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Slavery

️Mon May 06 2013

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Beckett gesture — Cutler Beckett was in the slave-trading business as Director of West African Affairs for the East India Trading Company.

"The slave trade isn't a pleasant business, granted, but it is extremely lucrative. It's very good business. One can't afford these days to be...finicky."

―Cutler Beckett to Jack Sparrow^[src]

Slavery was the practice of owning a human being. Slavery can be traced back to the earliest records, such as the Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1760 BC), which refers to it as an established institution. Slavery typically required a shortage of labor and a surplus of land to be viable. A ship which transported slaves was called the slave ship. African slaves were often called black gold by slave traders, such as employees of the East India Trading Company.

History[]

African slaves were often called "black gold" by the Age of Piracy.^[1]

During their reign of terror in the Mediterranean Sea, the Barbary Corsairs organized many raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in the British Isles, the Netherlands and as far away as Iceland. The main purpose of their attacks was to capture Christian slaves for the Muslim market in North Africa and the Middle East. African slaves were transported to Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central & South America, starting very early in the 16th century. Many African slaves managed to escape slavery by learning to practice magic and Voodoo.^{[citation needed]}

Landowners in the American colonies originally met their need for forced labor by enslaving a limited number of Natives, and "hiring" many more European indentured servants. In exchange for their transportation across the Atlantic Ocean, the servants committed to work for the landowner for 4 to 7 years. A few slaves were imported from Africa as early as 1619. With the spread of tobacco farming in the 1670's, and the diminishing number of people willing to sign-on as indentured servants in the 1680's, increasing numbers of slaves were brought in from Africa. They replaced Native American slaves, who were found to be susceptible to diseases of European origin. The slave trade was practiced by merchants from all European colonial powers, including England, France, Holland and Spain.^{[citation needed]}

During the Spanish conquest of the New World, the villagers of Raven's Cove were forced by the Conquistador El Patron to work as slaves in his mines and craft swords for him. These swords were cursed by the breath of these villagers, and had extraordinary cursed powers.^{[citation needed]}

Gombo was a slave before he killed his master and became a Pirate Lord known as Gentleman Jocard.

During the Age of Piracy, slave trading became and was widespread in the Caribbean, as its economy was gradually underpinned by a slave-based plantation system. It was slave trade which replaced piracy as the main branch of economy of Port Royal, which marked the end of the buccaneering era in Jamaica.^{[citation needed]} Some escaped slaves often joined pirate crews,^[2]^[3] like Gombo, who became captain of a ship and a Pirate Lord known as Gentleman Jocard.^[4]^[5]^[6] Certain pirate captains, including King Samuel and Bartholomew Roberts, sometimes engaged in slave trading; Roberts originally served as a third mate on the London-based slave ship Princess before abandoning the slave trade and turning to piracy.^{[citation needed]} Tumen, a Mayan boy from the Yucatán Peninsula, was kidnapped from his village by pirates and sold into slavery.^[7]

Queen Anne's Revenge trailer — *La Concorde* was a slave ship before she was captured by Blackbeard in 1717 and turned into a pirate ship.

In 1717, a pirate captain Blackbeard captured La Concorde, a French slave ship, off the coast of Martinique. He refitted the ship and made it into his own flagship, renaming her the Queen Anne's Revenge. Before the battle at Ocracoke Inlet in 1718, one of the most dangerous members of Blackbeard's crew was Black Caesar, an African slave who escaped from his master.

The East India Trading Company was also involved in the transport of slaves from Africa to the Caribbean. Calabar was one of the major slave-trading ports of the EITC on the west coast of Africa. However, when Jack Sparrow, captain of the merchant vessel Wicked Wench,^[8]^[9] learned that his cargo was human,^[10]^[11] refused to carry out the task on behalf of Cutler Beckett, with Sparrow saying to Beckett, "People aren't cargo, mate."^[5]^[11] As a result of Sparrow freeing and liberating the slaves, Beckett ordered the Wench destroyed and had Sparrow branded a pirate, though the Wench was raised from the depths as the pirate ship Black Pearl.^[8]^[9]^[5]^[10]^[11] Some pirates captured by the EITC were forced to work as slaves in the gold mines like Beckett's Quarry on Padres Del Fuego.^[12]

Several members of Hector Barbossa's cursed crew members aboard the Black Pearl were escaped slaves from West Africa and the island of Hispaniola.^[13] By the search for the Dead Man's Chest,^[14] most of the crewmen under Davy Jones, the cursed captain of the Flying Dutchman, were covered in barnacles and crustaceans, as slaves to Jones,^[5] dead sailors forever impressed into servitude,^[15] condemned souls to serve before the mast for 100 years.^[9] In a terrifying bargain with Davy Jones, Jack Sparrow had just three days to find 100 human souls, with Will Turner used as a "good faith payment." If Jack succeeded, he will be a free man. But if he failed, he faced a life of slavery, serving Jones on the Flying Dutchman.^[16] As a battle for the key to the chest ensued, Will Turner wanted to stab the heart of Davy Jones to release his father Bootstrap Bill Turner from slavery on board the Flying Dutchman.^[2]^[3]^[14] Although the the Dutchman crew were still slaves after Cutler Beckett gained control of the heart of Davy Jones,^[5] they were given the option to be free following the battle that saw Will Turner become captain of the Dutchman with Jones' death.^[15]^[17]

Behind the scenes[]

Overview[]

Slavery and the general concept of slaves first appeared in various media relating to the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest,^[14] specifically for the Davy Jones' crew in some promotional material,^[9] as well as in the reference book Pirates of the Caribbean: The Visual Guide and the 2007 reprint The Complete Visual Guide.^[2]^[3] Gentleman Jocard was also introduced as a former slave turned pirate in various media for the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End,^[17] including The Complete Visual Guide,^[3] the junior novelization,^[5] a backstory detailed in the "Inside the Brethren Court" special feature for the At World's End DVD release in December 2007,^[18] as well as the prequel Rob Kidd book Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean, published in October 2008.^[6] Captain Jack Sparrow being contracted to transport a cargo of human beings aboard the Wicked Wench as slaves for Cutler Beckett and the East India Trading Company was mentioned in most media,^[8]^[9] notably the At World's End junior novelization and The Pirates' Code Guidelines,^[5]^[10] a backstory that was further explored further in A. C. Crispin's prequel novel The Price of Freedom, published in May 2011.^[11] The term "black gold" used for slaves was also first used in The Price of Freedom.^[11]

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay, a late production draft titled Calypso's Fury, when Cutler Beckett recalled how Jack Sparrow was contracted to deliver cargo, only to liberate it, Sparrow responded, "People aren't cargo, mate." Gentlemen Jocard was also described as a "slave turned pirate" during the Brethren Court meeting.^[19] Although neither was confirmed in the final cut of At World's End,^[17] Jocard's description was included in most Pirates media,^[5]^[6] and Sparrow's line became one inspiration for A.C. Crispin as she wrote the prequel novel The Price of Freedom.^[11]

Unused concepts[]

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's first screenplay draft of At World's End, when Will Turner is picked up at sea by the HMS Endeavour, Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company asks him what reason would he have to betray the pirates, to which Will replies that they sold Elizabeth Swann into slavery.^[20]

In Jeff Nathanson's 2013 early draft of the Dead Men Tell No Tales script the sign in front of the Swift and Sons Chart House said "NO DOGS, SLAVES OR WOMEN ALLOWED".^[21]

One of the ideas for Chris Schweizer's Pirates of the Caribbean comic book series was to have James Norrington and his crew surviving the hurricane off Tripoli and being captured by the Barbary Corsairs and eventually becoming slaves/rowers aboard a galley.^[22]

Historical inaccuracies[]

In real-world history, the East India Trading Company was never involved in the transportation of slaves from West Africa to the New World. The import of slaves from West Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas was done by the Royal African Company. Though the East India Company officials did collect slaves in West Africa, those slaves were sent to the Company's settlements in South Africa, East Africa, India, and Asia.^{[citation needed]}