My first thought is that Jack felt himself enslaved by the Royal Navy, and therefore would be empathetic about others in even more dire servitude.
I had no doubt that Jack would find a way out of that "bargain".

Jack is our hero in the story, he could hardly be a slave trader and fill the hero role! Actually, I always feel about Jack - and maybe it is just the way Johnny works his magic with any character he plays - that at his heart he is a good and decent human being who really doesn't want to do harm to anyone. I never really expected Jack to deliver the slave cargo. He loved and lusted after that ship, but trading in slaves to have her would have ruined her in his eyes, I think.

Slaves are outsiders. Pirates are outsiders. Here we've got a guy who grew up as a pirate, born looking at the world from the outside. It makes perfect sense to me that he would have more commonality with slaves than with the Royal Navy or plantation owners.

If you are on the inside, so to speak, those on the outside must be seen as intrinsically wrong. They deserve less protection because they don't fit into the mental constructs that the insiders hold close, be those about how one should look or speak, what one should believe or how one should earn a living. You can't be inside unless someone else is outside, no?

But if you are outside you have an advantage. You can see into the insiders' constructs but you can also see what they are missing, what they are blind to. This is why so many of our greatest writers emerge from the fringes of society. There is so much ferment going on at the edges, more examination of conventional truths, more opportunity to explore. Our outsiders are holy, our leading edge if you will.

I thought the plot twist that saw Jack ending up transporting slaves was a real page turner - it felt like a knife was being twisted in my heart when I read it! I thought it fitted perfectly with the Jack we know from the films - his better side knowing he should do the right thing, his darker side still being tempted by treasure and so forth. The narrative really had momentum with the fitting out of the Wicked Wench and then Jack's retching after he had ventured down below (again that was perfectly written, part of him knowing he was involved with something terrible and yet not quite being able to face up to what he'd done). It made him very human. Jack being Jack, I kind of knew something would work out for the best in the end though. I really was gripped by this plot turn and thought it made for a terrific story.

Freedom is so important to Jack - perhaps the most important thing in his life, and I definitely think that is why he is appauled by slavery. I believe many pirates avoided slave ships - the smell was said to have been noticeable for miles, and they would have feared disease, first and foremost.

He knew he couldn't trust Beckett to keep any bargain. And I feel that Jack thought if he did this one shipment, there would surely be more to follow and he still wouldn't own his ship.

I did not expect him to complete the deal and I figured out where he would take them. I wonder if Beckett felt the same way and was waiting for Jack to lead his fleet to the island, since they couldn't find it on their own.

Like nebraska, I felt that this would have definitely tainted a ship in Jack's opinion--not only slave-trading itself, but the conditions & death aboard. Freedom & the ship were synonymous for him, so committing the antithesis of freedom by hauling slaves went against his core beliefs.

Great discussion, everyone, on all the questions. I'm really enjoying reading along.

Freedom was so important to Jack - how could he be a part of stopping anyones' freedom. I agree with others before me - being a part of the slave trade would tarnish the love he felt for his ship. Yes Jackslady - this plot was a real page turner!

To be very honest here, I was surprised the way the story went. That Jack even agreed to pick up the slaves to keep his ship caught me off guard. I was thinking he would totally walk away. Just the inhumanity of loading the slaves on the ships surprised me that Jack would even go that far.

Walk away and do what, gemini?