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"He's a mute, sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out, so he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how."
Joshamee Gibbs to Jack Sparrow[src]

Cotton was a pirate who operated in the Caribbean at some point during the Age of Piracy. Prior to joining Captain Jack Sparrow's crew aboard the Interceptor and the Black Pearl, Cotton had his tongue cut out, most likely due to an encounter with the pirate Mungard at Shipwreck City. He subsequently trained his loyal parrot to speak for him—though how he, as a mute, achieved such a feat remains unknown.

Biography[]

Early life[]

"Lock up the Code! Strike the wenches! And if any of ye ever speak a word of this...I'll have your tongue."
"...Aye, sir. Mum's the word."
[squawks] "Mum's the word.
"
Mungard, Cotton and Cotton's Parrot[src]

Not much is known of Cotton's early life, but it is known that he would still live in Shipwreck Cove by the mid-1720s with his loyal parrot. One night, he would join a group of pirates as the Auctioneer led an auction on two wenches, Scarlett and Giselle. The bidding would end with the Marquis D'avis winning with seven hundred and two goats. After accidentally shooting at the Pirate Code, a pirate named Mungard ordered the Code locked up and warned the crowd of pirates that if any of them speak a word of what occurred, that he would have their tongues. It was then that Cotton and his parrot assured Mungard that mum's the word.[5]

Wedlocked4

Cotton and his parrot at Shipwreck Cove.

However, Mungard ended up cutting off Cotton's tongue anyway, though it is unknown if Cotton's tongue was cut before or after Cotton spilled the beans about Mungard.[5] For the next few days, Cotton would subsequently teach his parrot how to talk for him; though how he, as a mute, achieved such a feat is unknown.[1]

Jack Sparrow's crew[]

"You, sailor!"
"Cotton, sir."
"Mr. Cotton. Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death? Mr. Cotton! Answer, man.
"
Jack Sparrow and Joshamee Gibbs[src]
Cotton crew

Cotton and his parrot joining Jack Sparrow's crew.

At some point, Cotton and his parrot joined the crew of the commandeered British Royal Navy vessel HMS Interceptor under Jack Sparrow. He had been hired by Joshamee Gibbs in Tortuga. As Sparrow examined the crew, he asked Cotton if he had the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger, but as Cotton could not talk his parrot had to answer for him. They sailed through a storm, during which Cotton and the other crewmen were soaked in the rain. He looked over the rail of the Interceptor into the sea as the ship passed through a dangerous passageway the next day. He stood at the helm with his captain, and shared an awkward look with Sparrow. They later arrived at their destination, Isla de Muerta, where Jack Sparrow and William Turner went into the island alone. Will later came out without Jack, but the crew kept to the Pirate's Code and went on without him. When the Black Pearl attacked the Interceptor, Cotton loaded and manned the cannons on the top deck as the Pearl chased their ship. The Interceptor later turned around to fight the Pearl and its crew, and the ships opened fire on each other. He survived and was taken prisoner with the other crewmen. They were imprisoned, left in the command of two cursed pirates. However they were later freed from their cell by Elizabeth Swann and took over the Black Pearl. They refused to help her rescue Will and Jack from Isla De Muerta, they later rescued Jack from the gallows and he became captain once more.[1]

The pirate crew had numerous exploits over the next year, though their most dangerous came when Davy Jones unleashed the Kraken to settle a debt owed by Jack. Jack ordered Cotton and the crew to set out for land to avoid the beast. The Black Pearl landed at Pelegosto Island and the crew were captured by the Pelegostos, the native cannibalistic tribe; the crew members consumed were made into two giant bone cages in which the surviving crew was kept, Cotton and several other crew members among them. His parrot had flown off and later met Will Turner. The crew within the two bone cages swung back and forth from the bridge where the cages were hung, finally grabbing hold of the roots and vines on the cliff side, beginning the climb up. With Will Turner's help, Cotton and the crew managed to escape, and Jack rendezvoused with them at the Pearl. Cotton's parrot returned to his master as they set off aboard the ship with the help of Pintel and Ragetti.[4]

When the crew of the Flying Dutchman held back the Motley Crew, Palifico held a dagger to Cotton's throat. Cotton later joined Jack's quest to find the Dead Man's Chest, which took them to Tia Dalma's shack, and a run-in with Davy Jones. Jack then sailed the Pearl to Tortuga, where they had to gather ninety-nine souls to pay off Jack's debt with Jones, which lead to a confrontation with James Norrington who joined his crew for the quest. After the journey to Isla Cruces, Cotton participated in the fierce battle against the Kraken after Jack failed to obtain the chest. He was one of the few to survive the Kraken's attack on the Pearl, during which Captain Sparrow sacrificed himself to save his men.[4]

"Cotton. Cotton's parrot, I'm a little iffy, but...at least I'll have someone to talk to."
Jack Sparrow to Cotton and his parrot[src]

At Tia Dalma's shack, he mourned Jack's death, drinking to Joshamee Gibbs' toast. Through his parrot, Cotton voiced his agreement to join the quest to World's End, endeavouring to bring Jack back from Davy Jones' Locker. Cotton and the others were surprised to discover their new captain would be Sparrow's old enemy, Hector Barbossa.[4] The crew first infiltrated Sao Feng's bath house, hoping to steal the Mao Kun Map and acquire a ship and a crew. As his parrot remained with Tia Dalma in the streets of Singapore, Cotton and several others swam to the sewers, and started to drill through a gate to Sao Feng's boiler room. As they drilled, the noise was silenced by music played by Tia Dalma, Barbossa's monkey and Cotton's parrot. They finally broke through, and Marty knocked out the Boiler Room Attendant. After tying up the attendant's assistants, Cotton took control of the steam controls while the others set bombs and preparing weapons for Barbossa and Elizabeth Swann, who were above them in the bath house. After Sao Femg shouted "weapons", they threw cutlasses up to Swan and Barbossa, unintentionally causing conflict between them and Feng. As a large group of East India Trading Company soldiers lead by Ian Mercer, they set off the bombs, blowing up a squad of soldiers about to shoot Swann, Barbossa and Feng. They ran up to the bathhouse to participate in the fight, which took them outside into the streets. Cotton hid inside a barrel, occasionally looking out and firing a musket at the Company soldiers. He and the other crewman were joined by a large amount of Chinese pirates as they boarded a new ship, the Hai Peng.[3]

They sailed through an icy sea, eventually reaching the passage to the World's end; a massive waterfall. Cotton held onto the rigging as the Peng fell over the edge. They arrived at a beach in Davy Jones' Locker, where the Black Pearl appeared from a mountaintop, carried by Tia Dalma's crabs, with its captain atop the crow's nest. The crew lined up to be examined by Sparrow, who deemed Cotton appropriate to join him, as well as his parrot. Now that the crew had regained both Jack and the Pearl, they had to return to the living real, but nobody aboard the ship could solve the riddles on the map. Jack, however, eventually discovered that they were to tip the ship to return to their own world. Jack and the crew rocked the ship by running from one side to another, eventually tipping it over and returning to their world. As several crewmen rowed to an island and discovered the deceased Kraken, Cotton remained on the ship under the command of Will Turner. Turner, however, lead a mutiny along with the Chinese pirates, and Cotton was held hostage. Sao Feng arrived aboard his flagship, the Empress, along with Lord Cutler Beckett of the Company, aboard the HMS Endeavour. During the negotiations, Jack asked if any of the crew actually came to rescue him because they missed him, and Cotton was one of the few to raise his hand. Cotton fought against the Company soldiers, and escaped aboard the Pearl. Cotton was present during the Fourth meeting of the Brethren Court along with other members of Jack's crew.[3]

As the East India Trading Company Armada arrived, Cotton's parrot flew away as he saw the size of the Company's fleet. During the battle around Calypso's maelstrom between the Pearl and the Flying Dutchman, Cotton remained aboard the Pearl, steering the ship as they sailed past the Maelstrom. However, Barbossa took the helm, pushing Cotton away and sailing headfirst into the whirlpool along with the Dutchman. As the two ships fired all of their cannons on each other, Cotton stood behind Barbossa. When the Dutchman crew swung aboard the Pearl, Barbossa threw Jelly backwards into Cotton, who beat him with his sword. Cotton also fought Morey using the ship's wheel as a weapon. Cotton took the helm after duelling the crew, but accidentally crashed into the other ship. Cotton survived the battle, and was reunited with his parrot. He and the rest of the crew fired on the Endeavour along with the Dutchman (now captained by Turner), destroying the Company's flagship quickly. After Barbossa's second mutiny against Jack, Cotton remained in service aboard the ship, now under Barbossa.[3] His further fate is unknown.

Personality and traits[]

Cotton was an older man with a thick white beard. The man seemed to have some affliction to his right eye for he seemed to keep it shut. He was of normal height and lean built that made his an excellent helmsman. Among the clothes he wore, Cotton wore a faded blue bandanna and a dull yellow shirt, possibly to mirror his parrot. He also wore is standard brown vest and pants as well as a neckerchief.[citation needed]

Prior to losing his tongue, Cotton seemed to be a big talker. For example, when the pirate Mungard threatened anyone who spoke about his heinous act of having shot the Code, the pirates present all looked to Cotton for emphasis.[5] As a mute, Cotton became very compliant. It is unknown how, but Cotton was able to successfully train his parrot to talk for him. He also seemed to very knowledgeable with a ship's helm.[citation needed]

Behind the scenes[]

"I struggled hard to find a background for Cotton, why he had his tongue cut out. During our first interview, Gore Verbinski suggested I should puzzle it out. Now I think the Pelegostos did it. I still haven't figured out how Cotton trained the parrot to speak for him, though."
David Bailie[src]
  • Cotton was played by David Bailie in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,[1] Dead Man's Chest,[4] At World's End,[3] and Tales of the Code: Wedlocked.[5]
  • Actor David Bailie confessed that he "struggled hard to find a background for Cotton, why he had his tongue cut out," saying that during their first interview director Gore Verbinski suggested Bailie should puzzle it out. Bailie came up with something while shooting The Curse of the Black Pearl that seemed to be logical, but never really tied into the story for him. When he was brought back to film Dead Man's Chest, he realized the answer could be as apparent as the tip of his tongue—if he had one. "Now I think the Pelegostos did it. I still haven't figured out how Cotton trained the parrot to speak for him, though."[6]
  • The only known time that Cotton speaks ("Aye, sir. Mum's the word.") was Tales of the Code: Wedlocked,[5] which takes place before the events of The Curse of the Black Pearl, where Cotton is already mute.[1]
  • From the dialogue in Wedlocked, it's implied that Mungard was the one who cut Cotton's tongue out. Director James Ward Byrkit said the implication that Cotton spilled the beans about Mungard is (perhaps) how he got his tongue cut out.[7] Though if the cutting happened before or after Cotton spilled the beans about Mungard is unknown.
  • During an interview released on May 2017, David Bailie stated that he found Cotton not speaking a line through the first three films was a problem and left him feeling he had "failed" at the job instead of finding a way to make Cotton more likable and funny even without a voice. "If I just been a little bit more streetwise about movie-making I could have made Cotton a very funny character, but I see that in retrospect. I think Gore saw me as a bit of a pain in the backside. I was intimidated by Gore. That's the long way short of it. I didn't quite hold my own on the social interactive stakes within the business at all. He used to make funny little quips to me like, 'It's not quite the Royal Shakespeare Company is it?' and I would sort of grin sheepishly." After the third film, At World's End, Bailie was ready to speak if he was cast in another sequel and proposed to director Gore Verbinski and writer Terry Rossio a storyline that Cotton could speak all along but had a catatonic fit and simply had refused to speak during the previous films. "I explained this to the writers and they looked at me like, 'Where was he born? What planet was he on?' I took the proposition to Gore and he gave me an even more old-fashioned look." However, despite Bailie's ideas, Cotton getting his voice back never made it to light.[8] On Stranger Tides, directed by Rob Marshall, and Dead Men Tell No Tales, directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, were in production since these supposed conversations, but without Bailie in the cast.
  • In Terry Rossio's screenplay draft for Dead Men Tell No Tales, Cotton was present along with pirates Salaman, Ezekiel, Ho-Kwan, and Cabin Boy. Rossio's annotations would make note that Cotton would not have his parrot, which is trapped in the Black Pearl in a bottle.[9] This likely implied that Cotton was present during Blackbeard's attack on the Black Pearl and survived.

Appearances[]

Wiki
The Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Cotton.
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The Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki has a collection of quotes related to Cotton.

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

Motley Crew

Captain: Jack Sparrow
HMS Interceptor
AnamariaCottonCotton's ParrotCrimpDuncanJoshamee GibbsKursar
LadbrocMartyMatelotMoisesQuartettoTearlachWill Turner

Captain: Joshamee Gibbs
HMS Interceptor/Black Pearl
AnamariaCottonCotton's ParrotCrimpDuncanKursarLadbroc
MartyMatelotMoisesQuartettoElizabeth SwannTearlachWill Turner


Captain: Jack Sparrow
Black Pearl
AnamariaCottonCotton's ParrotCrimpDuncanJoshamee GibbsLadbroc
MartyMatelotMoisesQuartettoTearlach


Captain: Jack Sparrow
Black Pearl
CottonCotton's ParrotCrimpDuncanJoshamee GibbsHo-KwanJack the MonkeyLeechLejonMartyMatelotMoises


Captain: Jack Sparrow
Black Pearl
CottonCotton's ParrotJoshamee GibbsJack the MonkeyLejonMartyPintelRagettiWilliam Turner Jr.


Captain: Jack Sparrow
Black Pearl
CottonCotton's ParrotCrippled manJames NorringtonJoshamee GibbsIrish manJack the MonkeyLejonMartyPintelRagettiElizabeth SwannSkinny manSweepyVery old manWilliam Turner Jr.


Captain: Hector Barbossa
Hai Peng
CottonCotton's ParrotTia DalmaJoshamee GibbsTai HuangJack the Monkey
MartyPintelRagettiElizabeth SwannWill Turner


Captains: Jack Sparrow / Hector Barbossa
Black Pearl
CottonCotton's ParrotTia DalmaJoshamee GibbsTai HuangJack the Monkey
MartyPintelRagettiElizabeth SwannWill Turner


Captain: Hector Barbossa
Black Pearl
CottonCotton's ParrotJack the MonkeyMartyMullroyMurtoggPintelRagetti


Captain: Jack Sparrow
Dying Gull
BollardCrembleJoshamee GibbsMartyPikeScrum


Captain: Joshamee Gibbs
Dying Gull
BollardCrembleMartyPikeScrum


Captain: Jack Sparrow
Dying Gull
BollardCrembleJoshamee GibbsMartyPikeScrumCarina SmythHenry Turner


Captains: Jack Sparrow / Hector Barbossa
Black Pearl
BollardCrembleJoshamee GibbsJack the MonkeyMartyMullroyMurtoggPikeScrumCarina SmythHenry Turner


Captain: Jack Sparrow
Black Pearl
BollardCrembleJoshamee GibbsJack the MonkeyMartyMullroyMurtoggPikeScrum
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