Pirates of the Caribbean Vessels

Aside from the BLACK PEARL, I designed the rigging for many other ship sets & set pieces for the series. These included full size sets on barges, gambles, or on stage, starting with the DAUNTLESS, built as a three-quarter scale HMS VICTORY on a barge in San Pedro. All of these were designed & built in conjunction with the Art Department & Construction to be as realistic as possible while still fulfilling the needs of the production… Such as the fully rigged full scale replica of the BOUNTY which was designed for multiple takes of a falling foremast & the one take of the kraken braking the ship in half.

Other sets were sections of the mast & cross-trees and fighting top sections of masts built on stands so the actors were actually only 12 feet off the ground instead of 40 or 100 feet in the air. then there were Chinese Junk rigs, all fully functional. The FLYING DUTCHMAN was based on VASSA & the Art Department at first couldn’t understand why the naval architect insisted it didn’t have proper stability! Add to that, several flag pole rigs for shooting, insert shots of the skull & cross bones & Union Jack waving in the breeze. I also assisted Set Dec and Props with fitting out below deck & cannon tackle dressing.