East Indiaman

The Black Pearl appeared to be a hybrid of a galleon and an East Indiaman.

"Borya offered to pay anyone who could report the whereabouts of a certain Captain Jack Sparrow, a merchant captain who was sailing an East Indiaman for the East India Trading Company."

―Esmeralda to Jack Sparrow

An East Indiaman was a trade ship operating under charter or license to the East India Trading Company. British East Indiamen usually ran between England, the Cape of Good Hope and India, often continuing on their voyages to China before returning to England via the Cape of Good Hope.

East Indiamen were designed to carry both passengers and goods and to defend themselves against piracy, and so constituted a special class of ship. Some East Indiamen were often painted to resemble warships, and some carried a sizable armament. A number of these ships were in fact acquired by the British Royal Navy, and in some cases they successfully fought off attacks by the hostile navies and the pirates.

Most East Indiamen, however, relied on naval escorts for protection against pirates and privateers, since they were not designed fully for combat, and did not want their precious cargo to be damaged in combat.

Known East Indiamen

• Wicked Wench/Black Pearl
• Wicked Wench

Behind the scenes

Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's early draft of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl described the Black Pearl as both a schooner and galleon; the portion of the script stating that the Pearl was a galleon would also appear in The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean. However, the eventual ship that was designed most closely resembles an East Indiaman with touches of Spanish galleon thrown in. A. C. Crispin's 2011 novel The Price of Freedom, detailing how the Wicked Wench became the Black Pearl, described the ship as a Dutch East Indiaman. Crispin's nautical expert told her that while the Pearl has some aspects of a galleon (her high stern) in her decks and rigging, the ship most resembles an East Indiaman, though the author explicated, "She's a fantasy pirate ship, built to order to look like everyone's imagined image of a pirate ship."

The two ships engaged in battle on the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest poster are taken from the painting "Abordage du Kent" by the French artist Ambroise Louis Garneray. The painting shows the attack of the French privateer vessel Confiance on the British East Indiaman Kent.

Appearances

• The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure
• The Price of Freedom (First identified as East Indiaman)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (First appearance)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

External links

• East Indiaman on Wikipedia