Ship exposed as a fake

[veronica_rich]

Yet another example of how children are put on this earth to ruin a good time .... ;-)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=478692&in_page_id=1770

Boy, 12, exposes touring Pirates of the Caribbean ship as a fake
Last updated at 10:39am on 30th August 2007

A ship touring the country claiming to be the vessel used as 'The Black Pearl' in the Pirates of the Caribbean films was exposed as a fake - by a 12-year-old boy.

Thousands of people have paid to visit the 180ft tallship HMS Bounty believing it was the sinister ship which appeared in the Hollywood movie series starring Johnny Depp.

Eagle-eyed Ross Winstanley with his mother Julie: 'I feel let down', he said

But eagle-eyed film fan Ross Winstanley smelled a rat after paying £7.50 to board the vessel with his mum Julie in Torquay, Devon.

Having seen the pirate films dozens of times, he immediately realised the deck and cabins were not the same as those on the movie ship.

He challenged the ship's 'crew' - who admitted it had never been used as The Black Pearl, which was actually a floating set made of plywood mounted on a barge.

Organisers of the UK tour have now admitted that it only made a brief appearance in the second and third films of the series - in the background as The Edinburgh Trader.

The man in charge of the British leg of the tour has even admitted he has never even SEEN the films.

Ross, who was hobbling on crutches when he visited the ship because of an injured knee, said: "When we got on board it was nothing like the Black Pearl. It was completely different.

"I know it so well from the films - the back and front looked a different shape. I was really disappointed. I wouldn't have paid to see a ship that was in the background for five seconds. I feel really let down."

Mum Julie, 44, mum-of-two from Torquay, said she felt conned. "Ross was desperate to go because he loves the films and we thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," she said.

"But as we approached he was adamant that it wasn't the ship from the movie. I was sure it was.

"On board he was just as sure, so we asked one of the crew and they told us it was only used as a merchant ship in the second of the films. He was really embarrassed.

"Ross was gutted. I don't think we would have gone if we had known. It was good to see a ship like that but it wasn't what we thought it was."

The UK leg of the ship's tour was organised by European Maritime Events and had already called in Liverpool after stops in America.

After staying in Torquay on August 24 and 25 it has now sailed to Hull, before more stops in Blythe, Newcastle, Southampton and Portsmouth.

Thousands of people have paid to visit the HMS Bounty believing it is the ship which appeared in the Hollywood movie series starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow

Hollywood on the high seas: Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp in Pirates Of The Caribbean
The boat can be viewed for free from docks but to board costs £5 per adult and £2.50 for children. At least 5,000 people boarded in Liverpool.

Before arriving in Torquay tour manager Wilf Lower sent a press release claiming: "The ship features in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3 as Black Pearl."

Ross said: "I've probably seen all the films about three times each - I love them. My favourite character is Jack Sparrow.

"When I heard his ship was coming to Torquay I was really excited. It said in the newspaper that it was the Black Pearl. I knew I had to go and see that."

But Mr Lower has since admitted never having even seen the blockbuster movies starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.

Mr Lower said: "As far as I know it was one of three ships used in filming for episodes two and three. The short answer is yes, she does appear at some stage. It's an amalgamation.

"My understanding is that she did appear in the film as the Pearl. You'd have to watch pretty hard in the background to work out which bit is what."

But speaking from New York, the executive director of HMS Bounty's Organisation, Margaret Ramsey, said the whole claim was false.

She said: "We try to squash it whenever it comes up - she's totally not the Black Pearl. She was the Edinburgh Trader in two episodes and we were thrilled with that.

"I would be really disappointed if I went to see her and then realised she wasn't the Black Pearl. I can only ask that people accept an apology."

The 46-year-old vessel was modelled on the original HMS Bounty, famous for the 1789 mutiny between Captain Bligh and Master Mate Fletcher Christian.

A three-masted sailing ship, she was re-created in 1960 by MGM for the 1962 movie, Mutiny on the Bounty, and is now replicating her namesake's journey.

The Torbay Development Agency, which booked the ship for Torquay, said they had been led to believe HMS Bounty was The Black Pearl.

A spokesman said: "After carrying out reasonable checks and speaking with Mr Lower from European Maritime Events we had no reason to think this ship was anything but the Black Pearl and agreed to take the ship here in good faith.

"The staff on board the HMS Bounty, when questioned about the Black Pearl, made it clear that this was a common misconception."

In Liverpool, where 5,000 visitors flocked to visit the ship, it was not until after it left that the full picture was revealed.

A spokesman for Liverpool Culture Company said: "We apologise. It was a misunderstanding and we informed people before they got on the ship about the mistake.

"It was in Pirates of the Caribbean but represented another ship."

HMS Bounty left Maine in America on July 7 and stopped in Halifax, Nova Scotia, between July 12 and 16.

It then took a month to sail from America to the Cumbrian town of Maryport and then on to Liverpool.

After a stop in Torquay it is currently in Hull until September 3 before it is us due at the Southampton Boat Show.

It will then embark on the re-run of her 1962 world tour, via South Africa and New Zealand to Pitcairn and Tahiti.

The ship has just completed a £1.5m restoration and is made up of 400,000ft of lumber, 112 tons of screw bolts, 14 tons of bar iron, 1,200 lbs of putty, 10 miles of line for rigging and over 10,000 square feet of hand-sewn canvas for the sails.

Comments

[elessil.livejournal.com]

The one part I don't get is....I KNEW from somewhere the Bounty was the Edinburgh. I'd never have thought she was the Pearl.... *scratches head*

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I just report; you decide. Even with the anti-children sentiments tossed in, I'm still more fair than Fox News that way. *G*

[alilacia.livejournal.com]

Saw that this morning in the paper. Was still good to go on a real working sailing ship, even if it wasn't the one most people originally thought. :)

But yeah, trust a kid. :P ;)

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I don't trust any kid. They're savage little beasts, so short of rescuing a dog or a family member from a fire or drowning, most news stories featuring them usually involve whining either on their part or their parents'. (I still think it's a rotten thing to falsely market; as Dala says, why not just advertise what it really is?)

[alilacia.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* Don't know why they did it. Like you said, lots of people still would have come down/up to see it. It was still in the films after all, and is a gorgeous vessel in her own right.

[heartofslash.livejournal.com]

Wait a minute - a sharp-eyed kid notes taht a crooked tour guide is trying to pass off a fake as the real Black Pearl, thus conning hundreds of people out of their hard-earned cash, and that means children are bad?

I'd like to know where all the adults were when this jerk was putting out the media misrepresenting the ship to earn a quick buck.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

True on the misrepresenting. But I simply don't like children (which most of my f-list knows), so you have to consider the remark was made in jest, dear. ;-)

[the-dala.livejournal.com]

It sucks that the ship was misrepresented, but come on, kid - it's still the fracking Bounty! (Or, er, a model of her anyway). Plus that's a damned cheap boarding fee. You know Disney would charge like 20 pounds to let people on the real Pearl.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

They should've just advertised it for what it was; plenty of people still would've come out for it. What stupidity; I'm just surprised someone didn't notice it earlier.

And you just know that kid's gonna end up as Gore's summer intern when he's like 17.

[ainsoph15.livejournal.com]

Ha ha ha!!! You've only watched the films three times each, kid, and you think that makes you a fan! *rolls around laughing*

[stabbycutlass.livejournal.com]

I only watched AWE three times and I'd call myself a fan, yes. ^_^

[ainsoph15.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but how many times have you seen the other two on DVD?

[stabbycutlass.livejournal.com]

*re-reads article*

D'oh. More than Ross, to be sure. ^_^() Sorry 'bout that.

[stabbycutlass.livejournal.com]

Double d'oh. You even said it in your post. *sigh*

[ainsoph15.livejournal.com]

Hee! No worries :D

The marvellously 'accurate' journalism found in the Daily Heil isn't even consistent within the article, so it's no wonder it's confusing. They first say the kid's seen the film dozens of times, then quote him as saying he's seen them three times each. If I asked for a dozen cakes, let alone dozens, I'd be pretty pissed off if I ended up with nine! XD

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

It's the same reaction I have to someone who's only seen "Back to the Future" a couple of times. Charming thought they have, really. Heh. *G*

[stabbycutlass.livejournal.com]

While its cool that the kid recognized the ship wasn't the Pearl, and called them out on it, I'd have to say if he really knew PotC, he'd know the Edinburg Trader wasn't a "ship in the background." That was annoying; the Trader had one of the best death scenes ever, and I would have loved to be on it.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

You wanted to be on it DURING the death scene?

[stabbycutlass.livejournal.com]

LOL! No, I mean I would have loved to have visited the ship off camera, in one of these tourist-type visits.

If I had been on the ship during the Kraken attack, I would have curled into a worthless ball and cried miserably. Or maybe have the state of mind to possibly abandon ship. Or compromise, and abandon ship while crying. That sounds fair.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I would've been clinging to the sail, screaming like Mullroy ...

[mad-martha.livejournal.com]

Okay, I actually went on Bounty when it was berthed in Torquay (I live nearby). I don't personally recall any advertising of it that suggested it was the Black Pearl - they only said that it had been in DMC. In fact it's patently obvious as soon as you see it that it couldn't be Black Pearl, because it looks entirely wrong - you certainly didn't have to go on board to see that! It's the wrong sort of ship altogether.

The advertising I saw - which was mostly an in-house e-mail at work - made a joke in the message headers about "Mutiny on the Black Pearl" and said that the ship had been in "Mutiny On The Bounty" (which is the film it was built for, according to the leaflets handed out when I went aboard) and "Pirates of the Caribbean". No mention of it being Black Pearl. As far as I can tell there wasn't an awful lot of advertising about the ship locally anyway as it was a very brief visit. I can't comment on the Torbay Development Agency, but I see the article says the local newspaper, the Herald Express, claimed it was Black Pearl - that explains a lot. If I told you that the Herald Express is referred to in some circles locally as the Haemorrhoid Excess, would that explain anything? *grin*

Incidentally, the fee for going on board was £5 for adults and £2.50 for kids. Saying a 12 year old paid £7.50 is stretching the truth a little ...

Having said all that - it was really great to be able to go on board Bounty and have a little poke around. I think what really got to me was the size of it - according to the info, it's build a third again bigger than the original Bounty so that it can be used as a film set. Personally I wouldn't want to be stuck in the middle of an ocean for god knows how long on something the size of the replica, let alone the original if it was significantly smaller. No wonder they mutinied, claustrophobia must surely have been an issue.

[nobleplatypus]

About a year ago, a replica of one of Columbus' boats--the Niña, I think--came putt-putting sailing up the Mississippi, and I got to go on board that. It was damn tiny. I remember reading something about a hundred men sleeping on the deck, and I'm not sure how they physically managed it unless there was creative stacking involved, or people sleeping in the rigging. :P

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

I recently got to see the Nina docked at the same pier on Lake Michigan as the Friends Good Will (1812 sloop). They're roughly the same size. The Lady Washington (Interceptor) is about 10' longer than FGW, just for reference.

And yeah, the idea of 100 sailors crossing the Atlantic in a ship that size gives me the cold grues. I think FGW's usual crew is 5-8, not counting paying customers who sometimes are drafted volunteer to help haul on lines and such.

[mad-martha.livejournal.com]

It boggles the mind! Perhaps they slept sitting up anyway? I'm sure I read somewhere that until relatively recently that was quite common because people believed it aided the digestion ....

Anyway, I was talking to some friends about Bounty afterwards and we came to the conclusion that sharing bunks/hammocks must have been part of it - one watch in and one watch out, so to speak. (I believe that happens on some modern submarines.) It would still be terribly cramped by our standards, though :-( No wonder they coined the term 'cabin fever'.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Really, I have to guess it was a slow news day. I've suffered through those two or three times, where you'll grab at something that's not "news" for the sake of filling a few column inches. Although, I'm sure I was ever desperate enough to go trolling the docks for it. *G*

[mad-martha.livejournal.com]

*snicker* I now have a lovely mental image of the Daily Mail and Herald Express reporters sashaying along the harbour wall together a la Scarlett and Giselle :-D

To be fair, this is the Westcountry where unless we're having a flood or, God forbid, an outbreak of Foot and Mouth, every day is a slow day. Sheep escaping from a field can be a hot story, and we've already had the annual false siting of a Great White shark, so Bounty pulling into harbour must have seemed like Christmas to them *grin*

[mad-martha.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that should be 'sighting' - I can spel reely!

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

Why don't we coax the intrepid little dear into checking out that interesting chair in Mr. Todd's shop? Hmmmmm...?

*evil cackle*

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I suppose the kid and mother were within their rights to say something about it. But there's just something about the situation that annoys the hell out of me, and I can't quite put a finger on what it is ...

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

Well, it's also the Daily Mail, which can manage to make a retrieved puppy sound like a sex crime. So a lot of it is the reporting. God knows, they can take a perfectly innocent quote and twist is five ways from Sunday!

[ainsoph15.livejournal.com]

*applauds your assesment of the Daily Heil*

That is the perfect summing up for the self-righteous, titillating bunch of crap they 'report' in there, masquerading as so-called news.