Black Pearl

**The Black Pearl** is a ship from the *Pirates of the Caribbean* franchise.

## Description

### Physical description

The Black Pearl is a paranormal galleon sailing-ship which was used during the golden age of piracy in the 18th century. It was 165 feet long with three masts, a scorched black hull and black sails. The ship was endowed with supernatural speed, being able to even outrun ghost ships such as *The Flying Dutchman*. The figurehead of the Pearl was the scorched wooden figure of an angel holding a bird.

## History

### Films

In these films the Black Pearl was originally a vessel known as *The Wicked Wench*. The Wicked Wench was a British vessel used by the East India Trading Company which was captained by a young Jack Sparrow. Sparrow would rebel against the EIT when his superior Lord Cutler Beckett ordered him to deliver a shipment of 1000 enslaved people who Jack freed. Due to the incident costing Beckett a promotion, he had Jack branded as a pirate and burned the Wicked Wench while Jack watched.

In order to get his ship back, Jack made a bargain with Davy Jones in-which Jack would be captain of the Wench for 13 years and then serve as a slave aboard Jones' ghost ship *The Flying Dutchman*. Jones would return the Wench from the depths though the fire caused it to be scorched black resulting in Jack renaming it to *The Black Pearl*. After 2 years as captain, Jack was mutinied by his first-mate Barbossa and marooned while the crew sought after the cursed treasure of Hernan Cortez, causing them to become cursed skeletons.

Ten years later, Jack would be arrested by the British and locked up in the fortress on Port Royal when the island was ransacked by Barbossa and the Black Pearl, their crew now cursed to be undead by the treasure of Cortez and wishing to break their curse. To break the curse, the crew required the medallion and blood of crew-mate Bootstrap Bill Turner who was sent to the depths before the pirates learned they needed his blood. Said medallion was in the possession of Elizabeth Swann, the daughter of Jamaica's governor who was in-love with Bootstrap's unknowing son William Turner and had stolen the medallion from him when they were young to save William from being punished for piracy by the British navy. This resulted in Barbossa kidnapping Elizabeth, believing her to be a blood-relative of Bootstrap Bill.

After becoming aware that Jack had some connection to the Black Pearl, William freed Jack from prison to set out to find Elizabeth. Though after realizing Will's heritage, Jack intended to use Will as a bargaining chip to barter his ship back from Barbossa. This eventually lead to Jack sympathizing with Will and Elizabeth and choosing to truly aid them from Barbossa with this alliance leading to William using his blood to free the pirates from their curse so that Jack could shoot Barbossa in the heart. When Jack was arrested again by the British, Will and Elizabeth freed him and he set off as captain of the Black Pearl once more.

## Appearances and allusions

### Pirates of the Caribbean

A black-hulled ship with black sails appears in the Magic Kingdom's version of Pirates of the Caribbean at the beginning of the attraction. While passing from Castillo del Morro into the Ghostly Grotto, this ship is visible on the horizon overlooking Isla Tesoro.

### Tortuga Tavern

This tavern set on the isle of Tortuga is run by Jack's old crew-mate Arabella Smith. Within the tavern is a book documenting the crew of the Black Pearl from after he reclaimed it from Barbossa.

### Fantasmic!

The S.S. Columbia is used to portray the Black Pearl in Disneyland's Fantasmic!. In it, Jack Sparrow saved Elizabeth Swann from Barbossa and his crew before overtaking the ship.

## Connections

The Pearl's captain Jack Sparrow is an established figure in Disney Parks who makes fairly regular appearances and connections.

### Fortress Explorations

In the dubiously cannon Pirates of the Caribbean comic, "The Black Skull!", Sir Francis Drake is identified as having hid a large treasure on Isla Cueva in the Caribbean along with two magical stones sought after by Captain Jack Sparrow. Within the Disney Parks mythos, Sir Francis Drake was appointed as an honorary member of the *Society of Explorers and Adventurers*.

### Jungle Cruise

In the Magic Kingdom's interactive-game *A Pirate's Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas*, Jack competes with Barbossa for the *Treasure of the Pacific*, one of Calypso's seven treasures which is in the possession of Adventureland's Headhunter Tribe.

#### Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar

This bar contains multiple allusions to Jack Sparrow, identified as being a friend of Trader Sam and customer of his tavern (whether this is his Jungle Navigation Company assisted establishment or a separate one being unknown). Of note their is a photograph showing Jack and Sam together on what appears to be Isla de Pelegestos with Jack in chieftain makeup and a Pelegostos warrior nearby. Also in the bar is a letter addressed to Sam from Jack reading, "*Sam. Rum is on you, heads are on me. Take care of Mum for me. She always loved hanging around in your pub -Captain Jack Sparrow*". Near the letter is the shrunken head of Jack Sparrow's mother within a wooden box, left in Sam's safe-keeping in his bar.

### Oceaneer Lab

There is a crate aboard the RV Oceaneer Lab which is labelled as containing excavated goods from Isla de Muerta, namely the cursed Aztec gold. It mentions Captain Oceaneer's utilization of prongs to avoid the treasure's curse.

## Trivia

* It is unknown what the relationship between the Black Pearl and the Wicked Wench are in Disney Parks cannon given how in film-continuity they were the same vessel while in Disney Parks continuity they appear to be separate vessels. Theories and speculation on this do exist:
	+ It is possible that the Wench and the Pearl are sister ships.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ZHefpHiq4&t=281s
2. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B2nA7-MAKn8/
3. ↑ http://www.fromscreentotheme.com/FunFindFridayDisneyMagic1.aspx