Pirates of the Caribbean: Why Jack Sparrow Changed The Black Pearl’s Name
The Black Pearl’s name strikes fear and awe into the hearts of sailors, but it was actually called the Wicked Wench before Jack Sparrow took the helm.
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Jack Sparrow’s monochromatic ship, the Black Pearl, is an iconic element of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, but it was originally known by another name under a different captain. Beginning in 2003 with The Curse of the Black Pearl, the Pirates films follow the fantastical, often supernatural exploits of a seafaring band of outlaws and misfits during the Age of Sail. Jack Sparrow has been the central character of the series since his first appearance earned Johnny Depp an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Although the series is ostensibly based upon the ride of the same name that has been a mainstay at Disney parks for decades, there was in reality very little narrative to draw from that source. As a result, much of the lore of the Pirates franchise is an amalgamation of different influences, ranging from novels and video games to actual naval history and entirely new concepts. One notable holdover from the theme park ride is the original name of the ship that would come to be known as the Black Pearl: the Wicked Wench.
As a young pirate, Jack Sparrow was first given command of the Wicked Wench by Captain Morgan in a naval battle against Captain Salazar, a Spanish pirate hunter. Some time after the conflict, Sparrow lost possession of the ship, and it eventually became a simple merchant vessel belonging to Lord Cutler Beckett. As a compromise to reclaim the Wench, Sparrow began serving as a captain under Beckett’s branch of the East India Trading Company. This was a contentious arrangement, and Sparrow eventually rebelled when asked to transport slaves. In retaliation, Beckett had the Wicked Wench razed, leading a desperate Sparrow to make his fateful bargain with Davy Jones in order to save it. The ship was still visibly blackened from its burning, but Sparrow chose to embrace the change, adorning it with black sails and renaming it the Black Pearl, which he felt was an appropriately fearsome moniker for a pirate ship.
This history, which is only briefly touched upon in the films, is interesting in that it inexorably ties Jack, from youth, to many of the adversaries that he would face later in life, with Salazar, Beckett, and Jones all playing a part in bringing the Black Pearl to him. But, very much in keeping with his chaotically free character, Jack refuses to dwell on this, instead renaming the vessel to cut ties to the past and regain control of his fortune, as well as to pursue his ideal vision of piracy.
Pragmatically speaking, the Black Pearl remains a consistent plot point throughout a big-budget, blockbuster franchise, so beyond narrative connections, its name and design ultimately had to satisfy aesthetic considerations. This means that, in a meta sense, Sparrow initially named the ship using the same train of thought as the film’s creators: just looking for something that sounded cool and piratey. But as the worldbuilding of the Pirates of the Caribbean series has grown more complex, it also seems appropriate that Jack Sparrow’s beloved ship in turn has grown to signify so much more about the life and attitude of its captain.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/pirates-caribbean-black-pearl-wicked-wench-change-reason/