List of locations in Pirates of the Caribbean

"Isla de Muerta" redirects here. For other uses, see Isla Muerta.

This is a complete list of islands and other locations in the Pirates of the Caribbean films series. Some locations in the series of films are real, others are fictional. Port Royal and Tortuga are the only locations to appear in more than one of the films in the series.

Port Royal

In real-world history, Port Royal was a city located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1692 and subsequent fires, hurricanes, flooding, epidemics and another earthquake in 1907.

Port Royal appears in all movies except in On Stranger Tides. Port Royal is the home of Elizabeth, where her father is governor. It contains a port, a town and a fort, named Fort Charles, which was used to have pirates hanged. Will Turner worked here as the blacksmith's apprentice. Later on the cursed crew of the Black Pearl attacked the town in search of the final piece of Aztec Gold. Later on Lord Cutler Beckett moved here and used it as his base of operations before heading out to command his armade from his ship, The Endeavour.

Isla de Muerta

Isla de Muerta is an island featured in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It is a mysterious isle where the Black Pearl's pirate crew hide their looted treasure. It is filled with the cursed Aztec treasure that the pirates returned.

According to (Captain) Jack Sparrow, Isla de Muerta (incorrectly written in Spanish but probably trying to say "Isla de la Muerte", which translates to "Island of Death") is an island that cannot be found, except by those who already know where it is hidden. To locate it, Captain Sparrow uses his unique compass — rather than pointing north, it points to what its holder wants most. What Sparrow wants is his ship, the Black Pearl, anchored at the island and now captained by his mutinous first mate, Captain Barbossa.

Mysteriously shrouded in an everlasting fog, the isle is surrounded by a graveyard of sunken ships; its waters swarm with hammerhead sharks and shoaling fish.

From the air, the island resembles a human skull. It appears to be largely unexplored, save for interconnecting caves where Captain Barbossa's crew hoard their looted treasure. Here is where the dreaded Chest of Cortez containing the cursed Aztec gold lies hidden.

There seems to be little that is interesting on the island, apart from the caves and the hoarded treasure the Black Pearl crew has acquired during their many years of searching for the last cursed coin and the one remaining blood sacrifice.

In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, it's learned that the island was reclaimed by the sea, taking with it both the cursed Aztec treasure and the uncursed mountains of swag that Barbossa's crew had hoarded while they were cursed. It was with this swag that Jack Sparrow had agreed to pay his new crew, but had to change his plans when it sank with the island. Barbossa himself was only retrieved due to the intervention of Tia Dalma, who did so and also restored him to life before the events of Dead Man's Chest.

Like with Dead Man's Chest, The island is only mentioned in At World's End, by Barbossa as a reminder to Jack of their last confrontation.

Tortuga

Tortuga is a pirate island off the northern coast of Haiti, out of the jurisdiction of the Royal Navy and the East India Trading Company. While it remains a free port where traders can escape the high East India tariffs, it is a dangerous one where illegal transactions are common. Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, in hot pursuit of Captain Hector Barbossa, moor their stolen ship, Interceptor, there to recruit a crew. Their conscripts included Joshamee Gibbs, Anamaria, Cotton, and Marty.

Tortuga, which also appears in Dead Man's Chest, features the now infamous poodie bandits "runnng riot on rum." Will goes to Tortuga to hunt for Jack Sparrow, although he ultimately finds him on Pelegosto Island (see below). A denizen tells Will that he saw a ship with black sails (the Black Pearl) beached on Pelegosto while he was sailing a trade route. Jack returns to Tortuga to try and enlist ninety-nine unsuspecting sailors to pay off his blood debt to Davy Jones. Although he falls far short of his goal, the new crew proves useful during the final confrontation with the Kraken, although they apparently do not survive. Jack is reunited with Elizabeth Swann while in Tortuga and also recruits the down-and-out James Norrington, who resigned his commission after losing his ship in a hurricane while pursuing the Black Pearl, although Norrington first tries to shoot Sparrow.

At the conclusion of At World's End, Barbossa leaves Jack and Gibbs in Tortuga by inciting a mutiny and hijacking the Black Pearl. Only this time they leave him on an inhabited island - and for him a dinghy - acting much fairer than the first time. Despite the surprised look on Jack's face when he finds the "Pearl" gone it seems he almost expected it to happen, for he still outwits Barbossa in the end. Gibbs stays in Tortuga when Jack leaves.

At the end of On Stranger Tides, Barbossa is in command of Blackbeard's ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge. With that he yells out that they'll travel back to Tortuga, although it remains to be seen for what purposes.

Pelegosto

Pelegosto is a fictional island. The relevant scenes were actually filmed on the lush, tropical island of Dominica.

In Dead Man's Chest, Bootstrap Bill Turner, acting as Davy Jones' agent, delivers the Black Spot to Captain Jack Sparrow, a mark indicating that his blood debt to Jones is due. To avoid the monstrous Kraken that is hunting him, Jack commands the crew of the Black Pearl to land as fast as possible. They alight on Pelegosto, a typical Caribbean island with sandy beaches and lush, mountainous jungles. But it is hardly the paradise it appears, inhabited by a vicious cannibal tribe that captures the Pearl's crew. They believe Jack Sparrow is a god in human form and intend to eat him to "release him from his fleshy prison". Will Turner arrives and helps them escape.

Jack seeks out Tia Dalma, an obeah woman, for help. Dalma lives in a swampy bayou on the Pantano River, located on the island's other side. Mysterious inhabitants live in shacks along the river banks. The island's cannibals avoid this area, most likely fearing Tia Dalma, who, unknown to Jack and the crew, is actually the sea goddess, Calypso, trapped in human form.

According to the film's writers in the Dead Man's Chest DVD commentary, Pelegosto is the same island Jack told Royal Navy Marines, Mullroy and Murtogg about in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He tells them, "and then they made me their chief . . ." before being interrupted by Elizabeth Swann falling off the cliff into the harbor. It is open to conjecture whether or not the cannibals that call the island home recognised Jack when he was again made their chief in Dead Man's Chest.

Isla Cruces

Isla Cruces is a fictional island. The relevant scenes were actually filmed in Dominica and Great Exuma, The Bahamas.

In Dead Man's Chest, Isla Cruces (Crosses Island) is a tropical island where Davy Jones buried the Dead Man's Chest containing his beating heart. The island appears to have been abandoned. The previous occupants are unknown, but the partially-remaining stone buildings indicate some European-type colony, probably Spanish, was once established there.

It is not revealed in the film why Davy Jones buried the Dead Man's Chest on Isla Cruces. However, the film's writers, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, imply in the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest DVD audio commentary, that Jones chose it because it is a plague island that remains deserted.

Singapore

The fictionalised Singapore is filled with bridge-covered waterways and crude wooden buildings. It appears in At World's End when Hector Barbossa and Elizabeth Swann visit Sao Feng to steal navigational charts and to request a crew and a ship to rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones’ Locker. The city is last shown as Barbossa, Will, Elizabeth, and the crew set sail in Feng's ship, the Hai Peng.

In The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow mentions Singapore to the two clueless guards as he cuts Elizabeth's corset after she fell off a cliff and into the sea: "Clearly, you've never been to Singapore." It is also mentioned in Dead Man's Chest, while Will is asking for the whereabouts of Jack. One man says, "Sure as the tide, Jack Sparrow...turn up in Singapore."

The Singapore of the movies differs markedly from historical Singapore. The modern port of Singapore was founded by Stamford Raffles in 1819. In the period depicted in the movie, there was only a Malay fishing village called Temasek on the island, not the old Chinese city depicted in the film. (See Early history of Singapore.)

Davy Jones's Locker

Davy Jones's Locker is a fictional place first mentioned in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl by Will Turner. It is a purgatory where anyone sent there confronts their personal demons. It is Davy Jones's favoured punishment for those who attempt to cheat him. Even supernatural beings, such as Calypso, can be sent there, unable to escape while trapped in human form. The only condemned person known to have escaped the Locker is Captain Jack Sparrow. However, as Sao Feng's map does give directions to World's End and an exit route from the Locker, it is conceivable that someone else previously escaped.

For most, the only way to reach the Locker is to die at sea. The Kraken, a gigantic sea monster that drags sailors and their ships to the ocean depths, inflicts this fate at Jones' command. However, the only means by to enter the Locker and return afterwards is described by Tia Dalma; by sailing to (or more precisely, off) the World's End, an impossible feat without Sao Feng's navigational charts.

For Sparrow, the Locker appears as a seemingly endless desert (the opposite of the sea), connected to an equally endless sea (filmed in the Utah Bonneville Salt Flats). Jack is doomed to captain the Black Pearl, crewed by many Jack Sparrow simulacra, upon the desert, though the ship never moves until stone-like crabs (apparently sent by Calypso) appear and carry the stranded Black Pearl to the shore. The endless sea, known as the Sea of Lost Souls, is the only escape route; its waters are filled with the souls of those who died at sea. Aimlessly drifting, they are unable to reach the afterlife, forsaken by Davy Jones, whose duty it was to ferry them to the "other side". Governor Swann is found in the Sea of Lost Souls, murdered on Beckett's order.

Returning to the living world proves far more difficult than arriving in World's End. It requires being able to understand the relationship between the Locker and the living world. Confusing and cryptic clues are within Sao Feng's chart. Sparrow deciphers the clue leading to the living world: Up is Down. By capsizing the Black Pearl at sundown, the crew returns to the living world at sunrise.

Davy Jones' Locker is also mentioned briefly in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Will is on the Black Pearl and threatens Barbossa by saying "Let them go! Or my body shall be lost to Davy Jones' Locker". This statement was merely a reference to the mythologised Davy Jones' Locker and was not intended to foreshadow events from the subsequent two films.

Shipwreck Cove

Shipwreck Cove is an inlet on the fictional Shipwreck Island in the 2007 film, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The island is unique in that its land mass in the interior is composed entirely of shipwrecks. Shipwreck Cove is considered to be an impregnable fortress, well-supplied, and able to withstand nearly any siege. Shipwreck Cove, the meeting place for the Brethren Court, is also the location of the town of Shipwreck.

According to the Essential Guide to Pirates of the Caribbean, every ship must pass through the Devil's Throat upon entering, which claims several vessels each year.

Minor locations

• Parley Sandbar

Also not the actual name. Because Davy Jones can only step on land once every ten years, he and Lord Cutler Beckett meet with Elizabeth Swann and Captain Barbossa there (while Jones stands in a wooden tub filled with water). While there, they swap Will Turner for Jack Sparrow, and Elizabeth vows to Beckett to avenge her father's death. It is seen only in At World's End. This sandbar is not something done in a studio. The sandbar itself is a mile or so from Disney's private island Castaway Cay, which is also the final resting place for the actual movie prop "The Flying Dutchman".

• Frozen Ocean

An ocean filled with icebergs and glaciers that the ship that Sao Feng gave the crew must sail through on their quest to rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker. The special features on the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End DVD suggested that this may have been the Caspian Sea.

• Dead Kraken Island/Black Sand Beach

The island that Jack's crew finds themselves after returning from Davy Jones' Locker. As the name implies the Kraken is found dead here, killed by Davy Jones at Beckett's order.

• Black Sam's Spit/Rumrunner's Isle

The island that Jack finds himself marooned on twice and made "governor" of by Barbossa.

• Run Aground Archipelago

When a merchant ship was attacked here by the kraken under the order of Davy Jones, the surviving crew was taken by Jones and his crew. Unfortunately, Will Turner was among them, although he later escapes.

• Turkish Prison

A rocky island with an apparently inhumane prison built atop its spires. A drawing of the key to Davy Jones' Chest was once hidden within its walls, until Jack Sparrow successfully recovered it.

• Caribbean Shoals

Shoals that the crew Interceptor attempted to get to so they could avoid the Black Pearl during a chase, but Barbossa and the cursed pirate crew caught the Interceptor before the crew of the Interceptor made it to the shoals.

• Farthest Gate

Otherwise known as World's End, it is a gigantic waterfall that leads to Davy Jones' Locker. The crew traveled there to rescue Jack Sparrow who got taken by the Kraken to Davy Jones' Locker. Barbossa is seen laughing when they go down it while the crew screams. The audience assumed that when somebody goes down it they would keep falling and falling for hundreds of miles until they die and then they would be in Davy Jones' Locker.

• Unnamed island

An island discovered by Juan Ponce de León during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. One of the bays, the Whitecap Bay, is infested with mermaids. The island is best known as the location of the Fountain of Youth.

Real locations

• Port Royal
• Singapore
• Tortuga
• London
• Cadiz

See also

• Locations in prequel series
• List of fictional islands

References