pirates
For other uses, see Silver (disambiguation)
The nine silver pieces of eight.

The nine silver pieces of eight.

"May I please have a drink, please?"
"Show me your silver."
"Silver? How about a trade? Give me the bottle."
―Jack Sparrow and Grimes[src]

Silver was a soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal. It was found in the Earth's crust in the pure, free elemental form ("native silver"), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals. Silver had been valued as a precious metal, commonly sold and marketed beside gold. Other than in currency and as an investment medium (coins and bullion), silver was used in jewelry, ornaments, high-value tableware and utensils (hence the term "silverware"), and medical instruments.

History

"As I was saying, about this labyrinth... if you can get through it, through the illusions and magical pitfalls, when you reach the center, that's where the best swag is. Silver... gold... jewelry and coins... but the greatest treasure there, you could hold in your two hands."
―Jack Sparrow to Christophe-Julien de Rapièr[src]

By the Golden Age of Piracy, a Spanish silver coin was known popularly as "pieces of eight" among pirates.[1] One of the sailors' superstitions was that a ship built with a silver coin under the mast and a gold coin in the keel had greater luck than the one without the coins. Riches attracted riches, and the small sacrifice of those coins helped ensure smooth sailing, calm waters, and felicitous winds.[2][3] When European explorers first sailed to the East Indies, they were hypnotized by the fabulous wealth they found. The gold, silver, ivory, silk, and exotic spices lured traders hungry for a profit.[4]

At some point after Davy Jones fell under the curse of the Flying Dutchman, he had a pipe, which had a stem made from silver mined below the seabed.[5][6]

The treasure amassed by the infamous pirate Sharkheart Sam aboard his ship, the Buzzard, included 11 silver candlesticks, 11 large bags of silver bars, and one bag of silver buttons.[7] As the galleon the Santa Catalina sailed to the colony of Zaragona, one night the young crewman Pablo snuck into the captain's cabin to steal the captain's silver teapot. Although he managed to take the teapot from the captain's chest, Pablo's theft attempt was ruined when the pet monkey Zita stole one of the coins from Pablo's pocket and tossed it right into the sleeping captain's open mouth, waking him up.[8] Following the sinking of the Buzzard a few daring crewmen of the Santa Catalina made dives to retrieve the treasure but all they got was a few bags of gold and some silver candlesticks.[9] The father of Armando Salazar was a Spanish Navy admiral who patrolled the waters of the Caribbean, but at the same time took bribes from pirates—gold and silver—allowing them to sail with impunity.[10] A few years later, when the grown up Armando Salazar became a Navy captain,[11] he wore a uniform with silver buttons.[12]

Cortés wore an armor made of iron and silver.

Cortés wore an armor made of iron and silver.

At the beginning of the quest for the Sword of Cortés, young Jack Sparrow and the crew of the mighty Barnacle visited the legendary island of Isla Fortuna, where they encountered a thief whose hands were full of silver chains and coins.[13] Later in the adventure, after Jack spoke a magical incantation over the cursed Sword of Cortés, he inadvertently summoned from the dead the spirit of Hernán Cortés himself. When the phantom appeared before the crew, he was dressed in a conquistador's armor, made of iron and silver, glowing slightly with heat.[14]

On one occasion the French pirate Captain Christophe-Julien de Rapièr and his crew captured a Spanish vessel which carried a respectable take of silver ingots, some very fine tobacco, and a relatively small chest of old gold coins. Christophe also owned a Toledo steel sword, with the guard and pommel chased with gold and silver, while the black leather baldric had a silver buckle.[15] When Christophe and Jack Sparrow took their lady friend Esmeralda to see Shipwreck City, she wore a gown of silvery gray silk, and no jewelry save for small silver earrings.[16] About five years later, while Jack was a merchant seaman for the East India Trading Company, he owned a pair of shoes with silver buckles.[17] When Jack impersonated Baron Frederick Penwallow on the island of New Avalon, he was dressed as a nobleman, with elegant, silver-buckled black—and rented—shoes.[18]

During the quest for the Shadow Gold, Hector Barbossa, the first mate aboard the Black Pearl, owned a fashionable blue peacoat with silver buttons.[19] Following his meeting with the Incas, Jack Sparrow added a tiny silver llama among the trinkets, each representing a different adventure, woven into the braids in his dreadlocked hair.[20] Captain Edward Teague owned a small silver bell which he used to summon his servants when he lived in a mansion in Libertalia.[21] Chevalle, the French Pirate Lord of the Mediterranean Sea, wore on his feet a pair of pointed shoes with high heels and shiny silver buckles.[22] His colleague Eduardo Villanueva, the Spanish Pirate Lord of the Adriatic Sea, owned a pretty silver snuffbox with the Villanueva family crest engraved on the lid.[23] Mistress Ching, the Chinese Pirate Lord of the Pacific Ocean, owned a silver pistol.[24]

The treasure on Isla de Muerta collected by Captain Hector Barbossa and the crew of the Black Pearl included huge quantities of gold and silver bars and coins, which came from raids on Spanish ships heading back to Seville from the country's colonies in Mexico and Peru.[25][26] Around the time of the battle of Isla de Muerta the blacksmith Will Turner owned leather shoes with silver buckles.[27][28]

At some point prior to the quest for the Trident of Poseidon in 1751,[29] Jack Sparrow had some business with the pirate Pierre "Pig" Kelly and ended up owing him a plunder of silver.[11] During the bank robbery in Saint Martin, Jack Sparrow wore several silver and gold rings on his fingers.[30] As Jack entered the Grimes Pub and asked for a drink, Grimes told him to show his silver. Since Jack had none he traded his compass for a bottle of rum. The next day, when Henry Turner needed help to free Jack Sparrow and the astronomer Carina Smyth from the British authorities on Saint Martin, he hired Sparrow's former crew, giving the pirates ten silver pieces.[11]

Behind the scenes

Silver first appeared in Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, notably identified by name in the souvenir book.[1]

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay draft for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Captain Barbossa was described as having both gold and silver teeth. When Will Turner and Jack Sparrow rescue Elizabeth Swann from Barbossa, Elizabeth was described with a silver platter in hand, ready to swing at Jack.[31]

In Ted Elliott and Tery Rossio's screenplay draft for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Jack Sparrow made an offer to Lord Cutler Beckett in which Jack would lead Beckett to Shipwreck Cove and deliver the Pirate Lords on a silver platter."[32] Although the line was cut from the film,[33] it was retained in the junior novelization.[34]

In Terry Rossio's original 2012 screenplay draft of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the Mermaid Trove was described as having mountains of gold, silver, and pearls. The introduction of the Trident of Neptune, the most powerful artifact of the seas, detailed silver twists that Queen Inez ran her fingers over. When Hector Barbossa proposes to Nadirah, he destroyed the hilt of his sword, which had one of the three Pearls of Neptune missing from the Trident, which he promised to have set in a band of silver and placed upon her finger. Jack Sparrow's bane, the sword destined to kill Jack Sparrow, was described as silver.[35]

By the final version of Dead Men Tell No Tales, released in 2017, when Mullroy and Murtogg inform Hector Barbossa about Armando Salazar and his army of ghosts attacking the fleet, they tell him that all his ships are at the bottom of the sea.[11] In the novelization and graphic novel, Mullroy and Murtogg tell Barbossa that all his silver is at the bottom of the sea.[36][29]

Appearances

Sources

External links

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, p. 11
  2. ↑ The Pirates' Code Guidelines, p. 80
  3. ↑ The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook, p. 161
  4. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, p. 48
  5. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide, p. 62
  6. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, p. 62
  7. ↑ Climb Aboard If You Dare!: Stories From The Pirates of the Caribbean, p. 7
  8. ↑ Climb Aboard If You Dare!: Stories From The Pirates of the Caribbean, pp. 13-15
  9. ↑ Climb Aboard If You Dare!: Stories From The Pirates of the Caribbean, p. 25
  10. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization, p. 155
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  12. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: "Dead Men Tell More Tales: The Making of a New Adventure — The Matador & The Bull: Secrets of Salazar & the Silent Mary"
  13. ↑ Jack Sparrow: The Pirate Chase, p. 44
  14. ↑ Jack Sparrow: The Pirate Chase, pp. 117-119
  15. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter One: Fair Winds and Black Ships
  16. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Six: The Wicked Wench
  17. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Four: Cutler Beckett
  18. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Twelve: Shabako
  19. ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters, p. 13
  20. ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: Rising in the East, pp. 113-114
  21. ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters, p. 58
  22. ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: Day of the Shadow, Chapter Eight
  23. ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: Day of the Shadow, Chapter Fourteen
  24. ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: Rising in the East, pp. 159-160
  25. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide, pp. 40-41: "Isla de Muerta"
  26. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, pp. 40-41: "Isla de Muerta"
  27. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide, p. 20
  28. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide, p. 22
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Movie Graphic Novel
  30. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization, p. 58
  31. ↑ Wordplayer.com: WORDPLAY/Archives/Screenplay - PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
  32. ↑ Wordplayer.com: WORDPLAY/Archives/Screenplay - PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
  33. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  34. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization), p. 101
  35. ↑ Wordplayer.com: WORDPLAY/Archives/Screenplay - PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES by Terry Rossio
  36. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization, p. 98