Hai Peng

The Hai Peng was a Chinese junk during the Age of Piracy. It was most notably served as one of several ships owned by Captain Sao Feng, the Pirate Lord of Singapore and scourge of the South China Sea. When Hector Barbossa and Elizabeth Swann go to Sao Feng's bath house to ask him for a ship and crew, following Will Turner's attempt to obtain Sao Feng's ancient navigational charts, the Hai Peng was used in the quest to find and rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker. After sailing through the Ice Passage between worlds to the Farthest Gate, the Hai Peng would be destroyed at World's End, as the ship fell through a waterfall and ended up at the Locker.

History

Singapore

It is unknown how long Sao Feng owned the Hai Peng, but it is known that he would have it by the time fellow Pirate Lord Hector Barbossa met with him in Singapore to ask for a ship and crew for a venture he was to undertake with his crew to save Jack Sparrow. After dealing with an attack from the soldiers of the East India Trading Company, Will Turner, an ally to Barbossa, came to him with Feng's charts, along with a ship and crew for their voyage, though Will secretly kept back that he only got the Hai Peng because of a deal he made with Sao Feng, in which he would betray Barbossa and Jack Sparrow.^[2]

Narrowly escaping the EITC soldiers, Barbossa's crew made it to the Hai Peng. On board the crew prepared to make sail as the entire city of Singapore burned. The Hai Peng sailed away from the harbor as Barbossa confronted Will and Elizabeth Swann spoke with Tia Dalma aboard the ship. As the city of Singapore was engulfed by flames, Barbossa's crew had the Hai Peng sail forth in their voyage to save Jack Sparrow.^[2]

Ice Passage

Determined to continue their mission, the crew of the Hai Peng began its voyage to the haunted shores at World's End to save Jack Sparrow in Davy Jones' Locker. The Hai Peng later sailed through a frozen landscape, getting close to the edge of the earth, at the Ice Passage between worlds. As the junk sailed, Will Turner and Tai Huang were examining Sao Feng's charts, where Will saw the inscribed words: "Over the edge, over again, sunrise sets, flash of green." Upon seeing it, Will showed Barbossa the map and Joshamee Gibbs told the crew about the green flash. Taking the wheel, Barbossa had the Hai Peng sail through ice glaciers into uncharted waters.^[2]

At World's End

Later that night, the Hai Peng sailed on clear waters that reflected the stars so perfectly that it was nearly impossible to find the horizon. Upon reaching the World's End, Will Turner noticed a line of white mist that stretched to infinity up ahead, and Barbossa stated that they were "good and lost now." Sailing closer, the Hai Peng gathers more speed as the sound of raging water was heard. Looking ahead, the ship's crew saw a massive waterfall that dropped off the edge of the world, where the ocean flowed over and plummet straight down into an endless black nothingness. Tia Dalma used her crab claws, murmuring a magical incantation as the junk was about to plummet over the edge of World's End. From there, Will turned the wheel while the Hai Peng ran straight toward the falls, telling the crew to hold on as the ship tilted sideways. Barbossa laughed when the Hai Peng tipped over the edge as the junk crashed down into the inky darkness. Ultimately reaching their destination, the crew walked out of the ocean within Davy Jones' Locker, but with the Hai Peng destroyed, the junk's wreckage sitting in the ocean. While the crew was able to sail aboard the Black Pearl with Jack Sparrow, in which they would later escape the Locker, the wreckage of the Hai Peng would remain there for eternity.^[2]

Design and appearance

The Hai Peng was a junk that really looked like junk. It was composed of rotting, decrepit wood and thatched roofing on its deck structure.^[5]

Behind the scenes

The Hai Peng first appeared in T.T. Sutherland's junior novelization for the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.^[1][2] While it was never named onscreen, the Hai Peng was named in the film's original screenplay draft,^[6] a late production draft titled Calypso's Fury,^[7] the film's presskit,^[4] the junior novelization,^[1] video game adaption,^[8] and The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean.^[9] According to the "Inside the Brethren Court" special feature for the home video releases of At World's End, the name "Hai Peng" means "flying dragon".^[3]

Much of At World's End was set on the sea, and in addition to the Black Pearl and Flying Dutchman, production designer Rick Heinrichs designed more ships for the film, including the Hai Peng and the Empress. Both ships were Chinese junks, but a real study in contrasts. The Hai Peng is a junk that really looks like junk, composed of rotting, decrepit wood and thatched roofing on its deck structure.^[4]

While unconfirmed, it is possible that the name Hai Peng may have been derived from Chang Hai-peng, a Chinese Northeastern Army general.^{[citation needed]}

Appearances

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

• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization) (First appearance)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (comic)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: The Movie Storybook
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Penguin Readers)
• The Challenge!
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Non-canonical appearance)

Sources

• The Art of Pirates of the Caribbean

Notes and references