Weatherby Swann (1671-1729) was the British Governor of Port Royal, Jamaica from 1720 to 1729.
Biography[]
Weatherby Swann was born in England in 1671, and he served in the British Royal Navy during the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1720, King George I appointed Swann as Governor of Port Royal in Jamaica and a representative of the Royal Navy; Swann left London with his daughter Elizabeth Swann, sailing on Lieutenant James Norrington's ship HMS Dauntless. During the voyage, the Dauntless rescued the young boy Will Turner, who was the sole survivor of a pirate attack on his merchant vessel, the Princess. Swann and his daughter settled in a lavish mansion in the St. Paul's district of Port Royal, far from the squalor of the port, and he promoted Lieutenant Norrington to Commodore in 1728 and hoped that Norrington would marry his daughter, who had just come of age.
Governor Swann in 1728
That same year, Port Royal was plagued by piracy as Hector Barbossa and the crew of the Black Pearl attacked Port Royal, sacking the port and kidnapping Elizabeth. Swann joined Norrington aboard the Dauntless as the Royal Navy swept the Caribbean for the Black Pearl, and they ultimately found Elizabeth and the pirate Jack Sparrow marooned on a small island. Elizabeth promised to marry Norrington in exchange for his help in rescuing Turner from the Isla de Muerta, and the Royal Navy succeeded in defeating Barbossa's pirate crew and rescuing Turner, whom Elizabeth ultimately chose to marry; her father reluctantly agreed. Later that year, Swann also posted a bounty for the death of the pirate Jolly Roger, who had also attacked Port Royal.
In 1729, the British East India Company representative Cutler Beckett arrived in Port Royal with arrest warrants for Elizabeth, Turner, and Norrington, as Elizabeth and Turner were wanted for piracy and Norrington for giving Jack Sparrow a head start in escaping a year earlier. Governor Swann secured Turner's release through a bargain with Beckett and his daughter's release by slipping her a key to escape, causing acrimonious relations between him and Beckett. However, Swann wished to recover his daughter before she could be tried and executed as a pirate, joining Beckett and Admiral Norrington aboard the HMS Endeavour as Beckett searched for Sparrow, Turner, and Swann. Swann died of illness during the voyage; according to pirate legend, Swann learned the secret of Davy Jones' heart, forcing Beckett to have his henchman Ian Mercer assassinate Swann.