Davy Jones's locker
Davy Jones’s locker is a phrase people use to mean the bottom of the sea, the final resting place for sailors who drown or ships that sink. It’s a way of saying someone has died at sea.
Origins are unclear. The first printed use appears in 1726 in a sea tale called The Four Years Voyages of Capt. George Roberts, but the exact source of the phrase is debated. Some ideas say it comes from “Jonah’s locker” (Jonah the prophet who was overwhelmed by the sea) and that Davy Jones is a later corruption of that name. Others blame a legendary sea devil named Davy Jones or even a misheard story about a pirate or pub owner. There are many stories, but none are certain.
In early stories, Davy Jones is described as a devil of the deep who watches for shipwrecks and disasters. Sailors would say he had strange features like saucer eyes and horns, and he was said to preside over the spirits of the deep.
The idea shown up in many works over the years. It appeared in 18th-century tales, in a 19th-century pantomime, and later in cartoons, short stories, and music. In modern popular culture, Pirates of the Caribbean made Davy Jones a famous character, a kind of sea lord who punishes those who cross him. He is often pictured with tentacles for a beard and a claw for a hand. The term also pops up in jokes and cartoons, sometimes used literally as a “locker” for souls.
Today, Davy Jones’s locker remains a colorful way to talk about death at sea. It shows how sailors’ folklore has shaped expressions that survive in books, films, music, and jokes.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:28 (CET).