Pirates of the Caribbean – the Curse of the Black Pearl
Elizabeth starts for the surface. Inexplicably, Jack swims the other way, further down into the depths.
EXT. CARIBBEAN SEA – DAY
Elizabeth breaks the surface, looks around. And then, finally Jack appears, sucking in air. He shows what he went after: his pistol. He tucks it into his shirt.
ELIZABETH You went back for that? We need to head for the reef!
She starts swimming. Jack hesitates. The Black Pearl is already underway; he stares at it.
JACK That’s the second time I’ve had to watch that man sail away with my ship.
He turns away, and swims after Elizabeth.
EXT. ISLET – BEACH – DAY
CLOSE ON: The surf line. Elizabeth’s feet leave prints in the sand … and then meet up with matching footprints she made earlier, going in the same direction. She has walked all the way around the island.
JACK (O.S.) Not all that big, is it?
Jack lays on the beach. He has dismantled his pistol; the parts, ball and powder dry on his scarf.
ELIZABETH Has it changed since the last time you were here?
JACK The trees are taller.
Jack checks to see if the pistol parts are dry; they are. He sets about re-assembling and loading his pistol.
ELIZABETH I hope you have no intention of using that.
Jack has finished putting his pistol back together. He shoves it in his belt, walks off.
JACK Not yet. Ask me again in a few weeks.
Elizabeth can’t believe it.
ELIZABETH Captain Sparrow! We have to get off this island-immediately!
JACK Don’t be thinking I’m not already working on it.
He climbs up toward a clump of palm trees. Digs for something beneath the sand. He finds it: a large iron ring.
ELIZABETH What is that? Is there a boat under there?
Jack heaves the trap door up and over, revealing a pit. Inside are barrels and bottles of rum … all covered with dust and cobwebs, long abandoned. Jack’s face falls.
ELIZABETH (CONT’D) What? What’s wrong? How will this help us get off the island?
JACK It won’t. It won’t, and so we won’t.
He jumps down into the pit, cracks open a bottle of rum, takes a swig.
ELIZABETH But … you did it before! Last time- JACK Last time, I was here a grand total of three days. Last time, the rumrunners who used this island as a cache came by, and I bartered passage off. But from the looks of this, they’ve been out of business, and so that won’t be happening again. (takes another swig) We probably have your friend Norrington to thank for that.
ELIZABETH So that’s it? That’s the secret grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow? You spent three days on the beach drinking rum?
JACK Welcome to the Caribbean, love.
He gathers up a few bottles, heads for the beach.
JACK (CONT’D) You should look at our contretemps this way: we’ve got shade trees, thank the Lord. We’ve got some food on the trees, thank the Lord again. And we’ve got rum, praise the Lord. We can stay alive a month, maybe more. Keep a weather eye open for passing ships, and our chances are fair.
ELIZABETH A month? Will doesn’t have a month! We’ve got to do something to help him!
JACK You’re right. (hoists the bottle) Here’s luck to you, Will Turner.
He drinks-and difiantly returns Elizabeth’s angry gaze. But then turns away, sits down.
JACK (CONT’D) Don’t be thinking I’m happy about this, Elizabeth. But I see no use in wailing and gnashing my teeth over that which I can do nothing about.
ELIZABETH Not when you can drink instead, at least.
Jack tosses her a bottle.
JACK Try it. It goes down rough, but it goes down-and the second swig goes down easier.
Elizabeth considers. Comes to a decision. She unseals the bottle, takes a swig. They sit in silence for a bit.
ELIZABETH And you will call me Miss Swann.
Jack toasts her: you got it. Elizabeth studies her bottle … gives Jack a sidelong glance. Back to her bottle …
ELIZABETH (CONT’D) (under her breath) Drink up me hearties, yo ho …
JACK What? What was that? (Elizabeth smiles) Something funny, Miss Swann? Share, please.
ELIZABETH Nothing … it’s nothing. Just … I’m reminded of a song I learned as a child. A song about pirates.
JACK I know a lot of songs about pirates, but none I’d teach a child. Let’s hear it.
ELIZABETH Oh, no … it’s silly. Back in England we didn’t know a thing about pirates, really. They seemed so romantic and daring- Jack likes the way that sounds.
ELIZABETH (CONT’D) (looks at him) That was before I met one, of course.
JACK Now I must hear this song. An authentic pirate song. Have at it.
ELIZABETH Well, perhaps … with a bit more to drink, I might …
JACK More to drink!
He gathers two more bottles, tosses one to her. She drops her half-finished bottle to catch it. Opens it, takes a sip.
JACK (CONT’D) Well?
Elizabeth clears her throat, begins to sing self-consciously, becoming stronger as she goes on.
ELIZABETH We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, we loot, Drink up me hearties, yo ho.
She gestures for him to drink. He does.
ELIZABETH (CONT’D) We kidnap and ravage and we don’t give a hoot, Drink up me hearties, yo ho- EXT. ISLET – BEACH – LATER – NIGHT
The middle of the night. A fire BLAZES. Jack and Elizabeth are roaring drunk, arm in arm, singing the song all the way up to the stars-
JACK/ELIZABETH Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me! Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!
JACK I LOVE this song! (sings) Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me! We’re beggars and blighters, ne’er do well cads, Drink up me hearties, yo ho! (gives it a touch of Irish ballad) Aye but we’re loved by out mums and our dads. Drink up me hearties, yo ho!
They hoist their bottles, but only Jack drinks. He drains the bottle, then tosses it away.
JACK When I get the Black Pearl back, I’m going to teach it to the whole crew, and we’ll sing it all the time!
ELIZABETH You’ll be positively the most fearsome pirates to sail the Spanish Main.
Elizabeth salutes the idea with her bottle. Jack doesn’t have a bottle to salute back. She hands him hers. He drinks, then settles shakily to the ground. Elizabeth sits beside him.
JACK Not just the Spanish Main. The whole ocean … the whole world. Wherever we want to go, we go. That’s what a ship is, you know. Not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails. That’s what a ship needs … but what a ship is- what the Black Pearl really is … is freedom.
Elizabeth lays her head on his shoulder.
ELIZABETH Jack, it must be so terrible for you, to be trapped here on this island, all over again.
JACK Ah, well … the company is better than last time. And the scenery has definitely improved.
ELIZABETH (coy) Mr. Sparrow! I’m not sure I’ve had enough rum to allow that kind of talk.
JACK We’ve got a few bottles left … and we’ve yet to tap the kegs.
Elizabeth shrugs with a sleight-but promising-smile. She picks up the empty bottle from the ground, holds it up.
ELIZABETH To freedom.
JACK To the Black Pearl.
They tap the bottles together. Elizabeth feigns a drink as he chugs. He taps his bottle against hers again. She laughs, feigns another drink- EXT. ISLET – BEACH – MORNING
CLOSE ON-JACK’S FACE, dead asleep, lying in the sunlight. His nose twitches. A bit of SMOKE drifts by. His nose twitches again. His eyes open.
Jack GROANS and sits up. He rubs his head, looks over–all of the foliage in the middle of the island is ON FIRE. Smoke rises high up into the clear blue sky.
Jack leaps to his feet. He sees Elizabeth, as she pours out the last of the rum, dowsing a scrub brush at the base of a palm tree. It goes up in FLAMES. She rolls the barrel forward-it starts to BURN merrily.
Jack can’t believe his eyes.
JACK What are you doing? You’ve burned our food, the shade-the rum!
ELIZABETH Yes, the rum is gone.
She wipes her hands together. One of the rum barrels in the fire EXPLODES.
JACK Why?
ELIZABETH One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into scoundrels. Two- She points to the sky.
ELIZABETH (CONT’D) That signal is over a thousand feet high, which means it can be seen for two hundred leagues in every direction. The entire Royal Navy is out to sea looking for me-do you think there is even a chance they could miss it?
JACK You-you burned up the island, for a one-time chance at being spotted?
ELIZABETH Exactly.
Elizabeth turns toward the sea.
ELIZABETH (CONT’D) Just you wait, Captain. In an hour, maybe two, keep a ‘weather eye open’ and you’ll be seeing white sails on that horizon!
She sits down, determined. Shields her eyes, scans the water, waiting, searching. Jack is speechless. He throws up his hands, stalks up the sand dune, just to get away from her.
EXT. ISLET – LEEWARD SHORE – DAY
At the crest of the dune, Jack stops-and stares, incredulous. We come around to see what he is looking at- Past Jack, anchored on the other side of the island, white sails glorious against the turquoise waters, is the H.M.S. Dauntless. A longboat is already being rowed toward them.
