Evil Stevie's Pirate Ship Otaku Page
Updated 7-10-99
Being a compilation of data and opinion about all the ships released in the Lego Pirate theme, and related items . . . send comments to sj@sjgames.com. The set names link to the magnificent Fibblesnork pages, where you can see photos of the ships and crew.
Check out my Want List the fleet needs more recruits, more provisions, more material . . .
Ships
Released 1997-98; 151 pieces. Original suggested retail price $33.00.
Hull: Regular (12 studs), green over black.
Masts: 1, plus a skinny little bowsprit made from a rod.
Sails: 1, red/white striped, with skull and two cutlasses (not crossbones) and irregular "battle damage" holes. There is also a large cloth skull-and-crossbones flag.
Cannon: 1.
Crew: Captain Red Beard, pirate wench, and one pirate.
Overall: Definitely the lamest pirate ship -- not because it's small, but because it seems hastily designed, with awkward lines, clashing colors and almost no decorative "gingerbread." This set can be the basis for a very pretty little vessel, though. Swap out the red bits for more green, yellow and black, give it a proper bow and some more interesting railings, create an appropriate sail if you want it to be a merchant rather than a pirate, and it works quite nicely.
No black hull center sections exist . . . but if you want to lengthen the ship, the white center section from the Armada Flagship (6280) presents a dramatic contrast to the black bow and stern.
Released 1993-95; 171 pieces. Original suggested retail price $39.75
Hull: Regular (12 studs), gray over brown.
Masts: 1, plus another mast piece used as bowsprit.
Sails: 2, B&W striped; one irregular 4-sided w/skull and crossbones, one jib.
Cannon: 1.
Crew: A hook-handed captain and three assorted pirates.
Overall: A nice little pirate. With no hull midsections, it can't help being a bit tubby, but the long bowsprit disguises that somewhat in the finished ship. Consider it a captured merchantman; after all, that's what most pirate ships were.
Released 1992-95; 306 pieces. Original suggested retail price $55.00
Hull: Regular (12 studs), gray over brown. One brown center section.
Masts: 1, plus another mast piece used as bowsprit.
Sails: 3; two squarish, brown (a realistic canvas color) with red stripes, black cannon, gold crown, one plain brown jib.
Cannon: 2.
Crew: 2 redcoats, one redcoat officer, and one ordinary seaman (striped shirt).
Special feature: Turning the wheel turns the rudder.
Overall: An excellent medium-sized ship. It's a shame that the British Navy (err, "Imperial Guards") never got a BIG ship. Historically, they had the men o'war, and the pirates made do with smaller stuff.
Released 1989-94; 372 pieces. Original suggested retail price $54.00.
Hull: Wide (16 studs), brown. One brown center section.
Masts: 2, one of which is 2-part, plus another mast piece used as bowsprit.
Sails: 3, blue/white striped; two "square" (actually, one is a very long rectangle), one jib.
Cannon: 2. They must be picked up from one side of the ship and set on the other; their runners don't go all the way across.
Crew: 3 bluecoat soldiers and one bluecoat admiral.
Special feature: The yellow falcon used as a figurehead was unique for years, until Adventurers started including them. Where is Bogart when we need him?
Overall: One of the most "collectible" of the Pirates line; sometimes sells for over $100 online. When built according to directions, the rear mast has no sails, which makes the ship look quite nose-heavy. On the other hand, if you give it one or two more center sections and another mast, it builds out into a very nice BIG ship.
Released 1996-98; 280 pieces. Original suggested retail price $49.00.
Hull: Regular (12 studs), blue over white. One white center section.
Masts: 2, plus another mast piece used as bowsprit.
Sails: 2, blue/white striped; one 4-sided w/red/yellow coat of arms, one jib.
Cannon: 1, with a green carriage.
Crew: 3 Dons, one with a chrome breastplate.
Special features: One mast is hinged to fall as "battle damage." Cute, but I rebuilt mine to be sturdier.
Overall: A very pretty medium-sized ship. The effect of the white hull is very pleasing. This would represent the Spanish presence, as opposed to 6271 and 6274, which are clearly British.
Released 1989-1995; 865 pieces. Original suggested retail price $125.00.
Hull: Wide (16 studs), brown. THREE brown center sections.
Masts: 2, both 2-part, plus another mast piece used as bowsprit.
Sails: 5, red/white striped; four 4-sided, one jib.
Cannon: 4. There are only two ports on each side, so each port has its own cannon; thus, this ship's cannon arrangement is the most realistic (and least efficient) of any of the sets.
Crew: Captain Red Beard, pirate wench, and 6 assorted pirates.
Special features: The stern is very complex and detailed, with clever use of big "flower" parts as gold rosettes. Furthermore, it's hinged so it slants back, for a very realistic appearance . . . and it can be "unlocked" to swing down, allowing access to the ship's interior . . . where detail is visible that can't be seen from outside. There are also four hatches, four doors, and four windows.
Overall: A HUGE pirate ship with lots of sails. Now a collector's item; hard to find and expensive.
Released 1993-95; 892 pieces. Original suggested retail price $126.50.
Hull: Wide (16 studs), red over brown. THREE brown center sections.
Masts: 3, two of which are 2-part, plus another mast piece used as bowsprit.
Sails: 6, B&W striped; four 4-sided, one w/skull and crossbones, two jibs.
Cannon: 4, running back and forth on a very ingenious slide-and-turn arrangement.
Crew: Captain Red Beard, pirate wench and 7 assorted pirates.
Special features: Stern opens on both sides with concealed hinges. Cannon slide and turn so they can fire out of the gunports on either side.
Overall: Another HUGE, beautiful pirate ship. Built to plan, it's almost 25" long. Adding a black spear to the bowsprit looks good and brings it to a full 27".
Released 1996-98; 691 pieces. Original suggested retail price $99.00.
Hull: Wide (16 studs), dark gray over red. Two red center sections.
Masts: 2, both of which are 2-part, plus a special mast piece for the bowsprit.
Sails: 3, B&W striped; two 4-sided, one w/skull and crossbones and one with crossed swords, and a jib. All have irregular "battle damage" holes in them.
Cannon: 3. This is strange, because there are four sets of cannon ports -- 3 on the main deck and one above. The guns slide from side to side on runners, but you will have to modify them to turn unless you're willing to just pick them up when you want to move them to the other side of the ship.
Crew: Captain Red Beard and 6 assorted pirates.
Special features: The foremast is hinged to fall as "battle damage." Likewise, if you pull out two rods in the stern, the stern of the ship swings down and catapults the upper deck, with the wheel, into the ocean. Stern opens on both sides with concealed hinges.
Overall: A big, gaudy pirate ship, with a very nice "screaming skull" design at the stern. With only three sails, all of which are mounted high up and full of "cannon shot" holes, it looks a bit moth-eaten, and it needs a jib. The way the sails are hung lets you "reef" them -- a clever feature. The "battle damage" gimmicks are fun a few times; after that, you will probably want to redesign the ship without them to make it sturdier.
Released 1992-95; the ship is about 110 pieces (the whole set was 592 pieces). Original suggested retail price for the whole set was $85.00.
Hull: No "hull pieces" as such. The bow is built up from a 6x7 tapered baseplate and two identical 6-stud-wide cutter bow elements (also known as "Inverted Multi-Taper Boat Hull" see the picture); her midsection tapers out to a width of 8 studs.
Masts: 1, plus a rod used as a bowsprit.
Sails: 3, natural canvas colored: one small 4-sided showing crossed anchors, a barrel and a crown, one irregular 4-sided, and a jib.
Cannon: No "real" ones (two black cylinders point outwards from the stern and are meant to represent small cannon). It can easily carry one real cannon, of course. (The picture to the right shows it carrying one regular cannon, with the little "fake" cannon removed.)
Crew: n/a.
Overall: A very trim little ship. It has so many features for its small size (less than 11 inches from lantern to tip of bowsprit) and is so pleasingly colored and perfectly proportioned that the word "cute" cannot be avoided. This has been the inspiration for a variety of little cutters that form the nucleus of my pirate fleet. It's a shame that nothing like this was ever offered as a separate set.
Released 1996-98; 234 pieces (but many are silly). Original suggested retail price $44.
Hull: Regular (12 studs), black over gray.
Masts: 1, in two parts. No bowsprit, but the ship's "wings" and propellor shaft can easily turn into a handsome bow and bowsprit.
Sails: None.
Cannon: None.
Crew: None that you would want on a pirate ship, though Timmy can be used to attract sharks.
Overall: A good pirate ship can be built around the basic elements in this set, though you'll have to add a lot, and many of the supplied parts are completely irrelevant. This is the only gray hull that I have seen. It's a shame that there is (as far as I know) no regular-width gray or black hull center section . . . but if you want to lengthen the ship, the white center section from the Armada Flagship (6280) doesn't look bad.
Islander Vessels
Released 1994-97; 56 pieces. Original suggested retail price $13.25.
Hull: Twin hulls, both red canoes, with a platform between them.
Masts: One skinny black mast.
Sails: One, triangular, multi-colored, red/blue/white/yellow, with Islanders design.
Cannon: none. There's enough physical space on the platform to mount a gun, but the catamaran would have neither the flotation nor the strength to support one, let alone fire it. Let the Islanders stick to spears, arrows and potent curses.
Crew: King Kahuka and one islander.
Overall: A very neat little vessel. If you want to bring Islanders into your Pirate scene, this is certainly the flagship of their "naval power."
Islander Canoe (no stock number)
The canoe was never released as a separate set, but it can be found in Forbidden Cove (6264) and Enchanted Island (6278) . . . or, of course, you can take apart a Catamaran set and get two canoes. I believe that canoes are also found in some modern and Wild West sets.
Hull: A single red canoe.
Masts: none.
Sails: none.
Cannon: none.
Crew: Whatever . . . can hold 3 or 4 islanders.
Overall: If the Islanders have a fleet, it makes sense for them to have more canoes than catamarans.
Rafts
Lego issued three different rafts in the Pirates theme. Clearly there have been a lot of shipwrecks out there. Each Raft set comes with a shark; it's clear what kind of games they expect us to play with the poor shipwrecked pirates.
Released 1991-1994; 37 pieces. Original suggested retail price $3.25.
Hull: A tiny platform, very low in the water, built out of round yellow 1x1 bricks . . . bamboo, maybe?
Masts: None.
Sails: None.
Cannon: None.
Crew: One.
Overall: A tiny raft, barely big enough for the lone pirate to stand on. I don't know where "renegade" comes into the name, unless he was too obnoxious for the other pirates and they threw him overboard. It would be very easy to duplicate this one from spare parts, if you wanted to; the original price was a lot for one pirate, one shark and a handful of tiny bits.
Released 1990-1994; 50 pieces. Original suggested retail price $8.50.
Hull: Based on round 2x2x2 barrels, and high enough out of the water that you might be able to avoid the shark.
Masts: A single mast is built up from 1-stud-wide black plates.
Sails: A ragged sail is made by four white 2-clip flags. This is a rare and useful element, unless you have mastered the art of removing paint from unwanted cavalry flags and the like, in which case it is not rare at all but still useful.
Cannon: None.
Crew: Three assorted pirates.
Overall: Still a tiny raft, nothing you would set sail on if you had any option at all, but certainly better than swimming. Has a believable "built of out junk" look.
Released 1992-1997; 78 pieces. Original suggested retail price $13.25.
Hull: Based on round 2x2x2 barrels, with a fairly substantial platform. Technic "holey" beams are used.
Masts: A single skinny mast, with real rigging.
Sails: A neat little sail, white with a black skull-and-crossbones. The sail is basically square, of the same pattern seen on the little Imperial Trading Post vessel. The original design uses a string to hold the sail, but it's easy to substitute a 1x1 plate with clip and a 1x1 round plate on each side (see photos).
Cannon: None, but there's room for one.
Crew: A hook-handed captain and two assorted pirates.
Overall: A very interesting vessel. What's it for? The rigging and "real" sail imply that the builders had a lot of material to work with, and might actually have a use for it other than escaping a desert island. I can visualize it moored in a pirate harbor to signal when visitors approach, and maybe it could even mount a gun to greet them with. Or it might carry a signal fire at night to guide friends in.
Non-Lego Pirate Ships
Some of Lego's imitators are worthy of mention. In particular, the Best-Lock "Blackhawk" is a huge ship; the set has 1,000 pieces and about 12 sails. If I can ever get a "live" look at one, or even get hold of the Best-Lock catalog, I'll give more detail. Unfortunately, Best-Lock pieces are not really Lego compatible; the brick height is different.