The Panther Bay
Pirate Blog

I was watching (yet again!) the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie (The Curse of the Black Pearl) when I caught a bird's eye shot of the HMS Interceptor. The Interceptor, you might recall, was the ship Jack Sparrow and Will commandeered to chase down Elizabeth after she had been captured by pirate Captain Barbossa.

Well, it turns out, the Interceptor is a brig--a two-masted, squared rigged vessel known for its speed and maneuverability. Brigs were a staple of the Royal Navy during the 18th and early 19th centuries for these reasons. In fact, they were perfect for pirate hunting in the shallow and hazardous waters of the Caribbean Sea. And, of course, Isabella's pirate ship, the Maree Rouge, is a brig, too. So, if you're looking for a connection, there it is.

The Interceptor was a fictional ship played by a real, working brig called the Lady Washington which sails out of Aberdeen, Washington. Many of the vessels in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies were actually sets, in some cases barges with facades to look like warships. For a fighting brig similar to what the Maree Rouge might have been like, take a look at the HMS Badger and our virtual tour of the USS Niagara on the Panther Bay web site. We also have a guide to fighting ships and vessels that travelled about on the high seas during this period.

Fair warning: the HMS Badger is set to make a cameo in one of the future books in the Panther Bay series. A real-world captain of the Badger has a run in with Isabella in a pub in the Caribbean, although I take some literary license with the timeline.