Davy Jones’ Locker

Davy Jones’s Locker is an idiom for the bottom of the sea; the resting place of drowned sailors. It is used as a euphemism for death at sea (to be "sent to Davy Jones' Locker"), [cite web | last = | first = | title = Davy Jones’s Locker | work = Bartleby.com | publisher = The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.| date = 2000-01-01 | url = http://www.bartleby.com/61/29/D0042900.html| accessdate = 2006-07-16 ] whereas the name Davy Jones is a nickname for what would be the devil/saint/god of the seas. The origins of the name are unclear and many theories have been put forth, including incompetent sailors, a pub owner who kidnapped sailors, or that Davy Jones is another name for the devil – as in, “Devil Jonah”. This nautical superstition was popularized in the 1800s.Fact|date=June 2007

History

The earliest known reference to Davy Jones’ negative connotation occurs in the "The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle":

In the story Jones is described as having saucer eyes, three rows of teeth, horns, a tail, and blue smoke coming from his nostrils.

Theories

The origin of the tale of “Davy Jones” is unclear, and many explanations have been proposed:

*There was a man by the name of Vanderdecken, original owner of the Flying Dutchman, Jones' ghost ship. There was an actual David Jones, who was a pirate on the Indian Ocean in the 1630s, [cite book| last = Rogoziński | first =Jan | location = Hertfordshire| title = The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pirates | id = ISBN 1-85326-384-2| date = 1997-01-01] but most scholars agree that he was not renowned enough to gain such lasting global fame.
*A British pub owner who is referenced in the 1594 song "Jones's Ale is Newe." He may be the same pub owner who supposedly threw drunken sailors into his ale locker and then dumped them onto any passing ship.cite web | last = Dunne| first =Susan| title = Davy Jones's Legacy | work = The Hartford Courant | date = 2006-07-07| url = http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-davyjoneslocker.artjul07,0,7310662.story?coll=hc-headlines-life| accessdate = 2006-09-30 ] He could also be Duffer Jones, a notoriously myopic sailor who often found himself over-board.cite book | last = Shay | first =Frank | title = A Sailor's Treasury |publisher= Norton |id = ASIN B0007DNHZ0| accessdate = 2006-07-16 ]
*Welsh sailors who would call upon Saint David for protection in times of mortal danger.cite web | last = Dunne| first =Susan| title = Davy Jones' Legacy | work = The Hartford Courant | date = 2006-07-07| url = http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-davyjoneslocker.artjul07,0,7310662.story?coll=hc-headlines-life| accessdate = 2006-09-30 ] Some also think it is simply another name for Satan.cite web | last = Dunne| first =Susan| title = Davy Jones's Legacy | work = The Hartford Courant | date = 2006-07-07| url = http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-davyjoneslocker.artjul07,0,7310662.story?coll=hc-headlines-life| accessdate = 2006-09-30 ]
*The name may have come from Deva, Davy or Taffy, the thief of the evil spiritFact|date=February 2008. Davy may also stem from "Duppy", a West Indian term for a malevolent ghost, or else, perhaps, from Saint David, also known as "Dewi", a Welsh sea god and also the patron saint of Wales, or perhaps "Davy Jones" derives from the prophet Jonah,cite web | last = Brewer| first =E. Cobham | title = Davy Jones’s Locker. | work = Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | date = 1898-01-01| url = http://www.bartleby.com/81/4705.html| accessdate = 2006-04-30 ]
*There is also the "Jonah" theory, Jonah became the "evil angel" of all sailors, as the biblical story of Jonah involved his shipmates realizing Jonah was an unlucky sailor and casting him over-board. Naturally, sailors of previous centuries would identify more with the beset-upon ship-mates of Jonah than with the unfortunate man himself. It is therefore a possibility that "Davy Jones" grew from the root "Devil Jonah" - the devil of the seas. Upon death, a wicked sailor's body supposedly went to Davy Jones' locker (a chest, as lockers were back then), but a holy sailor's soul went to Fiddler's Green.cite web | last = Dunne| first =Susan| title = Davy Jones' Legacy | work = The Hartford Courant | date = 2006-07-07| url = http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-davyjoneslocker.artjul07,0,7310662.story?coll=hc-headlines-life| accessdate = 2006-09-30 ]
*Another suggestion is that it comes from "Deva Lokka", a Hindu goddess of death. [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.3814] Although Deva is undoubtedly a Hindu term for a goddess, it is not clear that there was such a figure as "Deva Lokka".

Reputation

The tale of Davy Jones causes fear among sailors, who may refuse to discuss Davy Jones in any great detail.cite web | last = Dunne| first =Susan| title = Davy Jones' Legacy | work = The Hartford Courant | date = 2006-07-07| url =http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/1073312401.html?dids=1073312401:1073312401&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+7%2C+2006&author=SUSAN+DUNNE%3BCourant+Staff+Writer&pub=Hartford+Courant&edition=&startpage=D.1&desc=DAVY+JONES%27+LEGACY+%3B+FROM+DEFOE+TO+DEPP%2C+NAUTICAL+LEGEND+STILL+SCARY+AFTER+280+YEARS%3B+PIRATES+OF+THE+CARIBBEAN ] Not all traditions dealing with Davy Jones are fearful. In traditions associated with sailors crossing the Equatorial line, there was a "raucous and rowdy" initiation presided over by those who had crossed the line before, known as shellbacks, or Sons of Neptune. The eldest shellback was called King Neptune, and the next eldest was his assistant who was called Davy Jones.cite web | last = Dunne| first =Susan| title = Davy Jones' Legacy | work = The Hartford Courant | date = 2006-07-07| url = http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-davyjoneslocker.artjul07,0,7310662.story?coll=hc-headlines-life| accessdate = 2006-09-30 ]

Use in media

1800s

In 1824 Washington Irving mentions Jones’ name in his "Adventures of the Black Fisherman":

Herman Melville mentions Jones in the 1851 classic "Moby-Dick":

In Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel "Treasure Island", Davy Jones appears a number of times, for example in the phrase “in the name of Davy Jones”. In J. M. Barrie’s novel "Peter and Wendy", Captain Hook sings a song: Cquote2
Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life,
The flag o' skull and bones,
A merry hour, a hempen rope,
And hey for Davy Jones.

The Current US Navy song Anchors Aweigh refers to Davy Jones in its current lyrics adopted in the 1920s:Cquote2
Stand, Navy, out to sea, Fight our battle cry;
We'll never change our course, So vicious foe
steer shy-y-y-y.
Roll out the TNT, Anchors Aweigh.
Sail on to victory
And sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray!

Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh.
Farewell to foreign shores, we sail at break of day-ay-ay-ay.
Through our last night on shore, drink to the foam,
Until we meet once more,
Here's wishing you a happy voyage home. cite web |date=2007 |url = http://www.navy.mil/navydata/navy_legacy_hr.asp?id=191#revised|title = The US Navy|format = HTML |publisher = The US Navy| accessdate = 2008-02-28 | last= George Lottman|quote=]

References