User blog comment:YaxleyCola/War Brig pics!/@comment-5000017-20110904231542

And the Black Pearl was assigned to a certain Jack Sparrow (he was an East India Captain then), a large English East Indiaman used to transport slaves from Africa to the West Indies, however, when he found out exactly what he was transporting, he set the slaves free. However, upon learning of this, he had the Pearl sent to the  bottom, and had Jack branded a pirate, although Jack bartered the Pearl for his soul (to Jones) so that he could be captain for 13 years. In reality, however, English East Indiamen were used for "blue-water sailing" (long ocean voyages), and was often transporting luxury goods such as spices, molasses, strawberry preserves, silk, smoked meat from Hispaniola, Italian pistols, et cetera from the Old World to the New World, and often had a well-trained crew to fend off pirate attacks and attacks by opposing nations, along with plenty of cannon.