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Huge debates on the answer to this question, you decide: (excerpts)

There have been many debates concerning exactly what kind of the ship the Black Pearl is. It's obvious that she is some kind of hybrid, dreamed up by the creators of PotC, and yet such a simple explanation simply isn't enough for us rabid fans. Many have stated that she is a bark (or barque), but that's too simple a description. The title "bark" in reality only refers to the style of rigging: typically three-masted, but square-rigged only on the fore and main mast (the first two masts). On the mizzen-mast, or the last mast, it is gaff-rigged; that is to say, the sails run along the length of the ship, instead of the width.

And this ship is the French galleon Couronne, launched in 1636, and in my opinion this one looks the closest to what we could see of the Pearl during the movie. She was a bit smaller than the Lowe, at 150 feet, but could carry up to 638 men - half again what the Lowe could carry. But again, even a ship this size could be piloted by a fairly small skeleton crew - the standard compliment of British ships consisted of four watches (which would be more than a skeleton crew each - at least 30 men for 4 watches totals 120 men at the smallest), and the rest of the men were mostly soldiers. 638 men on the Couronne would be incredibly cramped. This one, however, is full-rigged, whereas the Lowe has a lanteen-sail on the mizzenmast. As stated before, it's not easy to tell whether or not the Black Pearl has a squaresail or a lanteen-sail on the mizzenmast.

* http://www.kipar.org/piratical-resources/potc-black-pearl.html

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16y ago

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