Jack Sparrow's hat

Jack Sparrow's hat.

"Also, did you notice my hat? Isn't it excellent?"

―Jack Sparrow to Billy Turner

Captain Jack Sparrow's legendary three-cornered hat, also referred to as Jack's hat, was tricorn hat owned by Captain Jack Sparrow, one key part of the legendary pirate's trademark appearance. It was a black tricorn with faded leather that had been scorched by the Caribbean sun and beaten by harsh sea winds. The black tricorn was battered and faded, but it still served Jack well. Practical as well as decorative, Jack highly valued his hat, and was rarely parted from it.

History

Acquiring the Hat

"'Meet Arabella at this spot at dusk, in order to commandeer boat, find Sword of Cortes, eliminate Captain Torniquet, acquire the perfect hat, become Captain, rule entire Caribbean, live Happily Ever After'."

―Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III reading Jack Sparrow's cloth

Even when as a teenager, one of the things that Jack Sparrow wanted was a good hat, as he stated in his Captain's Log onboard the Barnacle. On one occasion, he obtained the hat of the dead pirate captain Stone-Eyed Sam. He wore that hat for a short time until he lost it to a trader on the docks of Isla Puerta in a wager over the ability of sea turtles to support human beings in open water.

Jack recieves the hat as a tribute.

When he was 18, Jack saved the pirate crew of the Wicked Wench from the notorious pirate hunter Armando Salazar by trapping the infamous Spanish capitán and his ship in the mysterious waters of the Devil's Triangle. After the battle, several surviving pirates in the Wench's crew gave Jack a tribute, including a hat. According to pirate lore, Jack bought his hat with the second of the first two bits he ever pirated, the first wound up being part of his piece of eight.

Following his teenage adventures, Jack returned to Shipwreck Island. He left the hat in one of the secret passageways of the dungeons beneath Shipwreck City when he helped Christophe-Julien de Rapièr and his crew in escaping from the island. When he became an officer of the East India Trading Company, he wore the elegant tricorne, but he lost that hat when he was arrested for liberating a cargo of slaves.

Shortly after he returned to piracy and sailed for Shipwreck Island, Jack recovered his black tricorne. Jack's hat was practical as well as decorative: Jack filled it with cool fresh water to drink at wells and had trapped deadly scorpions in its domed crown. The faded leather would have been scorched by Caribbean sun and beaten by harsh sea winds.

Port Royal

Jack Sparrow wearing his hat in Fort Charles prison.

"Commodore Norrington, my effects please! And my hat."

―Jack Sparrow to James Norrington

Jack was wearing this hat when he arrived at Port Royal onboard the sinking Jolly Mon. Prior to his rescue of Elizabeth Swann, who had fallen from the battlements of Fort Charles into the sea, he left the hat and his "effects" in the care of Mullroy and Murtogg, instructing them not to lose them. After Commodore James Norrington had Sparrow arrested, Jack took Elizabeth hostage and demanded Norrington the return of his effects, specifically mentioning his hat, before making his escape. Hiding in a blacksmith's shop, Jack left his hat on a table while he removed his manacles. After Jack was ultimately knocked unconscious by John Brown, and then incarcerated in the Fort Charles prison, he was permitted to keep his hat with him inside the cell, from which he escaped with the help of Will Turner the next day.

When Jack was brought onboard the Black Pearl by Hector Barbossa's cursed crew, he left his hat and coat on board the ship, and didn't retrieve them until after Joshamee Gibbs and his crew picked him up following his failed execution at the fort. Cotton handed Jack his hat, as the captain once more assumed command of his ship.

Dead Man's Chest

Lost and Found

Jack's hat after being spat out by the Kraken.

"Jack's hat! Bring her about!"
"No! No! Leave it!"

―Joshamee Gibbs and Jack Sparrow

A year later, during Jack Sparrow's brush with Davy Jones, Jack the monkey grabbed Sparrow's hat and threw it overboard. To the surprise of his crew, Jack was willing to abandon the hat, such was his desperation to find land and avoid the Kraken. The hat was later picked up by a Turkish fishing boat, which was summarily targeted and destroyed by the Kraken. The tricorne was consumed amid the wreckage. When the Kraken finally caught up with Jack off Isla Cruces, it spat out the hat. Jack then picked it up, got rid of some of the slime off it, and put it on before heroically facing down the Kraken onboard the Black Pearl. It remained with him when he was dragged to the crushing depths of Davy Jones' Locker.

A Pirate Lord's Hat

Jack before giving Gibbs his hat.

"Mr. Gibbs."
"Cap'n"
"You may throw my hat, if you like."
"Aye, aye Cap'n. Hooray!"
"...Now go and get it."

―Jack Sparrow and Joshamee Gibbs

Though he was trapped in Davy Jones' Locker, Jack Sparrow still wore his hat while aboard the Black Pearl, trying to escape with the help of his crew. He did not wear his hat when he tipped the ship, or when he went to meet with Lord Cutler Beckett aboard the Endeavour. In addition, Jack chose not to wear his hat during the meeting of the Fourth Brethren Court, perhaps to reveal his piece of eight. However, Jack did lose his hat when he was taken prisoner aboard the Flying Dutchman. After escaping the brig, Jack went to get his effects, including his hat, which he wore for the entire battle around Calypso's maelstrom. When the battle was over, Jack allowed Joshamee Gibbs to throw his hat in the air for the celebration, before ordering him to go get it. Jack still wore his hat when he was wooing wenches Scarlett and Giselle and upon finding that Hector Barbossa stole the Black Pearl once again. Sailing on his dinghy, Jack continued wearing his hat as he began his voyage to find the Fountain of Youth.

London

Jack putting on his hat in London.

"Ta."

―Jack Sparrow after retrieving his hat from a horse

When Jack Sparrow arrived to London to save Joshamee Gibbs from the gallows, he left his hat on a horse outside the Old Bailey where Gibbs was being held on trial. After Jack retrieved it from the horse, the hat remained with him throughout his time in London. Jack wore it during his meeting with King George in St. James's Palace as well as his escape through London's streets, where he would be reunited with his father, Captain Teague. He also wore it in the Captain's Daughter pub, where he talked to Teague as well as fighting against an imposter, revealed to be Angelica, and the King's guards. But when Jack and Angelica escaped from the guards through a trap door that led to the River Thames, the hat was once again lost.

Saint Martin

Jack wearing his hat as he rides on top of a bank.

Under unknown circumstances, Jack was able to retrieve his beloved hat which he continued to wear for further adventures. At Saint Martin, Jack Sparrow wore his hat as he and his crew attempted to rob a bank filled with treasure from inside a vault. When Jack was arrested and sent for execution, his hat was removed before he was inserted onto the guillotine that would be used for his beheading.

Jack somehow retrieved his hat back when the search for the Trident of Poseidon arose and began wearing it after being tied to the foremast on the Black Pearl once the ship was restored to its original size. As Jack and his crew set sail on the Black Pearl beyond a beloved horizon, Jack stopped wearing his hat as it was lost at the bottom of the sea.

Design

Any self-respecting pirate captain feels naked without his hat; Jack Sparrow was no exception. This battered and faded leather black tricorn had been scorched by the Caribbean sun and beaten by harsh sea winds, but still served him well over the years. It was practical as well as decorative: he had filled it with cool fresh water to drink at wells and trapped deadly scorpions in its domed crown.

Behind the scenes

"I traded for you fair and square -- Two willing brides, four limbs intact and possessed of all their faculties, in exchange for a hat traded to -- a certain unnamed captain."
"A hat? He gave me up for a hat?"
"It was a very nice hat."

―Auctioneer and Giselle

• Captain Jack Sparrow's tricorne hat was referred to as "Captain Jack Sparrow's legendary three-cornered hat" in the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest junior novelization It has also been referred to as "Jack's hat" in Dead Man's Chest and some versions of the official Pirates website. Otherwise, it was referred to as a tricorne (or tricornered) or simply hat.
• The tricorne used in The Curse of the Black Pearl was lost after filming.
• Several different tricornes were used during the filming of Dead Man's Chest and At World's End. There are a few differences between them. For example, one had additional thread holes, which was used during the Davy Jones' Locker scene. In addition some of the hats had different sized holes and the hat was more of a brown color than black. A completely different hat was used for the filming of On Stranger Tides.
• The Disney Adventures comics often changed the color of Jack Sparrow's hat, most often showing him wearing a brown ticorne.
• In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's revision screenplay draft of At World's End, Jack Sparrow was to give Joshamee Gibbs the order of flinging his tricorne due their victory over the East India Trading Company like in the finished version of the film, but Sparrow was not going to order him to retrieve it like in the finished film.
• In a deleted scene from At World's End, titled "Two Captains, One Ship", "Jack" the Monkey wore this hat until Jack Sparrow took it from him. After briefly fanning himself with his hat, Jack put it back on his head.
• Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay draft for On Stranger Tides covers the hat's role as seen in the final cut of the film, in which Jack Sparrow plucks his hat off of the head of a horse. Other than Jack using his sword to flip away Angelica's hat, presumably of the same design as per the final cut, there is no further mention of Jack's hat.
• In Terry Rossio's screenplay for Tales of the Code: Wedlocked, it would be revealed that Jack Sparrow traded Scarlett and Giselle in exchange for "a very nice hat" to the Auctioneer. However, as this was not revealed onscreen, it is unknown if it is canon or not. In addition, the 2017 film Dead Men Tell No Tales presented an alternative backstory for Jack's hat in a flashback scene, though Rossio had no involvement in writing.
• In the French adaptation of the Dead Men Tell No Tales novelization when the crew of the Dying Gull abandons Jack, Henry Turner, and Carina Smyth in a longboat the hat remains aboard the ship. It is later worn by Scrum when Joshamee Gibbs tricks him into becoming the new captain.
• It is currently unknown how Jack Sparrow reacquired his hat in between the events of On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales, or even if it is the exact same hat in question.

Appearances

• Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Rising in the East
• Legends of the Brethren Court: The Turning Tide
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Day of the Shadow
• The Island of Fortune
• Tales of the Code: Wedlocked
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (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
• The Guardians of Windward Cove
• Smoke on the Water
• Banshee's Boon
• Mother of Water
• The Accidental Pirate!
• Revenge of the Pirates!
• Open Sesame!
• Chain Reaction!
• Going Overboard!
• The Compass of Destiny!
• The Dark Skull
• The Sails of Doom! (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (video game)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (comic)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (comic)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (junior novelization)
• The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Movie Graphic Novel

Non-canon appearances

• Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean (post-2006 revamp)
• The Trouble With Pirates!
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
• Disney Infinity
• Kingdom Hearts III
• Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life

Sources

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