Elizabeth Swann (born 1708) was a British socialite who famously entered the world of piracy in 1728 and rose to be the Pirate Lord of the South China Sea in 1729, succeeding Sao Feng.
Biography[]
Elizabeth Swann was born in London, England in 1708, the daughter of Royal Navy officer Weatherby Swann. In 1720, she and her father sailed across the Atlantic to Jamaica after King George I appointed Swann as Governor of Port Royal, and, during the voyage, Swann helped to rescue the shipwreck survivor Will Turner after noticing that his ship, the Princess, had been destroyed in a pirate attack. This experience left Swann with a deep fascination about pirates.
By 1728, Swann was of age to marry, and Commodore James Norrington proposed to her; however, Swann retained her affection for Turner, who had become a blacksmith's apprentice in Port Royal. Swann fell from the battlements of Fort Charles when Norrington proposed to her, partly due to her surprise at his offer, and also because of her corset making it hard for her to breathe; she was rescued from drowning by the pirate Jack Sparrow, who was promptly thrown into jail because of his past. That same night, she was kidnapped by the pirate captain Hector Barbossa during his attack on Port Royal, as Barbossa desired an Aztec coin which she had taken from the unconscious Turner eight years earlier. She was rescued by both the Royal Navy and by Sparrow and his crew (now including Turner) during the Battle of Isla de Muerta, after which she persuaded her father to let Turner and Sparrow go; she put herself between the muskets of the Royal Marines and her friends and threw in her lot with the pirates.
Swann in Chinese clothing, 1729
A year later, she and Turner were on the verge of marrying when they were arrested by British East India Company agent Cutler Beckett for aiding in Sparrow's escape. Turner bargained with Beckett, promising to obtain Sparrow's compass in exchange for Swann's freedom. However, Swann escaped to Tortuga with her father's help, and she agreed to help Sparrow find the "Dead Man's Chest" in order to rescue Turner, who, according to legend, was tricked into serving on board Davy Jones' ship, the Flying Dutchman. The same legend claimed that Swann and Turner betrayed Sparrow to the mythical Kraken in order to save the rest of the crew of the Black Pearl, but she joined a resurrected Hector Barbossa in saving Sparrow after Sparrow descended to Davy Jones' Locker. Swann, Barbossa, and a crew loaned from Singaporean pirate lord Sao Feng rescued Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker, only for Swann to learn that her father had been killed on Beckett's orders. Swann was later captured by Sao Feng after he betrayed Sparrow, but, after Sao Feng was mortally wounded in battle with the Flying Dutchman, he made Swann the new Pirate Lord of the South China Sea as his last wish. At the convening of the Brethren Court on Shipwreck Island, Swann was elected "Pirate King" with the aid of Sparrow, and she was entrusted with leading a pirate fleet against the East India Company's armada and the Flying Dutchman. In the Battle of Calypso's Maelstrom, the pirates defeated both Davy Jones and Becket, and Swann and Turner married. According to legend, Turner stabbed Davy Jones' heart and became the new captain of the Flying Dutchman, resulting in him being allowed to return to land only once every ten years. Swann gave birth to a son, Henry Turner, who went on to become a seaman.