The Black Pearl had originally been called the Dutchess. It was an armed merchant ship used by the East India Trading Company to transport cargo, and it had always been equipped with considerable firepower.
Back then, Jack had stopped sailing with his father, Tia Dalma, and wanted to become a captain in his own right.
So he applied for a job with the East India Trading Company.
He became the Dutchess's first hired captain.
While transporting cargo, Jack discovered that the Dutchess wasn't carrying cargo at all, but black slaves.
At the time, Jack was still green, kindhearted, pure, and full of a sense of justice. His heart softened, and he freed the slaves, angering the East India Trading Company's higher-ups.
So the East India Trading Company branded the letter "P" (Pirate), a symbol of piracy, onto the back of Jack's hand and threw him in prison. The Dutchess was burned, destroyed, and sunk to the bottom of the sea.
Later, Jack escaped from prison and dived beneath the sea. Determined to save the Dutchess, he found Davy Jones, captain of the Flying Dutchman, and signed a contract of servitude with him. He promised that, in return for helping him recover the sunken merchant ship, he would hand over his soul and serve aboard the Flying Dutchman for a hundred years after completing thirteen years as its captain.
Davy Jones had a keen eye for talent. He saw Jack's potential as a pirate and readily helped him raise the Dutchess, which had been burned until it barely resembled a ship.
Jack refitted the Dutchess and equipped her with even more powerful guns: thirty-two sixteen-pound cannons, fourteen on the upper deck and eighteen below deck.
Since the Dutchess had been burned, her entire hull was blackened.
That was why Captain Jack