Royal African Pearl
The Royal African Pearl was a slave ship owned and operated by the Royal African Company, during the early 18th century. In 1718, pirates Edward Kenway and Charles Vane attacked the ship with the intent to find the ship carrying the Sage Bartholomew Roberts, another Company ship called the Princess. Though the Pearl deployed fire barrels against her attackers and even managed to cripple Vane's Ranger with a single broadside, she was in turn disabled by the naval ram on Kenway's Jackdaw and subsequently boarded. Kenway learned from the ship's captain (who was immediately afterwards shot in the hip by Vane for wrecking his own ship) that the Princess sailed out of Kingston, but was caught up in a mutiny by Vane's crew before he could act on the information.
Trivia
- The ship's crew, although British, were dressed in Spanish uniforms. The ship herself was painted in the colours of the Spanish Navy and flew the Spanish flag too, which could indicate a development error.