Pirate Ship Sails On
Several years ago, we visited the Paramount Theater in Oakland, California where I saw for the first time “The Black Pirate” starring Douglas Fairbanks. The film was released in 1926. It was a “silent” movie that had been filmed in black and white. While we watched the film, “The Mighty Wurlitzer” organ was played by a superbly talented organist. The “Wurlitzer” supplied all of the music that was necessary to accentuate the drama, excitement, and emotion that accompanied the film.
The film is about a young man who swears to avenge his father’s death against the band of pirates who were responsible. Douglas Fairbanks infiltrates the pirate band, and eventually makes good on his promise of revenge.
After the movie was over, I called my own father to give him a report of the movie. I thought that we had discovered something new with this movie. After I said that we had just finished watching “The Black Pirate,” my father took me completely by surprise by describing in glowing terms a dramatic scene where Douglas Fairbanks leaps from the mast of the ship, plunges a knife into the sail, and slides completely down the sail to the deck, using the drag from the tearing mast to slow his descent.
I never knew my father to go back and watch old movies. My father was born in 1918 and The Black Pirate was released when he was only 8 years old. This meant that my father probably remembered this thrilling scene from his own boyhood, when as an impressionable 8 year old he saw The Black Pirate in a theater at the time it was first released. He had remembered that scene for some 70 years, and recounted it to me after I told him we had seen the film.
Eight year old boys are impressionable. No doubt about it.
News reports in recent years have shown that piracy has been a continuing problem in some parts of the world. But it’s unlikely that most people are likely to ever have much interaction with piracy – unless they happen to run across the “BLACK PRINCE” (which “BLACK PRINCE” has no connection with the “Black Pirate” movie described above).
It seems that a company in Maine owned a vessel known as the “BLACK PRINCE.” It was “designed to resemble a pirate ship and to carry passengers on pirate-themed excursions.” This company in Maine leased the BLACK PRINCE to a separate company that was headquartered in Florida.
The Florida company had the BLACK PRINCE transported to Florida via truck (it makes you wonder why they just didn’t sail the ship from Maine to Florida under its own power. Perhaps pirate ships aren’t well-received these days along the eastern seaboard). After the ship arrived in Florida, the United States Coast Guard performed an inspection, and found that the ship was powered by an outboard engine supplied by gas fuel tanks. The Coast Goard issued a certificate of inspection that prevented the use of “open flames” aboard the BLACK PRINCE.
When it was sailing in Maine, the BLACK PRINCE periodically fired a “yacht signal cannon” as part of its “pirate theme excursions.” However, the written lease didn’t say anything about a “cannon.”
The Florida company apparently wanted to use an onboard cannon as part of the “pirate” experience. But the BLACK PRINCE was shipped from Maine to Florida without the cannon, so the Florida company ended up purchasing its own “Standard Black Winchester Cannon.” (Incidentally, these “Standard Black Winchester Cannons” are apparently still available online). The Florida company only paid 2 and a half months of lease payments and then discontinued making any further lease payments.
The Maine company repossessed the ship and sued the Florida company for breach of the lease agreement. In its defense, the Florida company claimed that the Maine company breached the lease because it agreed to provide a pirate ship that could use a cannon, and the Coast Guard’s inspection certificate prevented any open flame aboard the ship.
The matter proceeded to trial, and the court found no evidence that the coast guard certificate prevented use of the cannon. The court further found that even if the Maine company “breached” the lease agreement, that such “breach” wasn’t “material” and so the Florida company was left without excuse for not making its lease payments.
The end result? The Maine company who owned the ship received a judgment against the Florida company for $67,386.79 for breach of the pirate ship lease.
So what was the cost to lease a pirate ship? In this case, it was $3,700 per month, plus 5% of the gross sales. The case is reported as Culebra II, LLC v. River Cruises and Anticipation Yachts, LLC (2008) 564 F. Supp. 2d 70.