The Curse of The Black Pearl is famed for many things, but realism and historical accuracy be not among them.
- Norrington's orders are signed George R, which was King George I's signature, which would date the time period between 1714-1727.
- Port is used to describe the left side of a ship (specifically, "drop the port anchor"). Until the 19th century, "larboard" was still used when referring to the actual side. Port was used for direction, i.e. "Hard a' port" or "Port helm".
- When Barbossa reveals the curse, one of the pirates on the capstan has a concertina. The concertina wasn't invented until 1829.
- "Scallywag" is used to describe a fellow pirate. Scallywag was first applied to people after The American Civil War (1861-1865), and referred to white Southerners who collaborated in the Reconstruction.
- Jack uses the phrase "Robert's your uncle", meaning everything is taken care of (usually shortened to "Bob's your uncle"). It refers to Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, who appointed his nephew Arthur Balfour Secretary of Ireland in the 1890s.
- The Interceptor and Dauntless are painted in Nelson Chequer — black and yellow bands with black gunports. This scheme first appeared on the HMS Victory in 1803, and subsequently painted on the rest of Admiral Nelson's ships, but did not become widespread until after Trafalgar in 1805.
- The Interceptor and Dauntless fly the Blue Ensign. Before 1864, the colour of an ensign denoted the ship's station. Blue denotes Pacific, Atlantic and East Indies. The Red Ensign denotes the West Indies and the Mediterranean.
- The very American phrase "Off limits" is used, instead of the more appropriate British military "Out of bounds" to denote an area is to be avoided.
- During James Norrington's commodore promotion ceremony "Rule, Britannia!" is played. In real-world history the piece was composed in 1740, ten years after the events of the movie.
- The rank of Commodore was not a substantative rank until 1996. Before then, a Post-Captain would be appointed Commodore of a squadron. He would relinquish this command when the posting/mission ended or if an Admiral arrived. Further, an Admiral commanded the West Indies station, not a Commodore.
- Royal Navy officers are wearing uniforms not introduced until 1747.
- The Dauntless in the opening bears the Coat of Arms of King William III, who reigned from 1689 to 1702.
- Jamaica's capitol and the governor's mansion is in Port Royal, which was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1692, after which it was moved to nearby Kingston.
- Barbossa's Granny Smith apples originated in Australia in 1868.
- The Dauntless has at least one carronade in the opening. The carronade was not invented until at least 1759, and not implemented until 1779, and only became commonplace in the 1790s.
- The Dauntless, a 104 gun first rate, is stationed in the West Indies. No ship that size was stationed there, for several reasons: First rates required large crews — the Victory, on which the Dauntless is based, had a crew of 850+ — which would be very susceptible to tropical diseases and difficult to replenish quickly, were maintenance intensive, were limited in range since there were exactly two dry docks in the entire British Empire that could accommodate a first rate, one in Portsmouth, the other in India (though technically owned by the Honourable East India Company, but accessible to the Royal Navy), and were too deep drafted to be of much use in the West Indies. Further, the Royal Navy only had six first rates in service at the time.
- While inspecting the Black Pearl's crew, Jack has a banana. Modern bananas were produced by selective breeding in 1836.
- Jack's gold false teeth are an interesting example: they are loosely possible (at least one surgeon in France was fitting silver teeth in this period, though it's unlikely a pirate in the tropics would have access to his services), but the dentures are a bit too good: all false teeth were not fitted very securely and wearers usually had to take them out to eat. Jack certainly shouldn't be able to eat apples without cutting them (and they'd probably come out when he gets slapped).
- 17th-century curled wigs, 18th-century panniered skirts, 19th-century teacups and, strangely, the young Elizabeth saying "okay"! Elizabeth's corset, while women wore garments that looked like that, would have been technologically impossible to tie so tight it made her ill (no whaleboning yet and without steel eyelets the lace-holes would have torn when she sat down).
- The word "corset" wasn't introduced until the 1770s, and it originally referred to a soft, casual undergarment, without either steel or whalebone stiffening. Elizabeth would have worn "stays" with her fancy gown and "jumps" in casual wear.
- The real Fort Charles was not located close to the sea, it was located within the city, far from the sea.
- Port Royal was destroyed in an earthquake in 1692 (and subsequently rebuilt, but not as the bustling metropolis seen in the movies). And it wasn't a clean, proper little English town (a deleted scene reveals their Port Royal is only civilized from the sheltered, upper-class perspective).
- The New Drop-type trapdoor gallows used in Jack's hanging at the end was first used in 1813, though the method — and Norrington's comment in the prologue about pirates deserving a "short drop and a sudden stop" — appears to be the standard drop method of between four and six feet pioneered in 1866 by Irish surgeon Samuel Haughton.
- Nassau Port is mentioned as a destination. Nassau Port was still known as New Providence in the 1700s. The interesting thing is that in the movie's loose timeline (roughly 1730s), the island New Providence was a true pirate port, while Tortuga is shown to be pirate filled. In history, Tortuga became sparsely populated by pirates in early 1700s, after the French took over the island.
- When the Interceptor is blown up, the powder trail is modern smokeless gunpowder, evidenced by its slow burn rate. Modern powder was invented in 1875, while black powder "flashes" and burns at a much faster rate.
- The Port Royal gaol cells appear to be constructed using modern welding developed in the 1880s.
- Jack uses the term "rum-runners" at one point, a phrase which wouldn't be invented until the 1920s. Also, the term "rooting for you" that Jack uses about James Norrington was introduced only in 1880.
- The famous pirate-y term "walk the plank" was not used until 1788.
