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"This is the diary of Galileo Galilei. He's spent his life searching for the Trident. It's why he invented the spyglass, why astronomers spend their lives staring into the sky."
"So you're saying the Map No Man Can Read is hidden in the stars?"
"It was left to me by my father. He believed I could find what no man has ever found. I will not let him down. Soon, there will be a blood moon. Only then can the map be read and the Trident found.
"
Carina Smyth and Henry Turner[src]

The Diary of Galileo Galilei was a diary written by the 17th century Italian scientist Galileo Galilei. It contained clues to the Map No Man Can Read which would lead to the hidden location of the legendary treasure, the Trident of Poseidon. By 1751 the diary was in possession of Carina Smyth who decided to find the Trident and prove herself as a scientist.

History[]

Galileo's diary[]

"There are legends about an old book with a ruby on the cover and a cluster of five stars. The symbol of the map."
Dark-haired woman[src]

At some point during his life the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei learned that the Trident of the ancient sea god Poseidon was real. He decided to find the legendary weapon, eventually realizing that only the Map No Man Can Read, which was hidden in the stars, would lead to the Trident. To find the map he invented an instrument called the spyglass which he used to search the skies. All his efforts were carefully recorded in a diary which had a large ruby on the cover. Galileo spent his life searching for the Trident, but without success. He died without finding anything, leaving the diary behind.[2]

In Barbossa's possession[]

"Where did you get that from, missy? I know this book. Stolen from an Italian ship many years ago."
"Stolen? No, you must be mistaken."
"There was a ruby on the cover I would not soon forget.
"
Hector Barbossa and Carina Smyth[src]

At some point during the Age of Piracy the diary ended up on the Italian ship that was attacked and captured by pirates led by Hector Barbossa. Seeing the large ruby on the cover the pirate captain did not realize the significance of Galileo's diary, considering it only a valuable trinket. For some reason, he had the star constellation from the cover tattooed on his right arm.[2]

Shortly after the War Against Piracy,[3] Barbossa fell in love with a young woman named Margaret Smyth and they had a baby girl. However, Margaret died shortly after the child's birth, leaving Barbossa a single father. Afraid that a pirate could not raise a child properly, Barbossa named the baby girl Carina, after the brightest star in the north, eventually leaving her on the steps of a children's home with a note that her mother died and that her name was Carina Smyth. He also left the diary with the girl as a token, hoping that the ruby on the cover would one day afford her some ease of life.[2]

In Carina's possession[]

Search for the Trident[]

"This diary is the only truth I know. I kept it with me every day in that orphanage, studied the heavens when it was forbidden—when they called me a witch! I swore to know the sky as my father intended me to."
Carina Smyth to Henry Turner[src]

Carina had the diary with her all her life, maintaining posession of it even when arrested for "witchcraft" shortly after meeting Henry Turner, son of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, in the infirmary where he was recovering. She discovered the embossed image of the island on the cover visible through the light passing through the ruby from the blood moon while in her cell. Once freed, she used the diary frequently to calculate the Map No Man Can Read, and therefore the location of the Trident of Poseidon itself, often facing accusations of witchcraft due to the advanced nature of the equations inside.[2]

When Carina and Henry boarded (as prisoners) the "ship" the Dying Gull, captained by Jack Sparrow himself, she attempted to explain the diary, but faced another misconception derived from a misunderstanding of the word "horologist". Eventually she was able to find a bearing and they set out looking for the Trident.[2]

After a strange encounter with people from Jack's past, resulting in a near-completed-shotgun wedding, Jack, Henry, and Carina boarded the resurrected Black Pearl, with Barbossa in command. He notices the diary while Carina was using it, and inquires from whom she stole it. She replies that it was an heirloom, leading Barbossa to discover that Carina was in fact, his daughter. He took the ruby from the cover from her, giving it to Jack the Monkey for safekeeping.[2]

At the island[]

"You all right?"
"I don't know. For a moment, I had everything, Henry. Now it's all gone again."
"It's not all gone, Ms. Smyth.
"
Henry Turner and Carina Smyth[src]

Once arrived at the island, they notice that the rubylike lights on the island reflecting the stars above had a missing "star", and when the ruby was replaced and the light shone once more, she declared the completion of the puzzle as an act in the "memory" of her father (she was unaware of her parentage at this time).[2]

The diary was recovered by Sparrow after the waters parted around the Trident, and was eventually returned to Carina after the death of her father. It is implied she kept it, despite its lack of use now that the Trident was gone.[2]

Behind the scenes[]

"Galileo’s diary dates back to the first astronomer - Plato himself. The diary is full of celestial binomials - equations passed down through the centuries from scholar to scholar - the last being my father. None of them could figure it out."
Carina Smyth to Jack Sparrow[src] (2013 screenplay)

The artists who worked on the 2017 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales created 88 versions of the Diary of Galileo Galilei before choosing the one that was included in the film. To give it the appearance of an old manuscript, the paper was dipped in hot tea and black coffee, and then left to dry in the Australian sun, where the film was shot. According to prop designer Gabriel Smith, a lot of work went into creating the ruby on the cover of the diary to make it look like it's always been there, when in fact it can be removed. When the artists came up with the pages from Galileo's diary, they used mathematical equations and formulas from the 17th century, but prop specialists decided to reproduce them in a different, completely unique graphic style. All the illustrations and words were printed on the pages of the diary, and then the artists with colored pencils and pastel crayons highlighted some of them and gave the diary the appearance of a handwritten text.[4][5]

In Jeff Nathanson's early 2013 screenplay draft, the Diary of Galileo Galilei was over a thousand years old and its first owner was the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.[6]

Appearances[]

The Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Diary of Galileo Galilei.

Notes and references[]

  1. The diary had to be written before Galileo Galilei's death in 1642.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  3. According to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization Barbossa was "revoltingly entwined" with Margaret twenty years before the Quest for the Trident of Poseidon. The Dead Men Tell No Tales comic book adaptation sets the quest in 1751 while the other tie-in materials set the War against piracy in 1729.
  4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Behind the Scenes, pp. 8-9
  5. POTC5 Presskit
  6. Dead Men Tell No Tales script by Jeff Nathanson, second draft, 5/6/2013
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