- “I'm sorry for the part I played in the mutiny against you, Jack. I stood up for you. Everything went wrong after that. They strapped me to a cannon. I ended up on the bottom of the ocean, the weight of the water crushing down on me. Unable to move. Unable to die, Jack. And I thought that even the tiniest hope of escaping this fate, I would take it. I would trade anything for it.”
- ―Bootstrap Bill to Jack Sparrow[src]
William Turner, Sr., known as "Bootstrap Bill" among pirates, is a character who first appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. He is a member of the Flying Dutchman and the father of Will Turner.
A renowned good man who was once member of Captain Jack Sparrow's crew, he regretfully played a part in Hector Barbossa's mutiny against Jack aboard the Black Pearl. This led to his decision of sending his piece of the cursed treasure to his son, Will, believing that the mutinous crew deserved to remain cursed for violating the Pirate's Code. Because of this, Barbossa's crew had Bootstrap thrown overboard, eternally drowning but unable to die because of the curse, left to suffer at the bottom of the ocean. Bootstrap Bill later made a deal with Davy Jones as another soul serving one hundred years aboard the Flying Dutchman until Jones' death. After his son became new captain of the Dutchman, Bootstrap remained aboard the ship willfully.
Personality[]
Bootstrap was once an associate of Jack Sparrow's, who remembers him fondly as a "good pirate and a good man" in the first film.
Bootstrap remained the only member of the crew who was loyal to Jack after the mutiny, and wanted the crew to be punished for their actions, even knowing he would be trapped at the bottom of the ocean.
Background[]
When Sparrow's first mate, Hector Barbossa, led a mutiny against Sparrow and left him stranded on a small island, Bootstrap was the only one who did not participate. When the crew uncovered the cursed Aztec Gold, Bootstrap avenged Sparrow and atoned for not defending him by sending his coin to his young son, leaving it out of reach of the crew, who would remain cursed without it. This act enraged Barbossa greatly, and he punished Bootstrap by tying his bootstraps to a cannon and throwing him overboard. Due to the curse, Bootstrap could not die and was forced to suffer constantly due to the lack of oxygen and crushing water on the seabed.
Ten years later, sometime before the curse was lifted and Barbossa defeated by Sparrow and William, Bootstrap is found by Davy Jones, captain of the Flying Dutchman, and offered to be rescued from his fate in exchange for one hundred years working on his ship. Bootstrap agrees and is depicted as any other crew member on Jones' ship, with oceanic flora and fauna growing from his body.
Appearances[]
Dead Man's Chest[]
Bootstrap is sent by Jones to remind Sparrow of his debt to him, since it was Jones who raised the Black Pearl from the bottom of the sea for Sparrow in the first place. They catch up and Bootstrap learns that his son aided Jack in regaining the ship before Bootstrap reminds Jack of his debt to Jones. He then brands Sparrow with the Black Spot, a sign that the Kraken, Jones' pet leviathan, is hunting him before leaving the ship.
A few days later, Bootstrap is reunited with his son on the Dutchman following a confusion regarding their surnames that causes an accident that Will is blamed for. When Jimmy Legs tries to punish Will, Bootstrap intervenes and states he'll take all of Will's punishment after he is warned. Davy Jones appears and questions Bootstrap on this kind act, Bootstrap revealed to all that Will is actually his son, which was why he was intervening. He is then given the horrible task of whipping Will in the back (so that Jimmy Legs will not do Will any worse harm).
Despite the flogging, Bootstrap and Will bond rather uneasily, and Bootstrap eventually aids Will in stealing the key to the Dead Man's Chest from a sleeping Jones, although at the cost of surrendering his soul to Jones for eternity during a game of Liar's Dice. Despite Bootstrap admitting that he abandoned him at an early age and does not deserve salvation, Will promises to free his father no matter what.
However, Jones discovers this and punishes Bootstrap by forcing him watch the Kraken destroy the Edinburgh Trader, the ship which is harboring Will. Following the devastation, Jones orders Bootstrap locked in the brig. Bootstrap, however, remains unaware that Will survived, and is too devastated to resist his imprisonment.
At World's End[]
While in the brig, Bootstrap begins to lose his humanity due to the grief of the loss of his son, and becomes slightly delusional, shown when Elizabeth Swann, Will's wife-to-be, is locked in the same brig as Bootstrap and briefly tells him that Will survived. Within a few minutes, Bootstrap forgets their conversation completely.
Later, when Admiral James Norrington helps Elizabeth and the other prisoners escape, Bootstrap follows and corners Norrington on the edge of the ship, alerting the other crewmen. In his delusion, Bootstrap impales Norrington through the stomach, killing him. This apparently wins him Jones' trust, as Jones does not order him imprisoned again.
In the final battle against Jones and Cutler Beckett, Bootstrap, still delusional, encounters and fights Will, not recognizing him. He is subdued by Will, and only recognizes his son after seeing Jones stab Will and catching a glimpse of Will's dagger. In a fit of rage, Bootstrap attacks Jones and is nearly killed before Sparrow gets the dying Will to stab Jones' heart. With their captain gone, Bootstrap and the other crewmen cut out Will's heart and place it in the Dead Man's Chest, restoring him as the new captain of the Dutchman. Following the battle's end, Will offers the now-free Bootstrap to leave the Dutchman and live a normal life, but Bootstrap, desiring to make up for having abandoned Will when he was a boy, chooses to stay with his son aboard the Dutchman.
Printed Media[]
Prequel Books[]
Bootstrap Bill appears in the prequel novels, but before he was Bootstrap Bill, he was called Billy Turner. He comes to have a romance with a fellow pirate named Arabella "Bell" Smith.
Trivia[]
- He isn't seen or mentioned in the fifth film, Dead Men Tell No Tales, but his grandson Henry destroyed the Trident of Poseidon freeing his son Will from the curse.
Gallery[]
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page List of Pirates of the Caribbean characters. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. |
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This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from the Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki. The list of authors can be seen in the page revision history (view authors). As with Disney Wiki, the text of PotC Wiki is available under the CC-by-SA Free Documentation License. |
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