Sarah J. | June 10, 2024 | Categories: History vs. Hollywood, Maritime Lore

They uncovered a portrait dated 1680 of a wealthy, stern-looking man with long dark hair, a leather jerkin, and a cutlass at his hip. The name on the frame?

For centuries, the painting was mislabeled. So, for a long time, historians thought there was a pirate named William Turner because his portrait was swapped with Kidd’s. When the screenwriters for Pirates of the Caribbean were doing their early research, they likely saw that mislabeled portrait and thought, “What a great name for a hero.” So, the movie version is pure fiction, but it’s fiction built on historical rubble.

So why does his name feel so pirate-y? Because in the late 17th century, the line between a “privateer” (a legal pirate with government permission) and a “pirate” (an outlaw) was incredibly blurry. While Turner likely saw himself as a patriot, his enemies—the French and Spanish—would have called him a pirate without hesitation. Here is where the history gets truly interesting. In 2006, while researching for a documentary, maritime historians found a striking clue in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.

The film’s Will Turner is the perfect inversion of the historical reality. He starts as an honest blacksmith (lawful, land-based) and is reluctantly dragged into piracy. His father, “Bootstrap” Bill, is a nod to the real pirate “Bootstrap” (a nickname for a real sailor, though not named Turner).

When you hear the name , one image likely springs to mind: a dashing blacksmith’s apprentice turned swashbuckling pirate, played by Orlando Bloom in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. He’s the loyal lover, the son of “Bootstrap” Bill, and eventually the captain of the legendary Flying Dutchman .

The short answer is sort of . The long answer involves a fascinating collision of history, a very famous painting, and one of the most successful fictional name-steals in movie history. Let’s get the biggest misconception out of the way first. If you search 17th-century pirate rolls for a Captain William Turner, you won’t find him. There was no infamous buccaneer with that name terrorizing Port Royal.