Fort Charles

General information
Location	Port Royal, Jamaica
Points of interest	Fort Charles prison
Notable inhabitants	James Norrington Gillette Carlos Cudgel Henry Flint Bingham
Societal
Population	A garrison
Affiliation	British Empire British Royal Navy East India Trading Company
Behind the scenes
First appearance	The Curse of the Black Pearl
Latest appearance	The Curse of the Black Pearl

"Apparently there's some sort of high-toned and fancy to-do up at the fort, eh?"

―Jack Sparrow to Murtogg and Mullroy

Fort Charles was a stronghold located at the bustling harbor town of Port Royal. Located on a bluff overlooking the harbor, Fort Charles was one of England's biggest government forts in the Caribbean. The fort served as the base of operations for British Royal Navy forces commanded by Commodore James Norrington.

Towering over the town, Fort Charles was supposed to protect the ships of the Royal Navy moored in the harbor below. The fortress also included the Commodore's office, a dank prison cellblock and, in the center courtyard of the fort, a gallows to remind the townspeople just where they were. The cannons that point out from the battlements were a menacing warning to pirates cruising offshore. However, the fort's garrison was helpless after the town was attacked by the crew of the Black Pearl. Fort Charles was England's biggest government fort in the Caribbean, until a battering from the cannons of the Black Pearl left the fort quite a lot smaller, boosting the pirates' power.

History

Jack Sparrow's hanging at Fort Charles.

The fort which later became known as Fort Charles was built immediately after the British conquest of Jamaica. Originally known as Fort Cromwell, the fort was renamed Fort Charles after the restoration of monarchy in England in 1660. Fort Charles was the only military fortification in Port Royal which survived the devastating earthquake in 1692.

In the late 1720s, Fort Charles hosted James Norrington's promotion ceremony, and was also used as the venue for public executions of criminals and pirates. Captain Jack Sparrow was set to be hanged at the gallows in the main courtyard, but was ultimately rescued by William Turner and escaped Port Royal aboard the Black Pearl. It was damaged during the earlier attack on Port Royal by the Pearl, at the time under the command of Captain Hector Barbossa.

Will Turner and Jack Sparrow fight the British Navy in an ambush at Fort Charles.

During the occupation of Lord Cutler Beckett and the East India Trading Company in Port Royal, Fort Charles hosted several executions, most notably the French Pirate Lord, Capitaine Chevalle, who was held in the stocks prior to his execution. Chevalle was rescued by Jack Sparrow, who was told about Chevalle's imprisonment after the voodoo queen, Tia Dalma, informed him of it.

Layout

Towering over the docks, with a British Royal Navy garrison, Fort Charles guarded Port Royal from pirate attacks; at least that was the idea. In fact, the fort had too few cannons, and its soldiers were better at drills and parades than warfare. The garrison finds it hard to defend itself, as well as it being impossible to protect the people of Port Royal. Pirates ruled the Caribbean, and their ships were heavily armed. As cannonballs battered the stone walls of the fort, Governor Weatherby Swann quaked with fear at every blast at the ramparts.

With grand parapets atop her imposing stone walls and a beautiful arched bell tower designed with a distinct Spanish flair to showcase each and every radiant sunset, Fort Charles was an 18th century military base. The fortress also included the Commodore's office, a dank prison cellblock and, in the center courtyard of the fort, a gallows to remind the townspeople just where they were.

The fort was dominated by a main courtyard used as a public execution area and a military command center. Closer to the port were the prisons, from which prisoners could see both the fort's battlements and the harbor. The battlement's stone parapets were lined with cannons. Near the gallows was a graveyard used to bury those who were executed. During its early days of use the fort had a flag of Great Britain displayed, in its later days two flags of the East India Company were placed alongside the British flag.

Behind the scenes

Fort Charles scene filmed for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Fort Charles first appeared in the 2003 junior novelization for the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. For The Curse of the Black Pearl, scenes in Fort Charles was built on a three-acre bluff on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, south of Los Angeles, on the site of Marineland, a one-time amusement park (near the Point Vicente Lighthouse seen in Pearl Harbor).

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's early screenplay draft of The Curse of the Black Pearl, Will Turner was originally meant to use a chair as his fulcrum to release Jack Sparrow from his prison cell, breaking the cell's door in the process. After that, the two were to go to the docks of Port Royal to use a rowboat to steal the HMS Interceptor. Though the scene was filmed indeed, it was cut from the film's finished version.

The first scene of At World's End features a hanging at a fort. Although fans theorized that it was Fort Charles, in reality it is an unidentified fort and an unknown location, unnamed in most media relating to the film. Screenwriter Terry Rossio made the post "Ends of the Earth" on Wordplay, in which he never identified the fort by name. Although he considered that it could be Fort Charles, Rossio stated his presumption that it was some other fort, given the grim nature of the events taking place, but also maintained it was a locale intended to be ambiguous, and simply not defined. Conceptual consultant James Ward Byrkit, who storyboarded the scene, stated it was never conveyed to him that it was supposed to be Fort Charles, as well as his feeling that by then the scope of the story had expanded to a much bigger area. The fort in question was identified as "Execution Fort" in The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean, and "an intimidating fort" in Bring Me That Horizon: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean.

In Pirates of the Caribbean Online, the layout of Fort Charles is bit different from the movies. It is surrounded by an outer wall, the wall has a gate which leads to a path uphill where the entrance is located. A big staircase leads into the interior of the fort. A member of Jack Sparrow's crew, Gordon Greer, can be found imprisoned here.

Appearances

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (video game)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Missing Pirate
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization) (First appearance)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006 junior novelization)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (comic)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
• Pirates of the Caribbean Online
• The Capture of Jack Sparrow!
• The Escape of Pintel and Ragetti!
• The Sleeping Island! (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)

Non-canon appearances

• The Buccaneer's Heart!
• Kingdom Hearts II
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
• Kingdom Hearts III

Sources

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide

External links

• Fort Charles on Wikipedia

Notes and references

Locations in Pirates of the Caribbean
Africa Barbary Coast – Calabar – Egypt – Kerma – Slave Coast – Tripoli The Americas Boston – Florida – Louisiana – Mexico – New Orleans – North Carolina Panama – Peru – Savannah – Virginia – Yucatán Peninsula Asia Bombay – China – Hong Kong – India – Nippon – Shanghai – Singapore The Bahamas Andros – Nassau – New Avalon – New Providence The Caribbean Antigua – Black rock island – Cuba – Devil's Triangle – Dominica – Guadeloupe – Hangman's Bay – Hispaniola Ile d'Etable de Porc – Isla De La Avaricia – Isla Cruces – Isla de Muerta – Isla de Pelegostos Martinique – Padres Del Fuego – Port Royal – Poseidon's Tomb Puerto Rico – Saint Martin – Shipwreck Island – St. Lucia – Tortuga – Unnamed Island Europe Barcelona – Cádiz – France – Gibraltar – Great Britain – Holland London – Marseille – Paris – Portugal – Scotland – Seville – Spain – Other locations Davy Jones' Locker – Farthest Gate – Ice Passage – Isla Sirena
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