Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow: The Timekeeper is the eighth in a series of young reader books written by Rob Kidd dealing with the early life of Jack Sparrow. It was published on July 31, 2007.
Publisher's summary[]
Time is about to go all funny for Jack Sparrow and his faithful crew. Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III's beloved timepiece has always been valuable to him. But it has suddenly become valuable to a lot more people—including some of the Barnacle's crew's worst enemies! It turns out that Fitz's timepiece is not only a clock, but an unbelievably powerful tool that can stop time itself. It's up to Jack and his crew to find a way to keep the timepiece out of the hands of their dangerous adversaries.
Plot[]
Skirmish with Davy Jones[]
Davy Jones, who has forced himself onto the Barnacle, demands that Jack hand over his crewman Fitzwilliam's cherished pocket watch. Jack is initially bewildered, unable to understand what Jones would want "pawnshop trash" for. Fitz, being extremely attached to the watch (it had been a gift from his sister), bravely engages Jones in a duel over the timepiece. While Jack watches from the side of the ship, he unwittingly activates the watch's special power, causing everything around him to instantly come to a grinding halt. Jack realizes the watch is capable of stopping time itself, and quickly forms a plan to take advantage of the situation to escape from Jones with Fitz. Before he follows through with his plan, Jack decides to first make sure the watch is capable of staring time back up, and, lifting the crown of the timepiece again, unfreezes an utterly perplexed Jones and Fitzwilliam. The two begin searching frantically for Jack, unable to understand how he could vanish from his spot so quickly. Finally spotting him near the helm, Jones lunges at Jack, who quickly reactivates the watch, freezing him and Fitz once more. Jack journeys below deck in order to find a skiff he and Fitz can make off on, and during his search discovers a totem pole he never realized the Barnacle had been carrying before. Jack ties the frozen Fitzwilliam to the totem and hurls it off the side of the ship before following after.
Escape[]
Jack hauls the totem into the skiff and rows to the shore of a nearby island. He unfreezes time once more, reactivating an even more confused and furious Fitz and Jones. As Fitzwilliam expresses relief that Jones didn't get a hold of the watch, Jack, wanting to keep the power of the timepiece all to himself, lies and tells Fitz that Jones did in fact manage to grab the watch from him before they left the ship. An enraged Fitz goes off on Jack and laments not following Arabella Smith, Jean Magliore, Tumen, and Constance in leaving the Barnacle to join the crew of La Fleur de la Mort during their last adventure. He then asks why they simply don't return to the Barnacle, and Jack reveals that, according to legend, Jones can only step on land once every ten years, meaning they're safer on the island than on the ship. Jack and Fitz then begin making their way through the jungle. Jack starts eating beetles to satisfy his hunger, much to the disgust of the proper, refined Fitzwiliam. As Jack decides to part ways from Fitz, he accidentally stumbles into a hole "about six feet wide and twice his height". As Fitz comes to rescue him he falls into his own ditch, and the two begin bickering about what to do next.
Into the jungle[]
Suddenly the duo find themselves rescued by a group of Aztec natives. The head warrior condemns Jack and Fitz to be fed to the goddess Chantico, and has them thrown into a volcano and sealed in. As Jack and Fitz try to find some means of escape, a "hungry, vicious jaguar" suddenly lunges at Jack, who quickly lifts the crown of the timepiece once more. Finding a way out, he carries Fitz to the exit and unfreezes time. Suddenly the volcano begins to erupt and Jack and Fitzwilliam begin jumping from tree to tree to escape the raging lava. They come upon an Aztec temple that seems oddly familiar to them and, making their way inside, accidentally fall through a booby-trapped floor. As Jack and Fitz search for a way out of the temple, they make their way down a long, narrow corridor and unwittingly wander into a patch of quicksand. Jack quickly takes out the watch, and Fitz becomes furious when he realizes Jack had lied about Jones having it. Jack proceeds to explain the timepiece's power to a stunned Fitz, who concludes that it must have been charmed at some point after it had been taken from him the first time. Suddenly they hear the natives approaching, and Fitz and Jack begin struggling over control of the timepiece. During their fight the watch files out of their hands and falls into the quicksand. As they try to figure a way out of this new mess. the natives arrive, their leader furious that Jack and Fitz managed to outwit the gods. He decides to have them pulled from the quicksand and taken before their king, but not before Jack spots the chain of the timepiece sticking out of the sand and secretly snags it with his boot.
Time powers[]
The natives bring Jack and Fitz to a temple that seems oddly familiar to them. They lead them into a throne room, where they find a living Stone-Eyed Sam with the Sword of Cortés. Jack pieces together that he and Fitz have somehow arrived on Isla Esquelética before Sam fell from power. As Sam is about to attack Jack and Fitz with the flaming Sword, the duo hold the watch and freeze time, making their escape out of the temple through a hatch above Sam's throne. Back in the jungle, Jack and Fitz discover the sky is filled with what look like huge birds. Fitz recognizes them as pterodactyls, and realizes the watch isn't only freezing time, but actually transporting them through it as well.
Appearances[]
Individuals[]
- Chantico (First mentioned)
- Father Christmas (First mentioned)
- Tia Dalma (Mentioned only)
- Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III
- Davy Jones
- Jack Sparrow
- Stone-Eyed Sam
- Fitzwilliam P. Dalton II (Mentioned only)
- Minuit (Mentioned only)
Creatures and species[]
- Jaguar (First appearance)
- Pterodactyl (First appearance)
- Snake
- Boa constrictor
- Mermaid (Mentioned only)
- Kraken (Mentioned only)
- Chicken (Mentioned only)
Objects and weapons[]
- Sword
- Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III's rapier
- Jack Sparrow's cutlass
- Treasure
- Piece of eight (money)
- Ruby
- Diamond
- Sixpence (Mentioned only)
- Doubloon (Mentioned only)
- Sword of Cortés
- Timekeeper
- Cane
- Map (Mentioned only)
- Bandana
- Spear
- Gallows (Mentioned only)
- Dagger
Locations[]
- Davy Jones' Locker (Mentioned only)
- Isla Esquelética
- South America (First mentioned)
- New Orleans (Mentioned only)
- Rhode Island (First mentioned)
Organizations and titles[]
- Captain
- Queen (Mentioned only)
- Countess (First mentioned)
- Gentleman
- British Royal Navy (Mentioned only)
- East India Trading Company (Mentioned only)
- Privateer (Mentioned only)
- Crew of the Barnacle (Mentioned only)
- Sir
- Tourist (Mentioned only)
Ships[]
Miscellanea[]
- Brain (Mentioned only)
- Buffoon
- Coconut (Mentioned only)
- Curse of the Flying Dutchman
- Death
- Diplomacy (Mentioned only)
- En garde
- Et cetera
- Fate
- Heart (Mentioned only)
- Heaven (Mentioned only)
- Hurricane (Mentioned only)
- Immortality (Mentioned only)
- Kohl
- Lava
- Legend
- Madame
- Quicksand
- Ransom (Mentioned only)
- Resurrection (Mentioned only)
- Skeleton (Mentioned only)
- Savvy
- Sayonara
- Undead (Mentioned only)
Behind the scenes[]
- Fizwilliam found his watch in a pawn shop in the seventh book in the Jack Sparrow series, City of Gold. The footnote on page 98 incorrectly states that this happened in the fifth Jack Sparrow book, The Age of Bronze.
