X marks the spot

Due to Carina Smyth's knowledge of astronomy, Jack Sparrow was convinced no one could find the X they were looking for except her.

"So no one can find the X but you, right?"
"No."
"And the donkey?"

―Jack Sparrow , Carina Smyth, and Scrum

X marks the spot was a common pirate phrase meaning a person will find what they're looking for under an obvious sign for it. It was usually used when looking through a treasure map.

History

The Mao Kun Map

X marks the spot on Ponce de León 1523, as depicted on a map in the navigational charts.

In 1523, the notorious Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León sailed his ship, the Santiago, through the waters north of Cuba, hoping to find the legendary Fountain of Youth. The Santiago's route was recorded on the Mao Kun Map, with Ponce de León's final destination being marked with an X. However, the real location of the Fountain was not Florida as marked on the map, but an unnamed island.

Arabella Smith's map

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

―Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III reads Jack Sparrow's inscription on Arabella Smith's map

When young Jack Sparrow met Arabella Smith in Tortuga the two youngsters made a plan to go after the legendary Sword of Cortés. Since Arabella needed some time to prepare the expedition, and Jack didn't know Tortuga well, Arabella tore up a square piece of cloth from her apron, and used a half burned wooden hairpin to draw a map, marking the location of Salty Cove, where a boat called the Barnacle was lying abandoned on the beach, with an X. Jack lost the map in a fight while retrieving his stolen sack, but managed to find the cove three days later. However, the map was found by Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III, a young English nobleman who used it to find Arabella and Jack to join their quest.

Scurvy Joe's tattoo

At some point before Captain Hector Barbossa's first mutiny on the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow buried some gold on a small island in the Caribbean Sea. The pirates tattooed a map of the island on the back of one of them, Scurvy Joe, with an X marking the location of the buried treasure. Scurvy Joe later fell under the curse of the Aztec Gold, becoming an undead creature, with the moonlight turning him into a walking skeleton and making the treasure map disappear.

Search for the Dead Man's Chest

In an attempt to escape his debt to Davy Jones, Captain Jack Sparrow searched for the Dead Man's Chest. With Jack's compass in the hands of Elizabeth Swann, who believed they were searching for a way to save Will Turner, the Black Pearl sailed for Isla Cruces. Once the pirates found the exact spot where the chest was buried, Jack made an X in the sand with the toe of his boot, showing deckhand James Norrington where to dig.

Quest for the Trident of Poseidon

Twelve-year-old Henry Turner had a map in his room, in which X marks the spot.

"This is the Map No Man Can Read!"
"That map will lead us to the Trident. We just have to follow the X!"
"And X always marks the spot."

―Carina Smyth, Henry Turner, and Jack Sparrow

When 12-year-old Henry Turner calculated the exact location where the Flying Dutchman would rise out of the sea off the coast of Jamaica, he marked the spot on his map with an X. Nine years later, following their escape from Saint Martin, Jack Sparrow and his pirate crew imprisoned Henry and the astronomer Carina Smyth aboard the Dying Gull, forcing the two youngsters to show them a way during the search for the legendary Trident of Poseidon. During the night, while examining the stars, Henry and Carina realized the Southern Cross would lead them to the Map No Man Can Read, like an X hidden in the sky since the beginning of time. Jack Sparrow then appeared on deck, proclaiming that X always marks the spot. The next day Carina explained to the superstitious pirates her knowledge of astronomy and horology, finally convincing them that no one could find the X they were looking for but her.

Carina Smyth activates the X, the rubies shaped in the form of the Southern Cross.

At the beginning of the race to the Black rock island, Henry convinced Captain Hector Barbossa to listen to Carina's advice because she was the only one who could follow the X. Later, when the pirates fought the Spanish ghosts aboard the Black Pearl, Carina noticed an island on the horizon, and notified Henry Turner about the X in the middle of the sea. When the Black Pearl reached the black rock island, Carina saw the island was covered in diamonds positioned to match the stars and planets as they appeared in the sky, forming the Map No Man Can Read. However, she also noticed that the Southern Cross, the X in the sky, was missing. The rubies shaped like the Cross did not glow, but Hector Barbossa gave Carina the ruby that once decorated the cover of Galileo Galilei's diary. As Carina put the ruby in its place, it started to glow like the others, and the other jewels in the constellation lit up, forming the shape of the Trident, to which Carina exclaimed that X marks the spot.

Behind the scenes

A 1962 rendering by Marc Davis which depicts a group of pirates poring over a treasure map with an X.

"This map says X marks the spot, but I be seein' no X's afore me."

―Pooped Pirate

• "X marks the spot" inspired concept artwork for Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean when it was created as a walk-through attraction, notably in a rendering by Marc Davis, but lacked the instant communication required by a ride-through experience. The phrase first appeared through the Magic Kingdom version of the ride, which featured the Pooped Pirate holding a treasure map in his lap and a magnifying glass in one hand, saying "This map says X marks the spot, but I be seein' no X's afore me". This scene was removed in the 2006 revamp that added Captain Jack Sparrow to the scene.
• One of the scenes in the Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates special feature on the DVD/Blu-Ray releases for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is called "X Marks The Spot" though it mentions more about how the Caribbean became the sort of heart of piracy, among other pirate areas.
• In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay for Dead Man's Chest, after Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth Swann, and James Norrington found the exact spot where the Dead Man's Chest was buried on Isla Cruces, Jack makes an "X" in the sand with his toe, then looks at Norrington expectantly. Norrington gets the hint, starts digging. While the final cut of the film only shows Jack pointing at the spot for Norrington to dig, the description in the screenplay was retained in the junior novelization.

X marks the spot on young Jack's map.

"We just need to follow the X!"
"And X always marks the spot. Savvy?"

―Henry Turner and Jack Sparrow

• "X marks the spot" is referenced several points in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. In the final cut of the film, when Carina Smyth explains her knowledge of astronomy and how to use the chronometer, Jack Sparrow says "So no one can find the X but you, right?" The film's comic book adaptation Jack asks Carina, "So nobody can find that spot but you?" In both the prequel novel The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth and the film's novelization, Jack Sparrow believed that X always marked the spot. As seen in the film's "Bloopers of the Caribbean" bonus feature, Johnny Depp (Jack Sparrow) improvised the word "savvy" into the line.
• A strategy guide book to the 2006 video game Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow, uses the phrase "X Marks the Spot" in a section about the various treasure chests, hidden treasures, and map pieces that are found on nearly every level of the game.
• In the 2011 video game LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, when Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swann end up marooned on Smuggler's Den, several important locations on the island are marked with an X. Also, whenever you play as Jack and use his compass, you select an item then follow the trail until you see an X, where you reach the item in question.
• In Pirates of the Caribbean: Six Sea Shanties, a graphic novel which was scheduled to be released in 2011, shows the young Jack Sparrow and the crew of the Barnacle finding a map on which an X marks the supposed location of the Fountain of Youth somewhere on Staten Island. But since the graphic novel was cancelled, it is unknown if the map's appearance is canon or not.

Appearances

• Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean (First appearance)
• Pirates of the Caribbean Trading Card Game
• Jack Sparrow: The Coming Storm
• Jack Sparrow: Dance of the Hours
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Six Sea Shanties
• The Capture of Jack Sparrow!
• The Treasure of Shipwreck Island!
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (video game)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• 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 Novelization
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Non-canonical appearance)
• Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life (Non-canonical appearance)

Sources

• Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies