A ship touring the country claiming to be the vessel The Black Pearl in the Pirates of the Caribbean films has been exposed as a fake – by a 12-year-old schoolboy.

Ross Winstanley paid £7.50 to board the vessel with his mother Julie, in Torquay, Devon. He noticed that the deck and cabins were not the same as those in the films which he had seen dozens of times.

Ross challenged the ship’s “crew” – who admitted it had never been used as The Black Pearl, which was actually a floating set made of plywood mounted on a barge.

The tour organizers have now admitted the vessel made only a brief appearance in the second and third films of the series – in the background
as The Edinburgh Trader.

Now many other schoolchildren will be checking out the planking when the ship turns up at the Southampton Boat Show.