Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a 2011 American fantasy swashbuckler film directed by Rob Marshall and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, from a screenplay by the writing team of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. The fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, it is a stand-alone sequel to At World's End (2007) and is loosely based on the 1987 novel On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. The film stars Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, and Kevin R. McNally, who reprise their roles from the previous films, alongside Penélope Cruz, Ian McShane, Sam Claflin and Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey. The story follows the eccentric pirate Captain Jack Sparrow on a quest for the Fountain of Youth after crossing paths with Angelica, a mysterious woman from his past, and being forced aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the legendary pirate Blackbeard. Jack contends with zombies, mermaids, the Spanish Armada and an uneasy alliance with rival Hector Barbossa, now a privateer of the British Navy.

Plot

In 1750, a man rescued from the ocean is brought to King Ferdinand of Spain, where he claims to have sailed with Ponce de León, who died 200 years earlier searching for the Fountain of Youth. Years after Captain Jack Sparrow lost the Black Pearl to Hector Barbossa and acquired Sao Feng's map to find the Fountain, Jack rescues his first mate, Joshamee Gibbs, from execution in London, only to get captured. Gibbs takes Jack's map, while Jack himself is brought before King George II, who wants him to guide an expedition to the Fountain before King Ferdinand's Spanish Armada can locate it. Barbossa, now sporting a peg leg and having lost the Pearl, joins the expedition as a privateer. Jack escapes, leading Barbossa to later recruit Gibbs, who memorizes Jack's map before burning it, and they set sail aboard the British Navy ship HMS Providence.