Portmaster — pirates

The Harbormaster at Port Royal, Jamaica.

"So sorry to have troubled you, Portmaster Blount, but I'm afraid my errand is urgent. I'm preparing to set sail within a few days, and I need to provision my ship."

―Jack Sparrow to Benjamin Blount^[src]

A harbourmaster (or harbormaster), otherwise known as portmaster, was an official responsible for enforcing the regulations of a particular harbour or port, in order to ensure the safety of navigation, the security of the harbour and the correct operation of the port facilities.

History

"'Morning, Portmaster Blount! Here to check on your provision delivery? They arrived in fine shape, thanks very much! I adore smoked ham!"

―Jack Sparrow to Benjamin Blount^[src]

A harbormaster worked at the docks of New Orleans around the early 18th century.^[1] Benjamin Blount served as the portmaster in Calabar for some time, until the East India Trading Company discovered he was providing the EITC ships with spoiled food and keeping a large percentage of the money for the acquisition of good supplies for himself. After Blount escaped into the interior of West Africa and was never seen again, Eugene Parker became the new portmaster.^[2] There was another harbormaster in Port Royal, Jamaica, who was usually followed by a young boy who served as his assistant and held his ledger.^[3]^[4]^[5]

The harbormaster of Port Royal most notably encountered Captain Jack Sparrow immediately after the infamous pirate arrived on the sinking boat, the Jolly Mon, telling Sparrow that it was a shilling to tie his boat at the dock, a mooring fee.^[3] Sparrow glanced quizzically at the harbormaster and then looked over at the now fully submerged Jolly Mon. Not bothering to answer the harbormaster, Sparrow shrugged and attempted to move on, only for the harbormaster to not let him pass, deeming "rules are rules" and requested his name. Looking at the ledger, Jack pulled out a coin purse and threw a few coins onto the open book, asking the harbormaster to allow him to pass and forget the name for three shillings.^[4] For a moment, the harbormaster just stared at Jack, then he welcomed "Mr. Smith" to Port Royal and closed the ledger.^[5]

Notable harbormasters

Benjamin Blount (Calabar)^[2]
Eugene Parker (Calabar)^[2]
Harbormaster (New Orleans)^[1]
Harbormaster (Port Royal)^[3]^[4]^[5]

Behind the scenes

Harbormasters would first appear in Irene Trimble's junior novelization for the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.^[3]^[5] In Elizabeth Rudnick's junior novelization, published in 2006-2007, both the American English "harbormaster" (2006) and British English "harbourmaster" (2007) were used, the latter being where the spelling "harbourmaster" was first used.^[4] The term "portmaster" would first be used in the 2011 novel The Price of Freedom by A. C. Crispin.^[2]