What Kind Of Ship Was The Black Pearl From Pirates Of The Caribbean?

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Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise was quite the cinematic attraction throughout the early 2000s. With each installment, fans flocked to their local theaters to check out the latest swashbuckling adventures headed by Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp, the former owner of a pirate-themed superyacht), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), and Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightley). At the core of it all was the Black Pearl — the ship constantly fought over by Jack and Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in 2003’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” and its several sequels.

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” films are historical fiction at best, with plenty of supernatural, otherworldly elements to keep things interesting. As for the Black Pearl, though, the iconic ship isn’t entirely made up. Revealed in the Disney Publishing Worldwide tie-in book “The Pirate Guidelines: A Book for Those Who Desire to Keep to the Code and Live a Pirate’s Life” by Ann C. Crispin – attributed to Joshamee Gibbs, Sparrow’s longtime First Mate in the “Pirates” films — it’s explained that the Black Pearl was a merchant ship contracted by the East India Company. During one assignment, Jack liberated the slaves he previously agreed to transport. With its three large masts, combat capabilities, and impressive size, the Black Pearl very much resembles the real-life merchant ships the East India Company utilized between the 16th and 19th centuries.

The Black Pearl may look like a traditional merchant ship, but there’s more to its identity than what’s shown on screen. In the real world, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” creation is based on a much different ship.

Different ships served as the physical basis for the Black Pearl

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Due to their over-the-top, action-packed nature, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films go heavy on the CGI effects. Everything from the squid-like Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) to the massive Kraken is created or enhanced by using digital imagery. While it stands to reason some amount of CGI went into the Black Pearl’s portrayals, it turns out it was largely practical. In the first film, it was built as a set on top of a barge, which wasn’t one of the weirdest boat creations ever seen, but it didn’t quite work. This design was scrapped for the sequel, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” where it was brought to life using a real ship called the Sunset, as revealed during a 2006 conversation with IGN.

“The struggle was to attain a certain look, and to do within a practical package as well. They had to be affordable, they had to be floatable, and they had to be something that looked good at the same time,” explained production designer Rick Heinrichs. The result was the Sunset, a 109-foot-long vessel (nowhere near the biggest ships the world has ever seen) that called Bayou La Batre, Alabama, home, being transformed into the Black Pearl almost completely. Just below the waterline it was left unaltered, allowing for the speed and flexibility that director Gore Verbinski wanted out of the revamped Black Pearl that took center stage in the second “Pirates” movie.

With all of that said, the Black Pearl is merely a fictional ship inspired aesthetically by historic merchant ships from centuries ago, with a more modern vessel underneath. It wasn’t until the fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie that a real legendary pirate ship made its way to the movies.

The Black Pearl is fictional, but the Queen Anne’s Revenge is anything but

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In terms of pirates that actually existed and terrorized the seas, Blackbeard is undoubtedly the most well-known. Though his real name is not confirmed, it’s widely accepted that he was Edward Teach, Thack, or Thatch, and his exploits and reputation are well-documented. He infamously built his name during the early 1700s, frequently mounting operations near the Virginia and Carolina coasts, up until his demise at the hands of the British Navy in 1718. Naturally, Blackbeard’s status as the most feared pirate of his time made him and his ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, ripe for adaptation in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” saga.

It took years, but in 2011, the fourth film in the series, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” situated Blackbeard (Ian McShane) in the main villain role. He set his sights on Jack Sparrow and the Fountain of Youth, using the Queen Anne’s Revenge as his base. Seeing as the shipwreck of the real Queen Anne’s Revenge was discovered in 1996, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, the real ship wasn’t used for the film. It was revealed in the book, “The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” by Michael Singer, that the Sunset returned to the “Pirates of the Caribbean” world, this time serving as the base for Blackbeard’s ship.

They may not be as culturally relevant as they once were, but there’s no denying the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series its place in media history. As a result of its popularity, the Black Pearl is regarded as one of the most famous movie ships to ever sail across the silver screen.

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