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Doubloon

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Blackbeard offered a gold doubloon to the man who spots and captures a mermaid during the battle at Whitecap Bay.

"Captain Jack Sparrow? Owes me four doubloons. Heard he was dead."
―Sunburned sailor to Will Turner[src]

The Spanish Doubloon was a seven-gram (.225 Troy-ounce) gold coin minted in Spain, Mexico and the Spanish settlement of Nueva Grenada that was used widely in the Americas during the Age of Piracy.

History[]

"Here. Give this Doubloon to the chaps near the Mermaid."
―Edward Teague to Jack Sparrow[src]

The word "doubloon" has its roots in the Latin word "duplus", meaning double, a reference to denomination of this coin worth two escudos. These gold coins were eventually minted in four denominations, worth one, two, four, and eight escudos respectively.[citation needed]

Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, gold doubloons played a pivotal role in the Spanish economy and were a major part of its colonial activities. Doubloons minted in the Americas were carried on Spanish galleons throughout the Caribbean and across the world to trade for highly sought after commodities such as silks and spices. As they made their way across the vast seas and oceans, the captains of these ships were always wary of attack from marauding pirates. The pirates knew full well that if they could manage to intercept a Spanish galleon en route to its trading destination, their chances of finding gold aboard were extremely high.[citation needed]

After young Jack Sparrow and the crew of the Barnacle searched every room in the palace at Isla Esquelética, including the dungeon and the treasure vaults, they found nothing more than a few doubloons.[1] When he served aboard the Fleur de la Mort, Jean Magliore used a few doubloons to buy several skeleton keys in New Orleans.[2] Joshamee Gibbs was involved in the illegal rum trade with pirates during his service in the British Royal Navy, which earned him a lot of doubloons. The business was so profitable that he often bribed the prison guards to free the captured pirates.[3] During the battle between the pirate ship the Misty Lady and the combined forces of the Royal Navy and the East India Trading Company, led by the warship of Admiral Lawrence Norrington, Jack Sparrow and his father Captain Edward Teague were hiding on Norrington's ship. The young British aristocrat Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III revealed their hiding place to the ship's crew, and then loudly proclaimed they owed him a lot of doubloons.[4]

Jack Sparrow and his friend Christophe-Julien de Rapièr once played hazard in The Drunken Lady tavern in Shipwreck City. When Marie Seymour brought them more rum Christope paid with a gold doubloon.[5] Admiral Royce of the East India Trading Company once hired Jack Sparrow to lead him to the mystic Tia Dalma, and paid a pretty doubloon, a 15-pound sack of gold, for his services.[6] In their quest to return the Aztec gold and blood to lift their curse, Captain Hector Barbossa the crew of the Black Pearl heap up all their plunder in the caves of Isla de Muerta,[7] including about one million doubloons in three different colors.[8] Captain Jack Sparrow, among other debts, owed one sunburned sailor four doubloons.[9][10] He also owed seventy doubloons and one shilling to a pirate in Tortuga, which led to a double duel—Jack and Will Turner against four cutthroats.[11] At some point, Governor Weatherby Swann issued a proclamation against the crimes and foul deeds of the bloodthirsty pirate Jolly Roger, with one thousand pounds of gold doubloons as a reward for his capture and presentation of his treacherous being to the English Royal Navy as well as one hundred pounds for every undead pirate or captain of a Ghost Ship.[12] During the battle at Whitecap Bay, Blackbeard offered a gold doubloon to the first member of his crew who spots and captures a mermaid.[13]

Behind the scenes[]

"A gold doubloon to the man who spots the first! Do not be greedy! We need but a single one!"
―Blackbeard to his crew[src]

Doubloons first appear in Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean in 1967.[14][15] They were first identified as "Spanish gold doubloon" in the souvenir book Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World.[16] Although they appear in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,[7] the term "doubloon" by itself was identified simultaneously through Jack Sparrow: The Coming Storm[1] and the junior novelization for Dead Man's Chest in 2006.[9]

For The Curse of the Black Pearl, set decorator Larry Dias and his staff spent a considerable amount of time hunting for appropriate items to decorate the Isla de Muerta cave set. Dias found two manufacturers of imitation coins, one in New Orleans used to turning out trinkets for Mardi Gras, and another company in Canada. He ordered close to a million doubloons minted in three different colors, all replicas of the "piece of eight," or the Spanish silver dollar.[8]

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's first screenplay draft of At World's End, following the capture of the Black Pearl by Sao Feng's pirates, Will Turner would have revealed that he offered five doubloons to each Chinese pirate who fought by his side against Jack Sparrow's crew. However, Jack and Barbossa managed to bribe Feng to switch sides by offering thirty doubloons to each Chinese pirate plus Elizabeth Swann for Feng.[17]

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay for On Stranger Tides, Blackbeard offered a gold doubloon to the first member of his crew who spots and captures a mermaid during the battle at Whitecap Bay.[18] The scene never made it to the final cut of the film, but it was retained in other media. Although it is unknown if Blackbeard was holding a doubloon in the film's script and junior novelization,[13] promotional images of Blackbeard holding a doubloon appeared in both The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides[19] and the Disney Second Screen feature.[20]

Jolly Roger concept art

Pirates Online had one wallpaper featuring Jolly Roger and Spanish doubloons.

Doubloons were featured in Pirates of the Caribbean Online. At least one wallpaper features the evil pirate Jolly Roger surrounded with Spanish doubloons. Governor Weatherby Swann issued a proclamation against the crimes and foul deeds of the bloodthirsty pirate as well as undead pirates and captains of Ghost Ships, offering pounds of gold doubloons as a reward. Davy Doubloon is a peddler located in Tortuga who sells clothing. There are also rare pants named "44 Doubloon Breeches" that were only available from Dolores Tailoring Shoppe, Adoria Dolores' tailor shop on Padres del Fuego.[12] There was a typo in the name on the info card, spelling the rare pants "Dubloon" instead of "Doubloon", but this has been corrected in The Legend of Pirates Online.[21]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

External links[]

Notes and references[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jack Sparrow: The Coming Storm, p. 109
  2. ↑ Jack Sparrow: The Tale of Billy Turner and Other Stories, p. 74
  3. ↑ Jack Sparrow: Sins of the Father, pp. 67-68
  4. ↑ Jack Sparrow: Sins of the Father, p. 103
  5. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter One: Fair Winds and Black Ships
  6. ↑ The Compass of Destiny!
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Pirates of the Carribean presskit, accessed Dec 9, 2006
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization), p. 28
  10. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
  11. ↑ Double Duel!
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Pirates of the Caribbean Online
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (junior novelization), p. 89
  14. ↑ Disneyland: From the Pirates of the Caribbean to the World of Tomorrow
  15. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies, pp. 84
  16. ↑ Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, pp. 10-11
  17. ↑ PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
  18. ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
  19. ↑ The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, p. 84
  20. ↑ Disney Second Screen: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
  21. ↑ The Legend of Pirates Online
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