The LEGO Black Pearl is sailing once again in Icons 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship, so Blocks dives into the creation of this infamous vessel with Design Master Mike Psiaki as he explains how he crewed and armed the memorable movie ship.
Design Master Mike Psiaki came up with a new take on 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship from Pirates of the Caribbean, delivering the Black Pearl at a scale never seen before in LEGO bricks. He discusses how he came up with the right crew for the vessel and how he figures out the functional cannons.
Throughout The Pirates of The Caribbean film franchise, the Black Pearl changes. When it’s under the command of Captain Barbossa and cursed as a result of them pilfering Cortez’s gold, it’s basically a ghost ship on the water, silently cutting through the waves and bearing tattered sails. When Captain Jack Sparrow reclaims his beloved ship, the sails are restored to their former glory and new colours are flown from the mast. After that, when Jack loses the ship once again, it is shrunk down to fit inside a bottle.
When the decision was made to recreate the iconic movie vesssel as a new LEGO Icons model, the design team has to decide which crew to include in 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship. “There’s the early cursed version that has the tattered sails and that would have been difficult to represent through LEGO textiles,” says Design Master Mike Psiaki. “We don’t have a good way of recreating worn fabric. So we decided quite early on to focus on a version with cleaner sails and then settled on the version as it’s seen at the end of the first movie.”
That final scene from Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl sees Jack Sparrow boldly escape Port Royale with the help of Will Tuner and Elizabeth Swann. After a quick dip in the waves, Jack is picked up by his crew as he hums a shanty to himself. “That then determined the cast – Jack Sparrow, Anamaria, Gibbs, Cotton, and Marty,” says Mike, listing the key pirates present in that moment. “But we really had to include Barbossa because he’s such a great character! And then we couldn’t leave out Will and Elizabeth because they’re such vital characters too.”
Choosing this scene also helped when it came to the sails for 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship. “I worked really closely with our textiles department, who have done all of the sails for the most recent ships. It was an iterative process as I would make a version of the rigging and they would make a version of the sails to fit. We’d look at it together to figure out what worked and what needed tweaking. So we probably went through six or seven different versions to try to perfect not only how they fit the ship, but that also worked with our four fabric die-cuts.”
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Testing the sails was important to ensure none of the delicate rigging was stressed beyond capacity and to ensure that the sails will not droop over time. A common feature of older LEGO pirate ships is that the sails sag as there was not enough support for them.“I was trying to find a balance between what shape will the textiles hold over time, and how we will connect them to the model,” adds Mike. “You can pose them a little bit by yourself, but they’re designed to last over time.”
However, the practicality of the sails didn’t stop the textiles team from helping to add a secret detail. “I knew we couldn’t make them totally shredded, like you see in the ghostly or cursed version of the ship. But I still thought, ‘okay, it’s a pirate ship and maybe we can give some of that feeling through putting some holes in them’,” says Mike, turning the finished model on his desk to show off the hidden detail. “ What if there was a way that we could put holes in the sails so it looks like it got shot by a cannonball? If you line it up correctly you’ll see this hole follows a trail through these three sails.”
If you’re eager to set sail with the Pirates of the Caribbean when 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship releases on September 12, 2025, consider purchasing it via our affiliate links to help support the work we do at Blocks.
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