When we last saw Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, he was leaping into the tentacle-filled mouth of a giant sea monster. In the new movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Jack has ended up trapped in a bleak, mystical desert with no water in sight, certain his pirate pals will never find him. How different are these big-screen swashbucklers from real pirates who sailed the seas? National Geographic Kids explores to find out.

Clashing Captains
Jack is finally rescued by a band of pirates led by Captain Barbossa, the undead pirate from the first Pirates film. But now there are too many captains! Jack and Barbossa have a heated battle over the wheel, each climbing onto the wheel to try to claim it.

Real pirates might have bickered about who should be captain, but would they wage war over the wheel? Nope. "Handling the wheel wasn't part of the captain's duties," says pirate expert Ken Kinkor. "It was officially the job of a quartermaster."

East India Enemies
In the film, Lord Cutler Beckett and the East India Company—a shipping company set up to bring spices to England—want to end piracy forever. So a group of pirates called the Brethren meets on Shipwreck Island to figure out how to fight them.

The English East India Company did exist between 1600 and 1873, and its ships often faced pirates trying to steal their cargo. "But East India sailors fought pirates off India and China, not in the Caribbean," Kinkor says.

Sneaky Songs
The Brethren begin gathering on Shipwreck Island when they hear the song "Hoist the Colours." "The song allows the pirates to communicate so that other people don't know what's going on," says screenwriter Terry Rossio.

Kinkor says that pirates did occasionally use songs to communicate. For example, if they were planning to take over the ship from their captain, a certain song might signal that it was time to attack.

Shark Bait
Blacksmith-turned-pirate Will Turner attempts to lure another ship to the Black Pearl by tossing dead bodies—left from a battle—over the side to create a gruesome trail.

Kinkor hasn't heard of real pirates using corpses to lure another ship along—plus there's a creepy reason why this wouldn't work in real life. "Sharks sometimes followed ships," Kinkor says. "The sharks would've snapped up the bodies, so there wouldn't be a trail."

Woman of the Waves
Will's fiancée, Elizabeth, is captured by Chinese pirate Sao Feng. But she's not prisoner for long—Sao Feng not only releases her, he considers her a fellow pirate by befriending her and giving her a special pendant!

Were there real-life women pirates? You bet. In the early 1800s, Chinese pirate Cheng I Sao commanded a fleet of 2,000 pirate ships. She terrorized the South China Sea for a decade, slashing attackers with her sword and paying her pirates for each enemy head they brought back.

Want to learn about a real pirate ship? In June, a National Geographic traveling exhibit opens at the Cincinnati Museum Center in Ohio, featuring artifacts from the Whydah, a former slave ship that became a pirate ship before it sank in 1717. Weapons, gold coins, and the ship's bell—all of which were brought up by explorer Barry Clifford after he discovered the ship in 1984—will be on display.