Trial

The trial of Joshamee Gibbs, who was guilty of being innocent of being Jack Sparrow.

"Prisoner claims to be innocent of being Jack Sparrow. How do you find?"
"No trial? But aren't we here to examine the evidence?"
"Foreman, your finding. Guilty?"
"Guilty verdict means he'll hang."

―Justice Smith and Foreman on Joshamee Gibbs

A trial was a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence about crimes, disagreements, etc.) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court of law. The tribunal, which may occur before a judge, jury, or other designated trier of fact, aims to achieve a resolution to their dispute. A criminal trial was designed to resolve accusations brought (usually by a government) against a person or prisoner accused of a crime held before a jury.

History

"By rule of the King, I sentence you all to death!"

―Armando Salazar

During the Hundred Years War, Joan of Arc led the armies of France against the English, winning in several battles. However, she was betrayed and sold to the English who put her to a sham trial and sentenced her to death, burning her at the stake. Her story was later recounted by Etienne de Ver to Chamba.

When the notorious English pirate and privateer Henry Morgan attacked Panama, he unknowingly broke the peace treaty between Spain and England. Following his return to Jamaica, he was arrested and sent to London on a trial. Although he managed to prove he didn't know about the end of hostilities, the experience left him full of hate for his countrymen, and he swore revenge against them.

Captain Kidd was the only pirate to be tried before the House of Commons.

After an unsuccessful pirate hunting expedition in the Indian Ocean, the privateer William Kidd took two ships bearing French commissions. One was the rich Quedagh Merchant, riding low in the water laden with treasure. Kidd sold the Quedagh Merchant, sailed to New York, and disposed of his treasure on Gardiner's Island. He sought a pardon from the governor of New York, the Earl of Bellomont, who was responsible for Kidd's original commission as a privateer. But instead, Kidd was arrested and sent to England to stand trial, for the murder of his crew member William Moore and on five counts of piracy. He was the only pirate to be tried before the House of Commons. Kidd was condemned to death and hanged in chains. The two French commissions, oddly enough, never turned up at the trial to prove his innocence.

Captain Teague was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death by Admiral Lawrence Norrington.

During young Jack Sparrow's teenage adventures, following the attack and capture of the Misty Lady, the pirate ship of the infamous pirate Captain Teague, Admiral Lawrence Norrington of the British Royal Navy held an impromptu trial on deck of his Royal Navy ship, sentencing all the pirates to death by walking the plank. However, with the secret assistance of a Royal Navy sailor, Joshamee Gibbs, the pirates managed to escape that fate.

The East India Trading Company in Calabar maintained its own small but sturdily built jail for employees who were caught stealing, or committing other illegal acts. Miscreants were incarcerated there until they could be sent back to England for trial.

When Calico Jack Rackham was captured, his entire crew was tried for piracy. The two female crewmembers, Mary Read and Anne Bonny, were both sentenced to death by hanging. But Mary died in prison, and Anne, who was in a delicate condition, was released and disappeared from the pages of pirate lore and history.

After the battle at Isla de Muerta, the formerly cursed crew of the Black Pearl was imprisoned at Port Royal, all sentenced to be hanged. Captain Jack Sparrow was also tried and convicted for his crimes against the British Crown and Empire, then sentenced to death by hanging at Fort Charles in Port Royal. However, Sparrow managed to escape the gallows with the help of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. About one year later, Governor Weatherby Swann helped his daughter Elizabeth escape from Port Royal, the governor said he would try to ensure a fair trial for his daughter's fiancé Will Turner, who was trying to find Jack Sparrow on behalf of Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company. When Elizabeth replied that a fair trial for Will would end in hanging, Governor Swann responded that meant there was nothing left for her there.

In 1750, Joshamee Gibbs was mistaken for Captain Jack Sparrow. Gibbs was arrested and taken to London, where Sparrow himself presided over Gibbs' trial, under the guise of Justice Smith, in the Old Bailey courthouse. Although Foreman found the prisoner guilty, which meant he would be hanged, "Smith" declared Gibbs guilty of being innocent of being Jack Sparrow and changed the sentence to life imprisonment.

In 1751, the young astronomer Carina Smyth was mistaken for a witch. After several weeks of eluding the British authorities on the island of Saint Martin she was eventually captured, tried, and sentenced to death by hanging. When the ghostly pirate hunter Armando Salazar couldn't follow "Jack the Sparrow" on the shores of Hangman's Bay, Salazar furiously returned to the Silent Mary, where he ordered his undead crew to hang all of their prisoners, Hector Barbossa and his pirate crew, upside down on the main deck. Acting as judge, jury and executioner, Salazar improvised a quick trial, sentencing all the pirates to death by rule of the King. Drawing his sword, he started mercilessly killing them one by one, until Barbossa managed to convince him to let them go ashore and capture Jack Sparrow for him.

Behind the scenes

"Every captain here has tales of crews wiped out. No trial, no evidence --"

―Barbossa during the Brethren Court

Trials were first mentioned in the souvenir book for Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. The first in-universe mention was through the term "tried" spoken in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, while "trial" was first uttered in Dead Man's Chest. Trials would first appear in Jack Sparrow: Sins of the Father, in which Admiral Lawrence Norrington held an impromptu trial against Captain Teague.

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's early screenplay draft for The Curse of the Black Pearl, following the battle of Isla de Muerta, Commodore Norrington presided over Will Turner's trial for his acts of piracy, but Governor Weatherby Swann stepped in and spoke on the boy's behalf, deciding to grant him a pardon.

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay for Dead Man's Chest, before finding Jack Sparrow in Cannibal Island, Will Turner heard from an officer standing watch on a ship that Sparrow was "tried, found guilty, and ready to hang... but then he fought off a hundred soldiers at Port Royal, and escaped, God's honest truth, by grabbing two parrots and flying off a cliff."

In Terry Rossio's screenplay draft for Dead Men Tell No Tales, the young girl Cora June mentioned that Jack Sparrow once presided over his own murder trial.

Appearances

• Jack Sparrow: Silver (Mentioned only)
• Jack Sparrow: City of Gold (Mentioned only)
• Jack Sparrow: Sins of the Father (First appearance)
• The Price of Freedom (Mentioned only)
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Day of the Shadow (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (First mentioned)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Mentioned only)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Sources

• Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World (First mentioned)
• Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates

External links

• Trial on Wikipedia