Black Pearl

"*Wherever we want to go, we go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is...what the Black Pearl really is...is freedom.*"
―Jack Sparrow[src]
The ***Black Pearl*** is a ghostly ship with sails as black as a moonless night. The last great pirate threat in the Caribbean is supernaturally fast, able to outrun even the legendary *Flying Dutchman*. Reincarnated from the ***Wicked Wench***, both Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa lay claim to the vessel.

## History

### Background

The *Black Pearl* was originally a merchant ship named the *Wicked Wench*, captained by Jack Sparrow back when he was an honest sailor in the employ of the East India Trading Company. Jack carried out many jobs on behalf of Cutler Beckett, but when he was told to transport slaves, he refused and set them free. In retaliation, Beckett ordered the *Wicked Wench* to be torched, and branded Jack a pirate. However, Jack was not content to let his beloved ship lie at the bottom of the ocean, and struck a bargain with Davy Jones to raise her from the depths, in return for his soul at the end of thirteen years' time as captain. She emerged as a ghost ship, her sails tattered and her hull blackened. Jack renamed her the *Black Pearl* and turned to a life of piracy.

### The Curse of the Black Pearl

Sadly for Jack, the ship was taken from him after only two years when his first mate Barbossa led a mutiny. Jack was marooned on a deserted island, while Barbossa and his crew headed for Isla de Muerta and its treasure. But the men of the *Black Pearl* would soon find out that the legend of the cursed treasure was not a tall tale. The curse could only be lifted when the lost pieces of the Aztec Gold were returned in full and a blood debt repaid. For ten years the dreaded ship sailed the waters of the Caribbean, preying on towns and vessels. Without warning, she would appear out of the night and attack, leaving nothing but chaos and destruction in her path.

As the film opens, young Will Turner is pulled from the Caribbean Sea drifting amidst the burning wreckage and murdered crew of a British ship attacked by pirates. That day, aboard the H.M.S. *Dauntless*, Elizabeth Swann takes from the unconscious Will a medallion of Aztec Gold, and catches a glimpse of the *Black Pearl* as it silently moves through the fog. The medallion lay hidden in her dresser for eight years before she was compelled to wear it one fateful day in Port Royal—the very same day that Jack Sparrow arrives, looking for a ship to commandeer. Summoned by the call of the gold, the *Black Pearl* arrives from deep in the fog as night falls on Port Royal, and the town is hammered by cannon fire. During the attack, Elizabeth attempts to negotiate with Captain Barbossa, but thinking Elizabeth had Turner blood, the last blood they need to lift the curse, Barbossa takes her as a captive, along with the medallion.

## Attributes

Eerie fog foreshadows the appearance of the *Black Pearl*. In such a haze, the *Pearl* is not visible at all, so its attack is always unexpected.

## Trivia

* The *Wicked Wench* is the ship seen in the *Pirates of the Caribbean* attraction at Disneyland. The *Black Pearl* resembles, to some degree, a decrepit version of the attraction's ship, although a connection between the two ships was not to be explored until *At World's End* was made.
* In *The Curse of the Black Pearl*, the *Pearl* was a set on a floating barge. For *Dead Man's Chest* and *At World's End*, a more sea-worthy *Black Pearl* was built around the ship *Sunset* by Rick Heinrichs's production team.

## External links

* Black Pearl on the Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki