Now known as "Jack Shandy", Chandagnac encounters voodoo, zombies and the supernatural while on a quest for the fabled Fountain of Youth and rescues Englishwoman Beth Hurwood.

Powers' novel features real historical figures like Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Woodes Rogers, and Juan Ponce de León alongside fictional ones.

On board, he meets an Englishwoman named Elizabeth Hurwood, who complains that her erudite father Benjamin has abandoned his natural philosophy work and begun studying dark magic with her lecherous physician Leo Friend.

Benjamin Hurwood and Friend begin shooting their fellow passengers, revealing them as allies of the pirates, as the assailants board and seize the Carmichael.

On New Providence, Shandy develops a proficiency for cooking and learns about vodun: unlike in the Old World, magic is very strong in the Caribbean, and pirates hire bocors to channel loas for healing, attacking and protection.

Meanwhile, Blackbeard is killed by the Navy, and Shandy receives an education in magic from old Sawney (actually a 200-year-old Juan Ponce de León) and a vision he gets after using the Fountain of Youth soil during a fight.

Powers wrote On Stranger Tides thinking del Rey would like "pirate adventure, zombies, Fountain of Youth, sea battles, cutlass fights...and he didn't like it either."

The book features the history and myth of Juan Ponce de León and the Fountain of Youth, and depicts Blackbeard's death at Ocracoke Inlet and beheading by Lieutenant Robert Maynard.

"[7] David Langford wrote that On Stranger Tides "immediately hooks you and drags you along in sympathy with one central character's appalling misfortunes on the Spanish Main, [and] escalates from there to closing mega-thrills so determinedly spiced that your palate is left almost jaded.

"[8] Jack Adrian wrote that "Tim Powers has further refertilized the Sabatini swashbuckler," and describes the novel as a skillful blend of "high seas adventure with sorcery and black magic.

[10] Ron Gilbert has been widely quoted that the Monkey Island series of adventure games was inspired by Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

[4][5] Rossio mentioned how Disney was hit with at least six plagiarism lawsuits for the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie for supposedly stealing elements of the Monkey Island video game and stuff from the On Stranger Tides novel, despite there being a ride at Disneyland and also a first draft screenplay by other writers.

Tim Powers stated that the Fountain of Youth would definitely be in the film because it was teased in At World's End, but also said that Sparrow and Shandy are "totally different characters", and that Hector Barbossa and Blackbeard might overlap.

[17][5] While making the fourth film, screenwriter Terry Rossio stated Tim Powers' novel was an inspiration for characters, theme, settings, and basic storyline.