Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is a junior novelization of the film of the same name. It was published on June 1, 2006 by Disney Press, and was written by Irene Trimble. The book contains eight pages of full-color stills from the film.
Calling all young pirates! Jack Sparrow and his friends are back and ready for another adventure. But this time, it looks like they might be in over their heads. In The Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Early Reader, aspiring pirates will get a chance to re-live the action and see stills from the movie.
Back cover[]
Legend has it that a tortured soul called Davy Jones lives beneath the sea, his still-beating broken heart locked away in a chest, and a terrible sea beast at his command. Unfortunately for the notorious pirate, CaptainJack Sparrow, this particular legend is very real. Years ago, Jack made a deal with Davy Jones, who is now expecting him to make good on his promise by handing himself over to Jones's servitude. But Jack will not give in without a fight, which is especially bad news for Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, who always seem to get caught up in Jack's mishaps. If Jack can't find a way to rid himself of Davy Jones once and for all, it may just spell the end for the three adventurers.
When Jack Sparrow used his coffin mate's bony leg as a handy oar to row to the Black Pearl, he says, "Necessity is a mother." As Sparrow climbs aboard the Pearl with the leg bone in his hands, Gibbs questioned the plan, with one of Jack's initial responses being, "If you ask right, there's always someone willing to give you a leg-up."
Leech is described as a toothless pirate and is the one who asks Jack Sparrow about the rolled piece of cloth, with Sparrow's response being, "Aye, but I haven't had time to properly assess the prize." The cursedmonkey "Jack" then swung out and screeched in front of Sparrow, who screamed back as the monkey snatched the cloth and took it up into the sails. Jack then fired his pistol at the cursed monkey, but the gun only clicked, due to his shot having already been used on that blasted pecking crow, a detail not revealed onscreen. While Jack grabbed a pistol from Leech's belt to fire again in the film, the book has Jack grab a pistol from another pirate. When Gibbs says shooting the cursed monkey didn't do any good, Jack shrugged and said, "Keeps my aim sharp. Why'd that eviscerated simian have to be the only thing to survive Isla de Muerta?" One of the pirates on deck who scrambled to catch the falling piece of cloth and examined the "drawing of a key" was unidentified, though the film has the pirate be Marty, who is never named in the book.
As the drawing of a key is discussed among the confused crew, Gibbs reminded Jack about how Isla de Muerta was reclaimed by the sea, how they were "spending months fighting to get the British navy off our stern," how they've been "losing crew at every port," and how it's "been a stretch" since they've done a speck of "honest pirating," with Jack's responses to the initial two issues were "Unfortunate turn of circumstance" and "Inevitable outcome of le vie de boucanier." Despite the events of Dead Man's Chest taking place about one year after The Curse of the Black Pearl, the book states Isla de Muerta was where the Sparrow's crew had "its most recent adventure" where Jack defeated Captain Barbossa and reclaimed the Black Pearl. Cotton's parrot squawked "ABANDON SHIP!" twice rather than "Walk the plank!" once, with Leech telling Jack quickly, "Cotton's parrot don't speak for the lot of us. We think you're doing a fine job." Jack was about to shoot the old bird, but lowered his gun instead, and Cotton seemed relieved before Jack said, "At least there's one honest ... man amongst you." As Jack and Gibbs discuss the key and whatever it unlocks, Jack's response is similar to the screenplay, with "Honestly. Ninny." and "What good is a key if we have nothing for the key to unlock? Please, try and keep up!"[4]
When Jack Sparrow reaches for the bottle of rum on his desk, he sees the pirate brand on his right arm. When Sparrow exits the cabin and staggered past the wheel, Leech asks for the heading, to which the pirate captain replies "Steady as she goes".
Jack Sparrow's encounter with Bootstrap Bill Turner—the latter taking place not below decks onboard the Black Pearl, but in the captain's cabin. There was additional dialogue between Jack and Bootstrap Bill, who said he was sent as an "emissary" and went into further detail about his experiences after the mutiny on the Black Pearl as well as his deal with Davy Jones.
The destruction of the Turkish fishing boat, which is called only "a small fishing vessel" in the book, is said to be set not far away from Port Royal. While the location is unidentified in the film, the screenplay places the scene somewhere in the ocean.[4]
Governor Weatherby Swann's conversation with the Port Royal prison guard, named Carruthers in the book, is longer.
During Will's search for Jack, an innkeeper tells Will that Jack ran off with a Creole woman to Madagascar, and she was half his age and twice his height. Scarlett slaps Will at Tortuga instead of Giselle, who is absent from the novelization. After talking to the shrimper, Will paid him a few coins to find the Black Pearlcareened onto the sands of Cannibal Island. The "conversation" between Will and Cotton's Parrot on Cannibal Island is longer, in which Will told the parrot he was "nothing but feathers and bones" and "probably taste like pigeon."
As Will finds Gibbs' flask, it was described as a small, red flask.
When Governor Weatherby Swann finds Captain Hawkins on the dock, he calls him by his name. Mercer does not show the Governor's letter to the King after killing the captain. Like in the film, when he doesn't find Elizabeth in the carriage, Mercer demanded angrily "Where is she?" with Governor Swann asking Mercer "Who?" But unlike the film, after Mercer slammed the governor against the carriage, he snarled, "Elizabeth!" In addition, Governor Swann offered innocently "She was always a willful child." After that, Mercer ordered Swann to be put in irons and, with a violent jerk, led him away.
When Gibbs explains to Will what's going to happen to Jack, Cotton mimes something about being cut up with a knife.
Ragetti is the one who says the Prison Dog must have seen the catfish when the dog jumps overboard. Pintel and Ragetti's boat does not capsize before it reaches Isla de Pelegostos. During the motley crew's escape Will's cage reaches the top of the cliff before Leech's cage falls. When the Pearl sails away Jack looks at his compass for a few moments before he acknowledges Will's presence.
As Gibbs tells Will Turner about the Kraken, he tells him about how Jack Sparrow isn't afraid of dying but the punishment that awaits at Davy Jones' Locker. The line was written and filmed for Dead Man's Chest, but was later given to Tia Dalma in At World's End.
When Jack Sparrow demonstrates "Jack" the monkey's immortality to Tia Dalma he suggests she could give it "the crocodile treatment".
Courtesy of the Frightened Sailor, "Billy" and "Quentin" were the only two named crewmen when Will Turner climbs aboard the scuttled ship. Their names also appeared in the film's screenplay.[4]
When the Flying Dutchman rises from the sea in front of the scuttled ship Will Turner attempts to hide behind one of the ship's cannons. The figurehead of the Dutchman is described as "the skeleton of a winged female".
The way Davy Jones is described is different than how he appeared in the film. Jones had dark eyes rather than blue and one of his legs was nothing but whalebone. His right hand extended out in rough tentacles wrapping around an ivorycane, whereas in the film, Jones walked without the use of a cane.
When the chaplain rejects Davy Jones' offer to join the cursedcrew of the Flying Dutchman, Greenbeard simply throws the chaplain overboard (likely to drown, though this is never stated). In the film, on the other hand, Greenbeard slits the chaplain's throat before throwing his corpse overboard (with help from Ratlin).
The recruitment scene does not show the Very old man, the Skinny man, and the Irish man directly. After Gibbs reveals they have only four new crewmembers, he warns Jack that nothing better happen to him, to which Jack replies that he makes no promises. Gibbs then tells Jack to come up with a new plan, and not rely on his compass, because the whole crew knows it hasn't worked since he was saved from the gallows.
After his punishment with the cat o' nine tails, Will says to Bootstrap Bill Turner that he always thought he had killed him a year earlier when he lifted the curse of the Aztec Gold, but saw that as an act of mercy because Bill wouldn't suffer the fate handed to him by Captain Barbossa. Bill then reveals he doesn't remember Barbossa anymore, due to being a part of Jones' crew.
Unlike the film, Will Turner and Davy Jones play Liar's Dice two times, rather than once, and had more dialogue. Will beats Jones in the first game, winning his father's freedom only for it to be lost in the second game after Bootstrap joins the game, like in the film. During the first game, Jones and Will talk about being "married to the ship" and about the latter's fate. Prior to the second game, Jones cautions Will, "You can't best the devil twice, son."
After the Kraken attacks and destroys the Edinburgh Trader, Will Turner hides on the stern of the Flying Dutchman, not beneath the figurehead like in the film.
When Jack, Elizabeth, and Norrington land on Isla Cruces Elizabeth briefly explains the history of the island. When they discover the exact location where the Dead Man's Chest was buried, Jack marks the spot with an X.
The explosion of barrels of rum and gunpowder during the Kraken's attack on the Black Pearl is omitted.
The novelization ends with Bootstrap Bill standing on the deck of the Dutchman, watching the Kraken sinking the Black Pearl. In the film, Bootstrap was thrown into the brig after believing Will died during the Kraken's attack on the Edinburgh Trader.
The novelization ends with the aftermath of the battle between Jack Sparrow and the Kraken. Onboard the Flying Dutchman, Davy Jones smiles with satisfaction as Jack Sparrow went down with the Black Pearl, saying their debt was settled. But Jones was not the only soul watching from the Dutchman, as Bootstrap Bill was looking on, as well, his eyes grew wide with shock. What was left of Bootstrap's cursed heart wrenched. With eyes full of sorrow, Bootstrap Bill looked out toward the still water where Jack and the Pearl had so recently been sailing. Quietly and painfully, Bill whispered out toward the empty sea, "If any man could beat the devil, I'd have thought it would be you." Although the book doesn't go past this scene, the book also ends with the line said by Will Turner and Gibbs at Tia Dalma's shack in the film's ending scene: "The Black Pearl was gone, along with her captain. And, already, the world seemed a bit less bright without them."
