How It Worked
A Double Pirate Ship is two rides sharing one machine. Here is the general arrangement, described section by section.
The twin-gondola arrangement
Rather than a single boat-shaped gondola swinging between one pair of towers, a Double Pirate Ship supports two independent gondolas from a shared structure, hence “x2” on the original attraction signage. Each gondola swings on its own, so one boat can be rising while the other is slowing to a stop.
The shared structure
Two A-frame lattice towers stand side by side, tied together by a shared upper structure. This is treated as the ride’s most reliable identifying feature, because paint and decoration can be changed far more easily than steelwork. See the structural comparison in the Evidence Room.
The pendulum motion
Each gondola hangs from suspension arms and swings like a pendulum, driven higher and higher until it approaches the top of its arc. A sales listing associated with the ride’s current location described inverter-controlled electric motors and automatic start/stop control, as though recently fitted. A later direct statement from the current operator instead described the inverter, motors and structure as unchanged, with only colours and lighting altered. Those two accounts sit in tension with each other and neither has been independently verified by inspection; both are discussed in more detail in the Evidence Room.
The loading platform
A wide central platform between the two towers lets riders board or leave both gondolas from the same access point, with steps up from ground level.
Why the ride was rare
The archived attraction copy states there are only two of these double ships left in the world. That rarity is also what made the ride identifiable later on: the unusual double configuration substantially reduces the chance of confusing it with an ordinary single Pirate Ship, which is why structural comparison became central to this investigation.