 Pirates of the Caribbean Posters
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 Chapter 8: The Ships: Real and Imagined No pirate movie is complete without the proper pirate ships. Three ships dominate the action in “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” Filmmakers focused on two ships within the British armada-the Interceptor, a sleek two-masted clipper purported to be the fastest vessel commissioned to His Majesty's Service; and the H.M.S. Dauntless, one of the Empire's premiere warships-and a third, with a mysterious past, starring in the title role; the Black Pearl, a galleon stolen from Captain Jack by Barbossa and his evil crew several years earlier.Few ships in existence today could pass for a vessel dating back to the 18th century. The studio and the producers initially assumed they would have to build every ship featured in the story, never imagining they would stumble across a virtual treasure trove of information and contacts who knew just where to find viable stand-ins when they hired Marine coordinator Matt O'Connor.
A boating enthusiast and a marine specialist working in the film industry for over 15 years, O'Connor contacted an associate in Seattle and persuaded him to convince his board of directors to allow the production company to use their prized tall ship, along with a fully staffed crew, for an unprecedented amount of time, in a location halfway around the world from her home port, but only after making substantial structural modifications to the vessel. Les Bolton, executive director of Grace Harbor Historical Seaport Authority, which owns and operates the Lady Washington, embraced the challenge, undeterred by the obstacles such an undertaking presented. The offer was too exciting to pass up, and so the Lady Washington became a valued member of the cast, `starring' as the Interceptor.
The Lady Washington is a full-scale period reproduction of the first American vessel to make landfall on the Pacific Northwest Coast in 1789. According to Bolton, the Lady Washington was a very appropriate choice to star as the Interceptor. “Vessels of her type were considered very handy and maneuverable, and quick to accelerate. They'd move in quickly and easily harass larger, more powerful ships, which is exactly how the Interceptor is used in the movie.”
Various modifications were necessary not only to transform the Lady Washington into the Interceptor but also to make the vessel seaworthy enough to tackle the 4,500-mile trip from Port Townsend, Washington to Long Beach and then to the Caribbean. These changes included everything from re-planking sections of the deck and installing traditional grated hatch covers intended to provide ventilation for sailing in warmer climates to increasing the number of gun ports and giving the ship a fresh paint job.
The Lady Washington departed Long Beach for St. Vincent and the Grenadines on December 2nd, stopping first in Acapulco to refuel and restock. On Christmas Day they made their way through the locks of the Panama Canal. Traveling against heavy trade winds at the worst time of year, sailing through some of the very roughest weather, the ship's jib boom was completely sheared off. Once the crew retrieved the equipment that went over the side, the ship headed for the nearest port, which was Cartagena, Columbia. Once the Lady Washington was again seaworthy, they sailed on to St. Vincent, arriving on January 12th, 2003.
The Lady Washington's crew was also used in front of the camera. The crew was a combination of men and women, experienced professionals as well as trainees, ranging in age from 16 to mid-50s, all of whom can now claim to have appeared as a pirate in a major motion picture, the ladies even on occasion sporting facial hair.
Stranded with no apparent way to pursue Barbossa, Jack and Will Turner have no choice but to `borrow' a vessel, so they jump aboard the Interceptor to make way for open water. As the crew filmed running shots of the Interceptor from the deck of the Dauntless, Verbinski decided Jack Sparrow should be at the wheel, captaining the ship, while Will hoisted and trimmed the sails. Unfortunately, the actors had no clue how to do any of these things. Verbinski yelled across to the Lady Washington crew who were actually sailing the Interceptor to duck and hide so that only the two actors were visible on deck as the two ships passed one another.
“The cameras were rolling, they'd just done the sticks and next thing I know, the captain kind of disappears and it was just me by the ship's wheel, so I had to grab it,” says Depp incredulously. “No one told me I'd be steering the ship. It was trial by fire. On the second take, I thought we were going to hit the Dauntless barge, and then Gore says to me, `Johnny, come closer, bring the boat closer.' And I thought, `Oh man, I just steered a massive ship for the first time at what felt like breakneck speed! Come closer?'” he laughs. “But we survived.”
Orlando Bloom recalls the scene as well. “We were just sailing this huge ship on the open seas,” he says. “I looked over my shoulder one time and there's Johnny at the wheel with the hat and the gold teeth, and there's me just yanking on a rope going, `I can't believe I'm doing this.'”
Commodore Norrington's ship, the Dauntless, was constructed to resemble the British warship, the Victory. A famous 100-gun ship that won countless battles during its heyday, the Victory was the pride of the British fleet. Because no such ships exist today, the company was forced to recreate portions of the vessel using models of its vintage predecessor.
To create the ship, they ended up building sections of it on a floating barge docked at Pier C in Long Beach. Construction Coordinator Bob Blackburn and his crew began building the Dauntless here before moving the launch to the Port of Los Angeles for filming.
The Dauntless was one of the most innovative movie sets ever produced. Construction began before plans for the vessel were even complete. At one point, 150 people worked on construction of the floating set, which took about three and a half months to build, rain or shine. The set itself looked like a partially dissected ship with a section cut out of its port side. At completion, the ship measured 170 feet long, 34 feet wide and consisted of approximately 40,000 pounds of steel and 1,000 square feet of sails. Seven cell phones, five men, three welding hoods, two dozen tape measures, one metal cutting saw and countless tools fell overboard during construction.
Fabrication of the Black Pearl in the Long Beach Dome next to the Queen Mary was a little tamer. This stationary set was built on a moving gimbal. Blackburn's crew worked on the set for three months.
Says Gore Verbinski: “The Black Pearl is a ghost ship. We shot it in sections; some on stage and some on a barge that was towed in open water.” Often, the Black Pearl had a tugboat pulling it, which had to be painted out during the visual effects process.
Like any tricked-out luxury sports car on the road today, the Black Pearl is `loaded,' equipped with all the bells and whistles, all the appropriate accoutrements of any good pirate ship. There's a good reason why both Captain Jack and Captain Barbossa lay claim to the vessel.
“The Black Pearl had to be the quintessential pirate ship,” says Bruckheimer. “Gore and I agreed it had to be iconic. Because this is the ship that's caused the lifelong feud between Jack and Barbossa, to the victor go the spoils. The ship is a symbol of every treasure they've targeted.”
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