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Saturday, June 17, 2023

What does "Davy Jones" mean in PIRATE-speak?

Tobias Smollett wrote in Peregrine Pickel - he was a surgeon's Second Mate in the Royal Navy:

This same Davy Jones,

according to the mythology of sailors,

is the fiend that presides 

over all the evil spirits of the deep,

and is often seen in various shapes, 

perching among

the rigging on the eve of hurricanes, 

ship-wrecks, and other disasters

to which sea-faring life is exposed, 

warning the devoted wretch

of death and woe. . ."

From the ANNOTATED Treasure Island (2014) text by R.L. Stevenson and notes/intro.

by Simon Baker-Benfield ISBN is 9781937075019

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