Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

Clarifications

[C1] The "Ohhh... dear" quote is a result of Leech realizing that only one of the two cages of men needs to survive, since there are exactly six men in each cage. (This count is not easy to discern.) This realization sets off the competitive race up the cliff.

The men in the two cages are:

surviving cage
1. Will Turner
2. Gibbs
3. Marty
4. Cotton
5. a black man
6. a Chinese man
cage that falls into the chasm
1. Leech
2. a white man with a white beard and long white hair
3. a black man with a black beard
4. a black man who is bald
5. (unknown)
6. (unknown)

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[C2] The sand pouring out of the rum bottle is significant. It is believed that this is intended to represent an hour glass with sand running through the narrow neck, since this scene happens immediately before Bootstrap says "Time's run out, Jack." Note also that there was an hourglass on Jack's table just before he left his cabin to go down to the hold to find more rum.

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[C3] Why does Wyvern first say to stab the heart, then not to stab the heart? The book of the movie somewhat clarifies this:

"Open the chest with the key, and stab the
heart," old Wyvern cried, then seemed to sud-
denly change his mind. "Don't stab the heart!" The 
Dutchman must have a living heart or there 
is no captain! And if there is no captain, there's no one
to have the key!"
--Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Irene Trimble, 2006, p. 95

Apparently Wyvern believes he said too much at first, which also explains why he retracts back into the wall and refuses to answer any more questions. Possibly, despite him wanting revenge on the captain, he also fears that if the captain dies, he and the ship will die along with the captain. Or possibly there is a deeper meaning here that will be clarified later, like maybe there is more to having the key than is apparent so far.

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[C4] Where did Will come from, when he showed up on the beach unexpectedly? Remember that Will was secretly hitching a ride on the Flying Dutchman, in the jaws portion of that ship, sailing toward Isla Cruces, the same destination as the Black Pearl, and that Pinder & Ragetti just saw the Flying Dutchman submerge not far offshore. Therefore Will must have jumped from the ship as he realized it was submerging, then swum ashore.

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[C5] "Long pork" is a euphemism for "human meat" / "human flesh." Apparently the shrimper trades spices for human meat, and possibly is even involved in steering unwary travelers to the cannibal island to keep everyone suppled with human meat. That also explains why his brother refused to take Will all the way to the shore of the island: the shrimper's brother had inside information about the dangers of the island. That also explains why the hut on the cannibal island would have so many modern goods like a can of paprika (a spice), knives, and rope: they received such spices and goods by trading "long pork" for them.

One reference:

Transwiki:Long pork [7-26-06]

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[C6] Where did Elizabeth's sword go?

Will grabbed Elizabeth's sword earlier on the beach, after Jack drew his sword on Will. Will must have lost his own sword sometime during the Kraken battle aboard the Edinburgh Trader, and must have not had it when he climbed aboard the Flying Dutchman as a stowaway. Will is using Elizabeth's sword in the duel with Norrington atop the waterwheel at the time Elizabeth reaches for her (missing) sword.

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[C7] "Oh, Mother Cary's chickens."

"Mother Cary's chickens" is a type of sea bird, also called Wilson's Petrel, Wilson's Storm Petrel, or Oceanites oceanus.

Oceanites oceanus

One reference:

Mother Cary’s Chickens (Wilson’s Petrel) [8-4-06]

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[C8] Jack's confusion

What is Jack so confused about that his Compass won't give him a clear heading? One authoritative online article explained this:

The reason we included the "Why is the rum always gone?" line was not just as a callback to the first movie; it was intended to remind audiences of the specific circumstances that it referenced, and so act as a cue to what Jack had on his mind: the woman who he was first attracted to and then infuriated with (or: the woman who Jack never would have been infuriated with if he had not been attracted to).

So, the deal with compass: Jack simultaneously wanted Elizabeth and wanted to be as far from Elizabeth as possible. Whichever of those he wanted most would cause him to immediately want the other more ... so the compass would not settle, swinging between "Port Royal" and "antipode of Port Royal" (which is sort-of-but-not-quite Singapore, btw).

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[C9] "I imagine... some of your crew may have jumped ship there."

Will recognizes Elizabeth's wedding dress and realizes Elizabeth was probably working or hiding aboard the Edinburgh Trader for the sole purpose of getting to Tortuga to meet up with Will, since Will told her in prison that he was going to start searching for Jack in Tortuga. Therefore "some of your crew" refers only to Elizabeth, and apparently does not refer to the crew that Jack hired in Tortuga, in the sense of Jack hiring away crewmen from the Edinburgh Trader who jumped ship in Tortuga, since (1) the crewmen Jack hired were losers who would not have been suitable as sailors on the Edinburgh Trader, (2) some had never sailed at all yet, per some of their dialog, and (3) the Edinburgh Trader had mostly been avoiding Tortuga, per Bellamy's dialog.

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Created: July 13, 2006
Updated: April 19, 2007