Ranger

Ranger
	;
Vital statistics
Port	Nassau
Owner	Charles Vane (formerly)
Captain	Charles Vane (Deceased); Hal Gates (Deceased)
Crew	Ranger Crew (~70 men)
Passengers	None
Status	Destroyed
Type	Square-rigger
Weapons	24 cannons
Battles	Attack on the Spanish Man O' War
Affiliation	Pirate Republic
First appearance	VII.

"As you know, I've been asked to serve as captain of the Ranger when next we sail."

―Hal Gates to the crew of the Walrus.^[src]

The Ranger was a pirate ship captained by Charles Vane.

History

Background

It is unknown when and where Vane obtained the Ranger. Recently, Vane's crew has become the highest earning pirate crew on New Providence Island, in fierce competition with Captain Flint and the Walrus. The Ranger crew has a reputation for being undisciplined and unruly, frequently causing damage throughout Nassau.

Season One

Jack Rackham plots to have Singleton oust Flint as captain of the Walrus, Flint has grown unpopular recently due to a string of low profit prizes. However, Rackham's ulterior motive is to have Singleton be such a terrible captain, that the crew of the Walrus would defect, and the Ranger would recruit the talented and skilled men.

Rackham spots Gates, Flint's loyal quartermaster, leaving the tents of the African members of the Walrus crew and realizes that Gates has swayed their support back to Flint. Rackham informs Singleton, who then meets with Mosiah on the beach. Rackham, Anne Bonny and Vane arrive after Singleton fails to convince Mosiah to rejoin him. Anne kills Levi, Mosiah's bodyguard, and Vane kills Mosiah. The bodies are buried in a shallow grave, but Mosiah lives long enough to crawl out and whisper "Vane" to Joshua before dying. Joshua informs Gates, Eleanor Guthrie and Mr. Scott. Eleanor then confronts Vane in the Inn , slapping him in front of his men, prompting him to punch her in the face. Eleanor goes upstairs and Vane follows her, telling her that if she ever challenges him in front of his men like that again, he'll forget that he once loved her.

The next morning, the prostitute, Idelle, approaches Max and tells her that the man she is looking for is downstairs. Max goes downstairs and climbs into the lap of Rackham, stating "I think I might have something you might want to buy."

At the Ranger's campsite, Rackham has the Ranger's clerk count out 5,000 pesos in pearls. When confronted by Vane, Rackham tells Vane about the proposal that Max made to sell him the schedule of the Urca de Lima. Vane is not convinced that the purchase would be a sound investment and thinks they are being duped. Rackham calls out Vane's lack of leads lately, claiming that leads have been few and far between since Vane and Eleanor had their falling out. Vane gives the pearls back to Rackham and walks away.

Vane shows up to a meeting between Eleanor and a pirate captain new to Nassau. the new Captain in town, James Bridge of the Demeter is rude and condescending to Eleanor as she informs him how business works in the port. When she states that her take is half of his profit, he scoffs and threatens to take his goods elsewhere. As he begins to leave, he encounters Vane who tells him that the last man who denied "Miss Guthrie" was never seen or heard from again but his goods were seen back in Nassau the very next day. Bridge remains haughty until Vane tells him who he is, whereupon Bridge graciously accepts Eleanor's terms. After he Bridge leaves, Vane tells Eleanor that they need to talk in private.

In Eleanor's office, Vane pleads with her for more leads to prize scores. Vane says he believes that the lack of information Eleanor is giving him about potential prizes is personal and that he'd like to put an end to it. Eleanor states that she finds his suggestion preposterous and that she only stopped giving him leads because she doesn't like the way he runs his ship. She tells him that his men are unruly, undisciplined, and what they cause in damages is twice as much as the profits they bring in. Flint enters the tavern with his men, revealing to a surprised Vane that he was not deposed as captain.

Gates realizes that John Silver will be seeking jewels as a form of payment for the schedule and follows Frasier, the local appraiser, to the Inn, where he enters a room with Anne Bonny standing guard. Inside the room, the appraiser looks at the jewels as Rackham and Max patiently wait the conclusion of the appraisal. Through a peephole in an adjoining room, Silver looks in on the transaction. Once the appraiser leaves, Max and Rackham agree that the exchange will take place at a site call The Wrecks at sundown. Just then, Vane busts in the room and tells Rackham that Max doesn't have the page, but Flint does. Vane had apparently heard the story from crew members of the Walrus about Flint taking the schedule from the body of Singleton. Vane then shoves Max up against a wall and begins to choke her, feeling that she is trying to play him for a fool. Rackham explains to Vane that Flint is just bluffing about finding the page as a means to end the mutiny that was brewing.

As Max continues being choked by Vane, Rackham sees that she is apparently waving off someone in the direction of the wall. Rackham looks over at the wall and spots the peephole. Rackham jabs a dagger into the peephole barely missing Silver who immediately runs away, leaving Rackham with only an empty room to investigate. Now suspecting some truth to what Max is telling him, Vane tells her that he will go along with the plan and meet for the exchange at the Wrecks.

ater that evening, Rackham and Vane arrive at the Wrecks looking for Silver. They are approached by a man acting as Silver's agent who asks that they hand over the pearls to him. Vane disapproves and begins screaming aloud, demanding that Silver show his face. When Silver offers no response, Vane pulls out a knife and stabs the man to death. A second old man approaches Vane from the shadows and tells him that Silver says that he can leave the pearls. Before any resolution comes of this, Billy Bones sneaks up behind Silver and fires a pistol at him. The bullet narrowly misses Silver and as he sprints away he finds himself now being chased by Bones, Flint, Vane, and Rackham. Avoiding this pursuers for some distance, Silver comes upon a group of dregs sitting by a campfire. Silver disguises himself as one of them and begins furiously studying the schedule. Once satisfied that he has it memorized, he quickly burns it. Elsewhere, Rackham, thinking he has found Silver, instead is presented with a severely disfigured man. This unnerves Rackham so badly that he loses his balance and falls into the sea below, losing the pearls in the water.

In the streets of Nassau, Rackham is confronted by several crew members of the Ranger. They say that he promised them a score and now is there not only not a score, but they are also out 5,000 pesos of their collective booty. Rackham responds by telling them that he is just as disappointed as they are and if they are so sure that his value to them is exhausted that they should elect another quartermaster.

Later that day, as Gates sits looking at navigational charts, he is approached by an overly friendly Rackham. Gates is immediately skeptical and calls Rackham out for his obvious desperation, stating that he knows about Rackham and the lost pearls. Rackham then begins to plant a seed of doubt into Gates about Gates' looming captaincy. He questions whether Gates is too old for such a job; what if he oversleeps or hurts his bum knee. This seed of doubt apparently grows because Gates immediately goes to find Flint and proposes that they use Charles Vane and the Ranger crew as their consort.

Inside the brothel, Rackham confronts Vane about acting as Flint's consort. When Vane expresses reluctance, Rackham explains to him that since Eleanor is backing the expedition, were Vane to participate and help it succeed, then that might get him back in Eleanor's good graces.

Later, inside Eleanor's tavern, the meeting is set up between Vane and Flint. As soon as the meeting begins, Flint interjects that he wants to talk about Mosiah. He demands that before they even begin to discuss anything, he wants to hear Vane apologize for Mosiah's murder. Gates immediately jumps in and takes Flint outside where he explains that Flint must behave himself or nothing will get accomplished. They eventually agree to terms with Vane joking about how surprising it is that he is the only one behaving himself.

Following the meeting, Vane and Rackham are walking down the street when Vane directs Rackham to a small hut. Inside is a naked and battered Max. The crew of the Ranger had apparently been raping her throughout the day. Vane approaches her and begins to talk to her. He asks why, even though Eleanor was offering her protection, she left the tavern. Max answers by asking Vane how he felt when Eleanor threw himaside. Vane leaves the hut and tells Rackham to take her out during the night and put her on a boat and to do it as quietly as possible. When Rackham asks what will happen if she comes back, Vane replies that she won't.

Eleanor enters Vane's tent and the two make love. At the same time, Rackham is attempting to escort Max to a boat when he is intercepted by Hamund and other Ranger crew members. He states that even though it was Vane who brought her here, they will decide when they are through with her. As Eleanor is dressing inside Vane's tent, she hears a woman screaming outside. It is the sound of Max's screams as she is being raped by Hamund in the middle of the street. Eleanor grabs a tent beam and attacks Hamund, who quickly moves away from Max.

Eleanor quickly realizes that Vane was behind Max's brutal treatment. She makes a public declaration to the Ranger's crew that she will not sell any food, supply any whores, or buy any goods from any of them unless they join Captain Flint's crew and grand him use of their ship. Most of the Ranger crew members walk over and stand next to Flint. Even Anne Bonny begins to make a move toward Flint, but Vane stops her by threatening to kill her if she moves any further. Eleanor then attempts to console Max and apologizes for what Vane did to her. Max corrects her, stating that it was not his fault this happened, but Eleanor's. Max then tells Vane that because she has cost him his prize, she will remain his until that debt is paid off.

During the expedition, the Ranger is captained by Gates. However, the Urca is not found at Division Bay, the coordinates Silver says were on the schedule. While patrolling the coast, they come across a Spanish Man O' War. Flint plans to have the Ranger sail away from the Walrus flying the Black, while the Walrus masquerades as an attacked Spanish merchant vessel. When the Spanish warship is between them, the Walrus will rake her stern to bow, while the Ranger comes about and rakes her bow to stern. Gates refuses, calling the plan suicidial and reveals his plot in the mutiny against Flint. Flint kills Gates before he can return to the Ranger and leave for Nassau. He exits his cabin and tells his crew that Gates' heart gave out. Flint orders Logan to signal the Ranger that Mr. Thompson is in command, and relay the plan. The Walrus is able to convince the Spanish warship that they were attacked by pirates and lure the Man O' War between the two pirate vessels. Despite Dufresne's best efforts to incite mutiny against Flint and return home, the Walrus fires at the ship, signalling the Ranger to do the same. Their attack is initially successful, but the Spanish Man O' War is able to turn her broadsides on the pirate ships. The Ranger's powder magazine is hit during the barrage of cannon fire and it explodes, and the ship goes down with all hands. The Walrus is able to limp away and is beached by the surviving crew, who barely number thirty.

Crew

Deceased Crew

Appearances

II. ‎(Mentioned only) ‎
III. ‎(Mentioned only)
IV. ‎(Mentioned only)
VII. ‎
VIII.
XIV. ‎(Mentioned only)

Trivia

The Black Sails wiki has a collection of images and media related to Ranger.

In real-world history, the Ranger captained by Charles Vane was a brigantine, not the three-masted vessel as shown in the series.
Historically, in 1715 when the show is set Benjamin Hornigold was actually the one who was in command of the Ranger, which was a 30-gun sloop.