Every captain needs a ship!

Every ship needs a captain!

Tell us which is the best Lego Pirates Ship ever!

See the list below (and klick the thumbnail to get to the Brickset entry of each ship)

 

 

 

4184: The Black Pearl

4195: Queen Anne's Revenge

6243: Brickbeard's Bounty

6250: Cross Bone Clipper

6268: Renegade Runner

6271: Imperial Flagship

6274: Caribbean Clipper

6280: Armada Flagship

6285/10040: Black Seas Barracuda

6286: Skull's Eye Schooner

6289: Red Beard Runner

10210: Imperial Flagship

21322: Pirates of Barracuda Bay

31109: Creator 3 in 1 Pirate Ship

70413: The Brick Bounty

71042: Silent Mary

 

Perhaps an odd choice but the 6271 Imperial Flagship has always been my favorite. I like the design and the colors, especially the sails. The original Black Seas Barracuda is number two and the Caribbean Clipper is number three.

Edited November 21, 20231 yr by SpacePolice89

Yeah, it's a tough decision! I went with Queen Anne's Revenge. The stern is high like a mountain but overall its a great set and i like the consistent color scheme. The red sails look good too, although i would like to see the ship with plain sailcloth. Oh, and it has a great minifig selection!

8 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

Perhaps an odd choice but the 6271 Imperial Flagship has always been my favorite. I like the design and the colors, especially the sails.

That's a good one too! The 6271 is the only ship we had as kids (as far as i remember). I still remember the striking sails. I think my brother got it for birthday or Christmas.

4 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Yeah, it's a tough decision! I went with Queen Anne's Revenge. The stern is high like a mountain but overall its a great set and i like the consistent color scheme. The red sails look good too, although i would like to see the ship with plain sailcloth. Oh, and it has a great minifig selection!

That's a good one too! The 6271 is the only ship we had as kids (as far as i remember). I still remember the striking sails. I think my brother got it for birthday or Christmas.

Of the newer ships I like the Queen Anne's Revenge the most, It's a great choice.

Black Seas Baracuda is best by few lenghts, it's not just the best ship in the pirate franchise, but an icon of the whole Lego franchise, and one of the most iconic and influential pirate era ships ever. 

32 minutes ago, Mazin said:

Black Seas Baracuda is best by few lenghts, it's not just the best ship in the pirate franchise, but an icon of the whole Lego franchise, and one of the most iconic and influential pirate era ships ever. 

I believe it will get the most votes in the end

10210 Imperial Flagship (the 2015 one) has my vote, mostly because of the sails, these are the most historically accurate although the sails on 4195 would look nice on a pirate ship MOC. 

A tough one for me, but in the end, I voted for 10210 Imperial Flagship, as it is my all time favorite Lego set.

(Though I was tempted to vote for the Cross Bone clipper as a joke, as I think that is the worst pirate ship, even though I have huge nostalgia for it.)

EKnight

Pirates of Barracuda Bay for the WIN!!

I chose the newest version of Black Seas Barracuda, however, I would say that it be a tie 'twixt this fine vessel and 10210 Imperial Flagship. 

Tricky question, the best LEGO Pirates ship for me is a tossup between 21322 and 6286, but the best LEGO pirate ship (as in a ship for pirates to use) is probably ironically 6271 - it looks fast, maneuverable, well armed, and is still somewhat small (smaller vessel => shallower draft enabling hiding in/fleeing to shallower waters; also requires less crew to sail => more available for fighting/boarding and less splitting of the booty!)

Black Seas Barracuda is probably the most iconic, but I think Skull's Eye Schooner was the best. Both of these were before my time. As a kid, I coveted Redbeard Runner, not having any context of the great things that came before it.

The PoBB ship is excellent, but the compromises they made to accommodate the dreadful island irritate me a lot. It probably wouldn't be too difficult to flesh it out to make it the best ship of all time, but it would be hard to dissect a set like that over the course of a week or so while my kids are going in and out of the room. That set is very close to being the greatest pirate ship of all time, and maybe objectively, it is. But the island concept and the new jolly roger really grind my gears. I did eventually buy one after it was discontinued, and I really enjoyed building the ship. I didn't finish the island. I love how they slanted the walls to make the shape look like a real ship instead of just going up straight like the classic ships.

It also felt to me that it rely too heavily on small pieces like a lot of modern sets do. I appreciate that. 10305 also used a lot more large pieces, which is a much better direction. That set actually has more 1x4 bricks (in a single color) than any other set.

Most legendary: 6285 BSB, without it, pirates as a theme wouldn't exist.  Nearly every subsequent ship owes most of its build techniques to the ones developed here, and it looks good despite being 30+ years old.

Best classic build: 6286 SES, it's an upgraded 6285 with better colors and the rudder mechanism.

Best small build: 6271 Imperial Flagship.  It's a wonderful design, although there isn't a lot of competition when only considering builds using the small hulls.

Most useful: 6268 Renegade Runner.  This ship is hot garbage, but every time I see one in a bulk lot I buy it.  Why?  Because I can add some DIY sails, and flip it on eBay with no minifigures for $100.  It generally pays for the whole bulk lot.

Best building technique: Barracuda Bay ship, and it's not even close.  The POTC ships are just a reskinned 6285.  As @jodawill mentioned, it has proper tumblehome!

Someone has to say it, so I guess it might as well be me, but... Skulls eye Schooner is OVERRATED. I had it as a kid, and of course I loved it, but nostalgia clouds the mind of many of us. The black and white sails are nice, but the rest of the color scheme is dreadful. The play features on the set were fun as a kid, but hurt the ship more than help it. The rudder play feature doesn't even work well, and when it breaks (which happens a lot), is not an easy fix. The cannons on swivels was just a way for Lego to cheap out on cannons. The Captains quarters is DREADFUL. It's up there with the Queen Anne's Revenge's captains quarters for most disappointing. 

The BSB is far superior, and the Barracuda Bay ship literally blows it out of the water. 

5 hours ago, Captain Pirate Man said:

Someone has to say it, so I guess it might as well be me, but... Skulls eye Schooner is OVERRATED. I had it as a kid, and of course I loved it, but nostalgia clouds the mind of many of us. The black and white sails are nice, but the rest of the color scheme is dreadful. The play features on the set were fun as a kid, but hurt the ship more than help it. The rudder play feature doesn't even work well, and when it breaks (which happens a lot), is not an easy fix. The cannons on swivels was just a way for Lego to cheap out on cannons. The Captains quarters is DREADFUL. It's up there with the Queen Anne's Revenge's captains quarters for most disappointing. 

The BSB is far superior, and the Barracuda Bay ship literally blows it out of the water. 

These are my exact complaints.

 I hate the swivel cannons, no wheels, no movement, and the rudder feature is trash as the rest of the build suffers for it.

 The colour scheme is probably the most egregious. Iv already mentioned it here so I won’t go into it, but why they chose red green and grey I’ll never understand. 

What kind of rudder play feature is there in the SES? Some kind of tiller to move the rudder?

13 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

What kind of rudder play feature is there in the SES? Some kind of tiller to move the rudder?

Basically the ships wheel pushes a plate left or right that steers the rudder but you end up with this ugly plate sticking through the captains cabin. 

2 minutes ago, thewatchman said:

Basically the ships wheel pushes a plate left or right that steers the rudder but you end up with this ugly plate sticking through the captains cabin. 

I understand, thanks!

21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay is so good, because of the detail, but also the transformation to a shipwrecked island (bringing back wonderful memories of 6270 Forbidden Island). But I had to vote for 6274 Caribbean Clipper which was my only pirates ship as a child, and I loved it. And then my children love playing with it to, so it continues to win!

I definitely agree that Barracuda Bay and Imperial Flagship are top 2.

Black Pearl deserves more love though...

@thewatchman

For 6286, the gray is a unfortunate side-effect of those hull pieces. The green gunport covers do add a welcome splash of color to the model; I'm not sure what other colors available at the time would have worked here (blue or yellow similarly don't fit the color scheme, black or grey look too drab, red may be a bit too much, perhaps white??). My main issues with the 6286 are that the mizzenmast is set too far aft (masts should continue down below decks for stability but this one is located on the overhanging part of the stern deck) and the side windows of the cabin are completely open.

3 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

Black Pearl deserves more love though...

It rly does not  One of the blockiest & absolute ugliest ship design ever produced by TLG just for the sake of having something called "the Black Pearl" in a catalogue. Such an iconic vessel should've never been a $100 bish-bash-bosh type of set to close out the PotC line in a hurry, especially considering the model they've come up with for their own videogame. If anything it deserves to headline the "most disappointing shіte ever" type of list.

10 minutes ago, F1stzz said:

It rly does not  One of the blockiest & absolute ugliest ship design ever produced by TLG just for the sake of having something called "the Black Pearl" in a catalogue. Such an iconic vessel should've never been a $100 bish-bash-bosh type of set to close out the PotC line in a hurry, especially considering the model they've come up with for their own videogame. If anything it deserves to headline the "most disappointing shіte ever" type of list.

Totally agree.

 It’s an absolute train wreck. 
  For arguably the most iconic film ship of all time, it should have been a usc style ship akin to imperial flagship.

Don’t get me started on the lack of actual crew too. No cotton; no parrot; no marty and somehow no Pintel and ragetti???!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the Black Pearl's best feature is the Captains Quarters. It's one of the BEST Captains Quarters to date. Besides that though... Very disappointing ship imo. As is The Queen Anne's honestly. But for different reasons. 

None becuase I used to hae Durnstrange Ship from Harry Potter theme in mid-2000s and it was not a pirate ship…

I’m waiting for a proper pirate ship set (not Creator 3-in-1 one).