John Brown's blacksmith shop

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John Brown's blacksmith shop

The Port Royal smithy, otherwise known as Mr. Brown's Blacksmith Shoppe or simply the blacksmith's shop, was a smithy owned by Mr. John Brown located in Port Royal. Brown mainly had an apprentice, most notably Will Turner, who forged many swords while working in the shop. Although Brown was a drunk who seldom did any work, it was his forge and so his name decorated the swords Will makes. In this dusty Port Royal smithy, Will pumps the huge bellows and stokes the charcoal furnace. The furnace flames heat cold steel until it glows white hot. Forging a beautiful sword blade is punishing work; the many hours of hammering, folding, grinding, and polishing have given Will patience and strength.

History

John Brown, the owner.

Located in the center of the city of Port Royal, this blacksmith shop was built at some point before Weatherby Swann's governorship of Jamaica. At the request of Governor Swann, Mr. John Brown employed Will Turner at his shop shortly after Turner's rescue aboard the HMS Dauntless. Brown quickly set to train Will to become a blacksmith as soon as he recovered from the effect of his perilous journey to the New World. Over the years, as Will's skills improved, Brown became a drunk, and it was Will who commonly used the machinery and tools of the smithy, and the people of Port Royal often said he was practically running the business on his own. Although Brown was a drunk who seldom does any work, it was his forge and so his name decorated the swords Will made. For the years he worked in the smithy, Will filled racks with swords, using them for dueling practice for three hours every day.

William Turner in the smithy.

In this dusty Port Royal smithy, Will Turner pumped the huge bellows and stokes the charcoal furnace. The furnace flames heat cold steel until it glows white hot. Forging a beautiful sword blade is punishing work; the many hours of hammering, folding, grinding, and polishing have given Will patience and strength. It was here that Turner forged a smallsword, forged specifically for the ceremony of James Norrington's promotion to Commodore, though Governor Weatherby Swann believed that it was his master who had fashioned the elegant weapon.

Will Turner sword-fights with Jack Sparrow.

The infamous Captain Jack Sparrow used the smithy as a hiding place after the pirate threatened Elizabeth Swann and escaped Commodore Norrington's men. Jack used the forge's cogwheels to break his manacles. When Will arrived at that moment, he discovered Jack in the forge and engaged Sparrow in a duel. Various swords from the shop were wielded and discarded during the swordfight, pirate captain and swordsmith are almost equally matched. Jack only managed to avoid losing to Will by acrobatic blade work and old-fashioned cheating, which ended the fight by Sparrow pulling his flintlock pistol on his opponent. However, John Brown was able to knock the pirate unconscious with his bottle, and Sparrow was duly arrested.

Turner was working in the smithy the night of the Black Pearl's raid on Port Royal. Arming himself with an axe and a sword from the smithy, Turner joined the desperate fight for the town.

Following his adventures at Isla de Muerta, Will Turner continued to work at the blacksmith ship. About one year later, on the day of the wedding of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, it was in the smithy that Turner was arrested by Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company. Sometime afterwards, the pirate thug Vasquez sailed into Port Royal, collecting payments from Brown and other people for his so-called "protection" in the town. But because Brown was unable to pay Vasquez for some reason or another, Vasquez broke into Brown's smithy to beat the blacksmith up. Vasquez was disturbed by the infamous pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, who returned to Port Royal to search for Tia Dalma, who then defeated Vasquez in a sword fighting duel in the smithy.

Behind the scenes

Mr. John Brown's blacksmith's shop first appeared in Irene Trimble's junior novelization for the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It was first identified as the "Port Royal smithy" in the 2006 reference book Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide and its 2007 reprint The Complete Visual Guide. The name "Mr. Brown's Blacksmith Shoppe" appeared in the 2010 version of the official Pirates website.

Appearances

• 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)
  • Fluch der Karibik
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (comic)
• The Capture of Jack Sparrow!
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Ghost Ship
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Non-canonical appearance)

Sources

• DisneyPirates.com (First identified as Mr. Brown's Blacksmith Shoppe)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide (First identified as Port Royal smithy)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide