Careen

The Black Pearl careened on the sands of Isla de Pelegostos.

"First, though, we've got to get her hull shipshape. We'll take her up one of the Calabar's tributaries half a mile, and careen her on one of those nice sandy banks."
"The ones with all the crocodiles?"
"The crocs won't be any problem. One blast from a swivel gun will send those scaly blighters slithering back into the river."

―Jack Sparrow and Robert Greene

Careening (also known as "heaving down") is a method of gaining access to the hull of a sailing ship without the use of a dry dock. It is used for cleaning or repairing the hull of a vessel. Before ship's hulls were protected from marine growth by fastening copper sheets over the surface of the hull, fouling by this growth would seriously affect the sailing qualities of a ship, causing a large amount of drag.

History

The small sloops, highly favored by pirates in the Caribbean area, required cleaning every two or three months. This operation, scrubbing the boat or ship of the many sea-growths, was known as careening and was done by turning the boat on its side and scraping the hull. If this was not done with regularity, the boat would lose much of its speed and the pirate much of his booty. Hidden coves with high cliffs rising above were excellent ports for pirates. From such a position, they could see shipping for miles and careen their vessels in privacy.

Bartholomew Roberts was attacked by a British Royal Navy man-of-war off Cape Lopez while careening his boat. His crew, too drunk to respond quickly, barely got the ship under way before she was rocked by a broadside from the man-of-war. Roberts was killed by the first volley of shots and his crew, seeing their captain was dead, surrendered to the British.

After escaping from the La Vipère and her crew of rogue pirates, Jack Sparrow and Robert Greene rowed their boat to a small uninhabited island that had fresh water, bananas, and tortoises, which proved to be a popular place for ships to be careened. A few weeks later, an East India Trading Company merchant ship arrived for just that purpose, and the two outcasts were able to join the ship's crew. The tributaries of the Calabar River in West Africa were infested with crocodiles, but that didn't stop the EITC captains like Jack Sparrow from careening their ships on their sandy banks. Years later, in his search for Captain Jack Sparrow, now a notorious pirate, Will Turner convinced the shrimper to sail him out to the cannibal island known as Isla de Pelegostos, where Will saw it for himself; the Black Pearl careened onto the sand.

Behind the scenes

The terms "careening" or simply "careen" were first mentioned in a souvenir book for Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. Careening made its first appearance in the 2006 junior novelization for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Appearances

• The Price of Freedom
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization) (First appearance)

Sources

• Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World (First mentioned)

External links

• Careening on Wikipedia