"A short drop and sudden stop."

Lets face it, Norrington hated pirates. "I intend to see to it that any man who sails under a pirate flag or wears a pirate brand gets what he deserves: A short drop and sudden stop." Well that is until he became one. Why would a high ranking Navy officer leave and join the hated trade of piracy you might ask;  they say it was all the pirates fault.... 
          
Eight years after  the rescue of Will Turner and our first sighting of the Norrington, he was promoted to Commodore. After the ceremony he stepped out on a limb and proposed to the girl of his dreams; I, uh, apologize if I seem forward, but I must speak my mind. This promotion throws into sharp relief that which I have not yet achieved. A marriage to a fine woman. You have become a fine woman, Elizabeth." (In my opinion he should've built up some confidence before proposing, and maybe a bit of romance. But thats just me.) Lets just say his proposal to Elizabeth Swann didn't go as planned; she was so overcome with shock (and lack of oxygen) that she fainted, causing her to topple off the towering fortress into the ocean and right into the arms of a pirate well sort of...Jack was standing nearby and dove in to rescue her her lack of oxygen forced Jack to rip off her dress and eventually the overly tight corset.

 Being the wonderful gentlemen that he was Norrington gathered his shocked men and rushed off to save his almost fiance from the offensive pirate. Quickly assessing the situation incorrectly (or maybe just showing off for his 'girl') Norrington arrested Jack Sparrow who in turn grabbed Elizabeth and held her hostage, but only for a short while. Jack the illustrious pirate escaped custody quite easily after he threw Lizzie into the welcoming arms of Norrington and ran up a ladder and into the city. However the freedom was short lived. Jack stumbled into what he thought was an empty blacksmith shop. Unfortunately for him his future frienenmy Will Turner was the apprentice of the blacksmith who owned the shop. 

 They had a nice little duel before the drunken smithy woke up and cracked his alcoholic beverage bottle on Jacks head.  At that moment Norrington and his men stormed in and Mr. Drunkypants got all the credit for subduing the pirate. Norrington threw Jack into prison like the good crime fight he was. Yay Norrington! If only Jack was the only pirate Norrington had to deal with. Soon after this little encounter the pirate ship The Black Pearl came sailing in to recover the pirate medallion Elizabeth had around her neck when she fell into the ocean. 

If Norrington hadn't proposed to Elizabeth none of his would've happened and we wouldn't have this wonderful story. So lets all take a moment to thank him for his wonderful acts of stupidity...Ok back to the pirates; The Black Pearl wasn't just any old pirate ship. It was captained and crew by a group of cursed men who didn't have the ability to die.  So for Norrington's second act of bravery as a newly promoted Commodore he was expected to fight those men. While he was off with all his men fighting the unbeatable pirates, Elizabeth was off getting captured again. Its a good thing she has such a great man like Norrington to depend on. Haha or not, Will Turner the blacksmith's apprentice ran to dear old Norrington to report her capture: "They've taken her! They've taken Elizabeth!"  Norrington couldn't rescue her because he didn't know how to track the sneaky ship. 

So Will turned to his dueling partner Jack for help, Jack off course agrees. But how exactly is her supposed to get out of the prison and then Port Royal? Well he does the one thing he knows to do. He steals a ship. Unfortunately for Norrington it was his ship that Jack stole. Two brave Navy men tried to stop him, but of course they failed. Jack and Will set sail in hopes of finding Will (and Norrington's) damsel in distress.  Norrington was also on the hunt, but i'm not sure if he was searching for Elizabeth or if he was simply seeking revenge to heal his wounded pride.