- "Help! There's a witch in my shop! And a pirate! There's a witch and a pirate in my shop!"
"Well, it's your lucky day!" - ―George Swift and Jack Sparrow
George W. Swift was a cartographer and the owner of the Swift and Sons Chart House in the town of Saint Martin on the island of the same name in 1751.
Biography[]
- "No woman has ever handled my Herschel!"
- ―George Swift to Carina Smyth
At some unknown point likely in his early life, George W. Swift became a cartographer and the owner of the Swift and Sons Chart House in Saint Martin. At some point he and an unknown female would have a child, Charles Swift.[3]
By 1751,[4] George Swift was still working at the Swift and Sons Chart House, not allowing dogs or women inside the shop. However, during the robbery of the Royal Bank of Saint Martin, the astronomer Carina Smyth, wanted by the British Royal Navy due to false accusations of her being a witch, walked into the shop after escaping from the navy. Thinking she was a witch, George pulled out a pistol on her and yelled for the authorities. Suddenly, a drunken pirate Captain Jack Sparrow walked into the Chart House. He asked if anyone inside had seen "his bank", which confused Smyth and Swift. But, the Royal Bank of Saint Martin, which was being pulled through Saint Martin by the crew of the Dying Gull, soon came crashing through the chart house, destroying all of Swift's work and forcing him to scramble for cover as the wall of the chart house came crumbling to the ground.[2] His further fate is unknown.
Behind the scenes[]
George W. Swift first appeared in The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization, which were all tie-in books to the 2017 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.[1][3] He was played by John Leary in the film.[2] The character was only identified as "George Swift" and "G.W. Swift, Esquire" in the prequel novel The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth,[3] while he was only credited as "Mr. Swift" in the novelization and the film itself.[1]
Terry Rossio's screenplay for Dead Men Tell No Tales featured a cartographer named McNally, who was the owner of the McNally & Sons Chart House in Kingston, Jamaica, and worked with Philip Swift as his apprentice.[5] McNally was not intended to be an homage to the Pirates actor Kevin McNally, but rather a reference to the famed map-maker Rand McNally.[6]
Appearances[]
- The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth (First appearance, simultaneous with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization) (First identified as George W. Swift)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization (First appearance, simultaneous with The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth)
- Pirates des Caraïbes : La Vengeance de Salazar
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization, p. 55
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth, pp. 120-124
- ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Movie Graphic Novel
- ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES by Terry Rossio
- ↑ P5 Annotations by Terry Rossio