The Captain Blood Armada

July 24, 1935

Los Angeles Examiner

Warners Rush Ships for Scenes in Captain Blood

Construction of five pirate boats to be used in the filming of Captain Blood was being rushed on the Warner Brothers lot today, anticipating the picture’s going into production the first week of August.

The ships are being made under the supervision of Anton Grot, art director, who designed the lavish sets for A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Warner Brothers special directed by Max Reinhardt.

Although Captain Blood’s boat, the Arabella, is the smallest craft under construction, the combined efforts of Grot, his sixteen assistants and the studio department are so focused on the ship that it may be best of its kind ever turned out.

A group of professional boat builders have been recruited from local seaport towns, and professional ship painters also have been called in to work on the project.

Work on the “Captain Blood Armada” started early this year shortly after announcement by Warner Brothers that the filming of Sabatini’s pirate yarn actually would get under way this summer. The first steps taken were the collection of books on pirate craft and the tabulating of data to be used by Grot’s assistants in making working drawings. One of the research books used was “Souvenirs de Marine,” which went out of print in 1886. Another book studied was “Histoire de la Marine.”

Featuring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, Captain Blood is the first of twelve super productions to be made by Warner Brothers-First National. They are Anthony Adverse, Frisco Kid, Charge of the Light Brigade, Lafitte the Pirate Legionnaire, Ceiling Zero, Green Pastures, Petrified Forest, Radio Jamboree of 1935, and The Fighter.

— Tim