Accidents

According to Farrell biographer Sarah Baker:

For the filming of the battle scene between Old Ironsides and the pirate ship, the masts of Old Ironsides were strapped with dynamite charges. James Cruze had the trigger nearby and the stunt coordinator was to pull the trigger when Cruze gave the signal. Charles Barton, who was the property man, recalled that the stunt, though carefully choreographed, did not go off as planned:

"As soon as the men on the rigging came down and cleared the area, the charge was to go off. Jim made a sudden move while the men were still up there, and the special effects man thought it was the signal. He hit the button. the mast[s] blew off with all these men still on it...Duke [Kahanamoku] and my brother -- I don't know how many people they saved by picking them up and laying them on the floating spars."

Six men were thrown from the rigging, and one of them died en route to the hospital. Charlie also sustained injuries during filming... He performed virtually all of his own stunts and at one point in production, cracked two ribs and burst an eardrum. He was out of filming for a few weeks until he healed. it is not known whether the accident happened during the botched battle scene that killed one man and injured several others, or during one of the other countless moments in the film that Charlie put life and limb on the line for fame. In later years, Charlie's friends commented that he was hard of hearing, and it is possible that his eardrum never properly healed from this accident.

I cut my finger. That's tragedy. A man walks into an open sewer and dies. That's comedy.