The Tower of London was a fortress and a castle in the city of London, England. An Execution Dock, consisting of a scaffold for hanging, was located within the area where it was used to execute pirates, smugglers and mutineers that had been sentenced to death. Joshamee Gibbs was a notable prisoner that was prepared to hang by Hector Barbossa, a reformed pirate-turned-privateer.
Since it was built, the Tower was used for many different purposes, including housing the Royal Treasury, but it most notably served as a prison. Henry Morgan was imprisoned in the Tower in 1672 when he broke the peace between England and Spain by attacking Panama City. In 1750, Joshamee Gibbs was sentenced by Jack Sparrow, disguised as Justice Smith, to life imprisonment in the Tower, but Gibbs managed to escape that fate when Sparrow bribed the carriage transport driver to take him and Gibbs to shore. However, they were soon captured by the Royal Guard.
While Jack was taken to St. James' Palace for an audience with King George II, Gibbs was taken to the Tower with a death sentence. Gibbs' hanging was to take place in the Tower's execution courtyard, with the King's most trusted privateer, the former pirate Hector Barbossa, presiding over it. It was here that Barbossa threatened to hang Gibbs if he did not reveal the whereabouts of Jack Sparrow, who escaped his meeting with the King. After Gibbs burned a map that Barbossa needed, Barbossa recruited him as a navigator on the HMS Providence.
Behind the ScenesEdit
- The execution courtyard scene in On Stranger Tides was originally planned to film at Hampton Court Palace, the location where Jack and Gibbs' capture at St. James's Palace was filmed. However, due to the Thameside look director Rob Marshall desired, the outer walls of 15th-century Knole House in Sevenoaks, Kent, were chosen as the final location.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (First appearance)
- LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Non-canonical appearance)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (junior novelization)
- The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides