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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Jones'_Locker

Davy Jones' Locker is an idiom for the bottom of the sea — the resting place of drowned seamen. It is used as a euphemism for death at sea (e.g. to be "sent to Davy Jones' Locker"); Davy Jones is a nickname (used primarily by sailors) for what would be the devil of the seas.
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Origin
The earliest known reference to Davy Jones occurs in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett, published in 1751:
This same Davy Jones, according to the mythology of sailors, is the fiend that presides over all the evil spirits of the deep, and is often seen in various shapes, perching among the rigging on the eve of hurricanes, ship-wrecks, and other disasters to which sea-faring life is exposed, warning the devoted wretch of death and woe. [1]
He is described as having saucer eyes, three rows of teeth, horns, a tail, and blue smoke coming from his nostrils.
The term appears to have been common among sailors, as the name Davy Jones appears often in popular nautical literature.
As is common with slang, the exact origin of "Davy Jones" is hard to discover. These explanations have been proposed: [2] [3]
A pub owner named David Jones who used to incapacitate hapless drinkers in his ale locker, and send them off aboard ships.
Duffer Jones, a notoriously myopic sailor who often found himself overboard.
Davy comes from Duppy, a West Indian term for ghost, or from Saint David, also known as Dewi, the patron saint of Wales, while Jones comes from the prophet Jonah.
A euphemism for a "Devil Jonah"; Jonah being a term referring to any bad luck on the ocean.
David Jones, a pirate on the Indian Ocean in the 1630s. - Jan Rogoziński, The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pirates, Ware, Hertfordshire, 1997
Only the first theory explains the locker. The name may have originated in Wales, where David Jones is a common name.

In Popular Culture


Davy Jones as depicted in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Davy Jones is the main villain in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), played by Bill Nighy. He appears along with his crew of half-human half-crustacean sailors aboard The Flying Dutchman. He is portrayed as a mutated cross between a man and an octopus, with a wriggling beard of tentacles. His character seems to be a sea-bound version of the Devil, as he deals with souls, as is common in Devil mythology.
In SpongeBob SquarePants, in one episode, Mr. Krabs is threatened by the Flying Dutchman to be sent to Davy Jones' locker, which is full of smelly gym socks.
In the videogame Banjo-Tooie, in the fourth world the boss (a giant anglerfish called Lord Woo Fak Fak) is inside a locker that says: "D. Jones".
In the beginning of the PC Game The Curse of Monkey Island, the wanna-be pirate Wally describes his toughness by saying "I'm so tough, that in high school I stuffed Davy Jones in his locker!"
In the computer game "Blood Money" (developed by DMA Design, published by Psygnosis in 1989), the shops in the under water level bear a sign that says "Davy Jones Equipment Locker".
In the song "Run Silent Run Deep", by Iron Maiden, there is the sentence "The tar black smell of burning oil all the way down to Davy Jones".
In the song "The Irish Ballad", by Tom Lehrer, a girl, among other crimes, "weighted her brother down with stones and sent him off to Davy Jones".
In the song "Rhymin' and Stealin'" by the Beastie Boys there is a line "Deliver Colonel Sanders down to Davy Jones' locker".
In the comic book series "Hellboy", Davy Jones' locker is an underwater room full of jars in the shapes of men. This room is owned by the villainous Bog Roosh, a fish-like witch that draws her power from the souls of drowned sailors.
In the constructible strategy game Pirates of the Spanish Main, Davy Jones appears as a unique crew for the Cursed faction, and his flagship is the Flying Dutchman.