_Davy Jones's Locker_ (Vol. iii., p. 478.).--During many years of
seafaring life, I have frequently considered the origin of this phrase,
and have now arrived at the conclusion, that it is derived from the
scriptural account of the prophet Jonah. The word _locker_, on board of
ship, generally means the place where any particular thing is retained
or kept, as "the bread locker," "shot locker," "chain locker," &c. In
the sublime ode in the second chapter of the Book of Jonah, we find that
the Prophet, praying for deliverance, describes his situation in the
following words:
"In the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about:--the
depth closed me round about:--the earth with her bars was about
me."
The sea, then, might not be misappropriately termed by a rude mariner,
Jonah's locker; that is, the place where Jonah was kept or confined.
Jonah's locker, in time, might be readily corrupted to Jones's locker;
and Davy, as a very common Welsh accompaniment of the equally Welsh
name, Jones, added; the true derivation of the phrase having been
forgotten.