Davy Jones' Locker

Davy Jones' locker is a metaphor for the oceanic abyss, the final resting place of drowned sailors and travellers. It is a euphemism for drowning or shipwrecks in which the sailors' and ships' remains are consigned to the depths of the ocean (to be ''sent to Davy Jones' Locker'').

First used in print in 1726, the name Davy Jones' origins are unclear, with a 19th-century dictionary tracing Davy Jones to a "ghost of Jonah". Other explanations of this nautical superstition have been put forth, including an incompetent sailor or a pub owner who kidnapped sailors.

History

The earliest known reference of the negative connotation of Davy Jones occurs in ''The Four Years Voyages of Capt. George Roberts'', attributed to Daniel Defoe (but potentially involving the journal of a real George Roberts), published in 1726 in London.

And elsewhere in ''The Four Years Voyages'':

Proposed origins of the tale

The origin of the tale of Davy Jones is unclear, and many conjectural or folkloric explanations have been told:

*'' The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue'' by Francis Grose, written in 1785 and published in 1811, includes the definitions: "DAVID JONES. The devil, the spirit of the sea: called Necken or Draugr in the north countries, such as Norway, Denmark, and Sweden" and "DAVID JONES' LOCKER. The sea". Grose, Francis. 1811.
Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue: A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence
', 10th ed. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
*Written within a foreign affairs segment within the newspaper 'Chester Chronicle' in 1791, the term 'Safe in Davy Jones's locker' was used to convey that a person was lost, therefore to be within Davy Jones's locker was to be lost at sea.
*The 1870 and 1895 editions of the '' Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'' connect Davy to the West-Indian '' duppy'' (''duffy'') and Jones to biblical Jonah: The reference to ''duppy''/''duffy'' was deleted in later revisions of Brewer's dictionary.
*David Jones, a real pirate, although not a very well-known one, living on the Indian Ocean in the 1630s. Charles Grey calls him "a truculent rascal ... to whose activities in covering up the evidence of their misdeeds, Sir William Foster is inclined (wrongly) to attribute the origin of the sea phrase ''Davy Jones's Locker''".
*Duffer Jones, a notoriously myopic sailor who often found himself overboard.
*A British pub owner who supposedly threw drunken sailors into his ale locker and then gave them to be drafted on any ship.
*Pinkerton attributes its origin to the Biblical Jonah:

*The phrase may have been associated with balladeer and clergyman David Lloyd, well known for his nautical adventure ballad ''The Legend of Captain Jones''.
*Linguists consider it most plausible that ''Davy'' was inspired by Saint David of Wales, whose name was often invoked by Welsh sailors, and ''Jones'' by the Biblical Jonah.

Positive associations

Not all traditions dealing with Davy Jones are fearful. In traditions associated with sailors crossing the Equatorial line, there is a "raucous and rowdy" initiation presided over by those who have crossed the line before, known as shellbacks, or Sons of Neptune. The eldest shellback is called King Neptune, and Davy Jones is to be re-enacted as his first assistant.

Use in media

18th century

After 1726's ''Four Years Voyages'', another early description of Davy Jones occurs in Tobias Smollett's '' The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle'', published in 1751:

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

19th century

in 1812, a musical pantomime 'Davy Jones's Locker, Or Black ey'd Susan' was performed at London's West End theatre; Sans Pareil, known today as Adelphi Theatre.

20th century

In the 1930 cartoon "The Haunted Ship", from the ''Aesop's Fables'' series, Davy Jones is depicted as a living skeleton wearing a pirate's bicorne hat.

Raymond Z. Gallun's 1935 science fiction story "Davey Jones' Ambassador" tells of a deep-sea explorer in his underwater capsule who comes in contact on the seabed with a deep-sea culture of underwater creatures.

Theodore Sturgeon's 1938 short story "Mailed Through a Porthole", about a doomed freighter, takes the form of a letter addressed to "Mr. David Jones, Esq., Forty Fathoms".

Davy Jones is a character appearing in ''Popeye

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