 Despite being very different, the film did have some references taken from the book.While stories of ships crewed by zombies were mentioned in the book, and Blackbeard's boatman was a zombie servant, the film features a zombie crew serving as Blackbeard's officers.Although Tim Powers stated mermaids weren't in the novel, there was a brief reference to "suck-you-byes" as "female demons that weirdly and erotically occupied the last hours of men marooned on barren islands".