Who was Davy Jones?
Davy Jones’ Locker is an idiom for the bottom of the sea — the resting place of drowned seamen. It is used as a euphemism for death at sea (e.g. to be “sent to Davy Jones’ Locker”); Davy Jones is a nickname (used primarily by sailors) for what would be the devil of the seas. Origin The earliest known reference to Davy Jones occurs in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett, published in 1751: 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. [1] He is described as having saucer eyes, three rows of teeth, horns, a tail, and blue smoke coming from his nostrils. The term appears to have been common among sailors, as the name Davy Jones appears often in popular nautical literature. As is common with
