer.com: WORDPLAY/Archives/Screenplay - PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dead Man's Chest - Audio Commentary with Screenwriters Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
- ↑ Peter Bailey on Facebook (post on February 22, 2025): "Pirates of the seas | Here Orlando Bloom's stunt double Zack is diving from a falling special effects rigged mast, a shot that was repeated about 7 times for rehearsal and then to get the final filming. He gets paid for every time it's done until the shot is in the can. I share this pic I took as one of the Hollywood examples of fold down top riding boots being worn by a 'pirate' Captain of authority dressed fancy. Previous post about these boots noted how uncommon and silly they would be on a ship and I agree. They are strictly costume department and art department decisions on how they want their screen pirate to look. Zack has a wet suit under his costume and there are several safety divers ready to help him not drown in those boots, since he can barely swim in them, so they can crank the mast back up and do it again. Actual period sailors/pirates would typically be barefoot a lot of the time if in mild weather and wear a low shoe in winter probably. Many pirate attacks involved marching through jungle to surprise a hopefully rich town before they could carry it all off or bury it so possibly sandals would make sense due to wading across water a lot with rivers and creeks in the way. If successful, such a raid might lead to some pretty gaudy pirates with rich fabrics and ill-fitting fancy coats, wearing wildly improbable hats but I doubt thigh-high boots would find favor for slogging through the jungle back to the ships carrying booty. I hope y'all have fun with your costuming and don't let the movies teach you history."