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| Originally named the Wicked Wench, the Black Pearl was a ship that was registered to the East India Trading Co. and owned by Lord Cutler Beckett. It was commissioned to Privateer Jack Sparrow, who was asked to bring some cargo over from Africa. However, when Captain Sparrow learned that the "cargo" was West African slaves, he set them free. The furious Beckett had the Wench sunk, removed Sparrow from his position, and branded him a pirate. It was later raised from the sea floor by Davy Jones after making a pact with Jack Sparrow who rechristened her The Black Pearl. She is said to be, "nigh uncatchable". The Black Pearl is moderately armed, she carries 32 twelve-pound cannons: 18 on the gun deck and 14 on the upper deck. Its full broadside contains 16 cannonballs and weighs 192 lb (87 kg). Strangely, the Pearl has no guns on the bow nor on the stern, which is very unusual for a pirate ship, giving her a grave tactical disadvantage during a chase; the Pearl isn’t able to shoot the ship she chases or to reply her hunter’s fire. Her high speed only partially negates this handicap. To allow the ship to maneuver in shallows, Captain Barbossa implemented an ingenious system of oars on one of the lower decks. It allowed a detachment of his pirates to act as a galley crew during one scene of The Curse of the Black Pearl, propelling the Pearl a short distance by rowing. She flies a jib, forestaysail, foresail, foretopsail, foretopgallant sail, mainsail, topsail, topgallant sail, mizzen lateen sail, mizzen topsail, main staysail, topmast staysail, topgallant staysail. It's unknown if she has studdingsails. In the first movie, the Black Pearl was a steel barge with wooden structures built on top to resemble a real ship. In addition, a soundstage set was used to achieve better control over fog machines. For the second and third movies, a floating sailing ship was actually built in the shipyards at Bayou La Batre in Alabama on the hull of ship Sunset to serve as the set, though it is not an authentic tall ship. Another version, mounted on a gimbal, was built for filming the Maelstrom battle. The ship formerly known as the sunset is in storage in Ensenada, Mexico. |