Sun-Sentinel.com – It’s really big, really black, and really, really scary — just the kind of vessel a crew of skeletal pirates would feel right at home in. Though you may not recognize it, if you’re a dedicated filmgoer, you’ve most likely seen it – By Robert Nolin.
The Black Pearl, the pirate ship from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, is at a Dania Beach marina being spruced up after several months of sea and salt exposure. The 150-foot-long, 38-foot-wide faux galleon was built in Alabama from the wooden hull of a supply ship and is painted black from stem to stern, said lead painter Giovanni Ferrara.
“People see it and say, `What the heck is this old boat doing here?'” Ferrara said. “When they realize this is the Black Pearl, Johnny Depp’s boat, they freak out.”
Ferrara said the ship spent time last year in the Caribbean filming the sequels to the Pirates of the Caribbean. It has been in town for about a month getting re-painted before leaving on a yacht transfer ship Monday for California, for about three more weeks of filming.
