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Essex

"Prepare the Essex! We weigh anchor immediately!"
―John Scarfield[src] (French adaptation)

The Essex was a British Royal Navy warship captained by Lieutenant John Scarfield. In 1751 she served as the main British patrol and defensive vessel in the waters around the island of Saint Martin in the Lesser Antilles. She was crushed into pieces by the ghost ship the Silent Mary during a failed attempt at destroying the pirate vessel the Black Pearl, taking her crew to the depths.

History

"She comes starboard."
―Hector Barbossa[src]

It's unknown when or where the Essex was built, but by 1751[2] she was under the command of Lieutenant John Scarfield, the commanding officer of the British forces on the island of Saint Martin in the Lesser Antilles.[1]

Following the escape of the infamous pirate Jack Sparrow, the alleged witch Carina Smyth, and the Royal Navy deserter Henry Turner, from Saint Martin, Scarfield and his crew set sail on the Essex to find the outlaws and bring them to justice. However, the ultimate goal of Scarfield's pursuit was the legendary Trident of Poseidon, with which he intended to conquer the seas for the British Empire.[1]

After a few days, the Essex caught up with the Dying Gull, an old pirate sloop in which the pirates escaped from Saint Martin. However, when Scarfield's men captured the Gull, the three fugitives were not onboard anymore. The imprisoned pirates were locked in the ship's brig but they managed to escape the same day when the night fell.[1]

Cut in half

That night the Essex managed to intercept the Black Pearl, a pirate ship whose crew was trying to find the Trident. The crew of the Essex quickly took their battle stations, preparing to annihilate the pirate vessel with their superior firepower. However, as their attention was focused on the Pearl, the British didn't notice another threat behind them. The Silent Mary, the ghost ship of the undead Spanish pirate hunter Armando Salazar, emerged from the darkness, shocking Scarfield when he saw the Spanish vessel bending its bow high in the air. Controlled by Salazar's supernatural powers, the Mary came crashing down on the Essex, causing an explosion that cut the British vessel in half, sending her to the bottom of the sea with her entire crew.[1]

Design and appearance

The Essex was a three-masted warship, built for battle and fast enough to chase the pirate ships on the high seas. Its rigging consisted of three masts: the fore, the mizzen, and the main. The foremast was rigged with a fore course, a fore topsail, and a fore topgallant sail, the mainmast with a main course, a main topsail, and a main topgallant sail, and the mizzenmast with a mizzen course, a mizzen topsail, and a mizzen topgallant sail. Every sail except the mizzen course was decorated with Saint George's Cross, the symbol of England. The figurehead of the Essex showed a king holding a sword in his hands. The large Union Jack proudly flew from the stern flagstaff, surrounded with two golden statues of Britannia, proclaiming the ship's allegiance to the Kingdom of Great Britain.

A second-rate ship of the line, the Essex was heavily armed to protect the interests of the British Empire. She carried eighty-eight cannons, twenty-eight on the gun deck, twenty-eight on the middle deck and twenty-four on the main deck (ten below the quarterdeck, ten between the quarterdeck and the forecastle, and four below the forecastle). She also carried four 36-pounders on the quarterdeck and two 36-pounders on the forecastle, one on the port side and one on the starboard side. Two more 36-pounders were mounted on the forecastle to serve as bow chasers.

The Essex was nearly identical in design to another British warship which operated in the Caribbean at the same time, the Monarch of Captain Toms. The only notable differences between the two ships were their figureheads, their quarter galleries, and the lack of decorations on the sails of the Monarch.

Behind the scenes

Dead Men Tell No Tales

"Ready the Essex! We'll chase her down before the sun sets."
―Pig Kelly[src] (2013 screenplay)

The British Royal Navy warship Essex first appeared in The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization,[7][4] as well as the reference book Disney Pirates: The Definitive Collector's Anthology,[8] which were all tie-in books to the 2017 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.[1] As the first vessel to be filmed the "ship arena" at Helensvale, Australia, the Essex was portrayed by the same prop vessel that portrayed the Monarch and the uncursed version of the Silent Mary.[5][8] Despite being first identified by name in the most media,[7][4][8][2] including Jeremy Love's concept artwork,[9] the Essex was unnamed in the final cut of the film.[1] In addition, while the name "Essex" was mentioned in the English version of the novelization,[4] the name was spoken Lieutenant Scarfield only in the French edition of the novelization.[10]

In Jeff Nathanson's 2013 early screenplay draft for Dead Men Tell No Tales, two different ships are named the Essex. One is a pirate shallop captained by Pierre "Pig" Kelly, the other is a British Navy warship commanded by Admiral Scarfield. Following Jack Sparrow and Carina Smyth's escape from Port Royal, the pirate ship chased the Dying Gull and attacked her, but Sparrow's crew managed to repel the attackers. The Navy warship chased and attacked the Queen Anne's Revenge close to the borders of the Devil's Triangle, where both ships were destroyed by the ghostly Captain John Brand and the crew of the Silent Mary.[11]

Historical inaccuracies

The portrayal of the Essex in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise contains several historical inaccuracies.

  • As a warship of the British Royal Navy, the Essex should be identified with the HMS (His/Her Majesty's Ship) prefix. However, the name "HMS Essex" was never mentioned in Dead Men Tell No Tales or any related material.[1]
  • The Essex is commanded by John Scarfield, an officer with the rank of lieutenant. In real-world history, the biggest ships the Royal Navy lieutenants could command were smaller vessels like sloops and brigs. A lieutenant could command a warship like the Essex only if the ship's captain was absent, indisposed or was killed in action. However, given this fact, it may be possible that the previous captain of the Essex could have been killed prior the events of the film, allowing Scarfield to take command of the warship.[citation needed]
  • The Essex flies a large Union Jack from the stern flagstaff. In real-world history, in 1751, the time in which the film is set, the Royal Navy vessels were required to fly the Union Jack from the jackstaff at the head of the bowsprit.[citation needed]
  • Historically, all the Royal Navy ships that patrolled the Caribbean and the North Atlantic were part of the red squadron, which used the Red Ensign as its symbol. The Essex does not fly any ensign.[citation needed]
  • Gunlocks are visible on the cannons on the Essex's main deck as an officer cocked them during a scene in the film. In real-world history, gunlocks were rare since they only could be adapted to new guns, and only became a standard issue in the British Royal Navy around the 1800s, almost fifty years after the events of Dead Men Tell No Tales.[citation needed]

Historically, the Royal Navy had a warship named the HMS Essex in 1751, a year in which Dead Men Tell No Tales is set. Unlike the Pirates of the Caribbean ship, the real Essex was wrecked off the coast of France in 1759, after the battle of Quiberon Bay.[12]

Appearances

The Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Essex.

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Movie Graphic Novel
  3. ↑ Disney Pirates: The Definitive Collector's Anthology, p. 116
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization, p. 208-211
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 POTC5 Presskit
  6. ↑ Forty-three cannons can be seen on the starboard side of the Essex on Jeremy Love's conceptual artwork. With the same number of cannons on the port side the Essex should be armed with eighty-six cannons. Two more bow chasers can be seen on the Essex's forecastle in Dead Men Tell No Tales during the destruction of the ship which makes the total number of her guns eighty-eight.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth, p. 208
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Disney Pirates: The Definitive Collector's Anthology, p. 122
  9. ↑ artstation.com Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Men Tell No Tales - Gallery 2
  10. ↑ "Préparez l'Essex. Nous levons l'ancre immédiatement!" - John Scarfield, Pirates des Caraïbes : La Vengeance de Salazar - Le roman du film, p. 106
  11. ↑ Dead Men Tell No Tales script by Jeff Nathanson, second draft, 5/6/2013
  12. ↑ HMS Essex (1679) on Wikipedia
British Royal Navy ships in Pirates of the Caribbean
Royal Navy ships
Albion – HMS Achilles – HMS Adventure – Arabella – Battle-Royale – Bastion – Belette – HMS Blazer – British galleon – British warship – Bulwark – Centurion – HMS Century – Colossus – HMS Comet – HMS Dauntless – HMS Diamond – Dreadnought – Elite – HMS Endeavour – En-Garde – Essex – Ferret – Goliath – Greyhound – HMS Hound – HMS Hyena – HMS Interceptor – HMS Invincible – Jack Sparrow's corvette – Kingfisher – Lawrence Norrington's ship – Man O' War – Monarch – HMS Newcastle – Panther – HMS Peregrine – Perseverance – HMS Phoenix – Predator – Pride of London – HMS Providence – HMS Raven – HMS Resistance – HMS Rose – HMS Success – Tally-ho – HMS Trepassey – Vanguard – HMS Victor – HMS Victory
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