| Red Rackham's Treasure (Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge) | |
|---|---|
 Cover of the English edition | |
| Date | 1944 |
| Series | The Adventures of Tintin |
| Publisher | Casterman |
| Creative team | |
| Creator | Hergé |
| Original publication | |
| Published in | Le Soir |
| Date of publication | 19 February 1943 – 23 September 1943 |
| Language | French |
| Translation | |
| Publisher | Methuen |
| Date | 1959 |
| Translator |
|
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Secret of the Unicorn (1943) |
| Followed by | The Seven Crystal Balls (1948) |
Red Rackham's Treasure (French:Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge) is the twelfth volume ofThe Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonistHergé. The story was serialised daily inLe Soir, Belgium's leading francophone newspaper, from February to September 1943 amidst theGerman occupation of Belgium during World War II. Completing an arc begun inThe Secret of the Unicorn, the story tells of young reporterTintin and his friendCaptain Haddock as they launch an expedition to the Caribbean to locate the treasure of the pirateRed Rackham.
Red Rackham's Treasure was a commercial success and was published in book form byCasterman the year following its conclusion. Hergé continuedThe Adventures of Tintin withThe Seven Crystal Balls, while the series itself became a defining part of theFranco-Belgian comics tradition.Red Rackham's Treasure has been cited as one of the most important installments in the series for marking the first appearance of eccentric scientistCuthbert Calculus, who subsequently became a core character. The story was adapted for the 1957Belvision animated seriesHergé's Adventures of Tintin, the 1991Ellipse/Nelvana animated seriesThe Adventures of Tintin, the 1992-3BBC Radio 5 dramatisation of theAdventures, the feature filmThe Adventures of Tintin (2011) directed bySteven Spielberg, and the film'stie-in video game.
Tintin and his friendCaptain Haddock plan an expedition to theWest Indies aboard afishing trawler, theSirius, to search for the treasure of the pirateRed Rackham. Having previously read three parchments authored by Haddock's ancestor,Sir Francis Haddock, the duo had discovered the coordinates to what they believe is the treasure aboard the sunken 17th century vessel, theUnicorn, near an unknown island. An eccentric, hard-of-hearing inventor namedProfessor Cuthbert Calculus offers to aid them with the use of his shark-shaped one-man submarine, but they decline his assistance. Setting sail, they are joined by the police detectivesThomson and Thompson and soon discover that Calculus has stowed away on board, bringing his submarine with him.[1]
When they reach the coordinates shown on the parchments, there is no island in sight. Frustrated, Haddock ponders turning back, but Tintin soon realizes the problem: If Sir Francis had used a French chart instead of an English chart to calculate the position, the coordinates would have been measured on theParis Meridian rather than theGreenwich Meridian. As they have been using the Greenwich Meridian, they realise that they are too far west.
After traveling to the correct position, they discover an uncharted island, which is located about 230 km (140 mi) north ofPunta Cana (Dominican Republic) and 286 km (178 mi) East-South-East ofCockburn Town (location of 20°37'42.0"N 70°52'15.0"W, adjusted by 2° 20′ 14.02500″ E for theParis Meridian). There, they find a statue of Sir Francis Haddock and other evidence, including parrots who still use Haddock insults handed down from Sir Francis. Tintin deduces that Francis Haddock had taken refuge on the island and that the wreck of theUnicorn must be nearby. They locate the wreck using Calculus' submarine and recover various artefacts from it, but do not find the treasure. Among the artefacts is a strongbox containing old documents revealing that Sir Francis Haddock had been the owner of the country estateMarlinspike Hall.
Back in Belgium, Calculus purchases the Hall, using funds from the sale of his submarine design, and gives it to Haddock. Tintin and Haddock search the house's cellars, where Tintin spots a statue of SaintJohn the Evangelist holding a cross with a globe and eagle at its feet. Tintin suddenly remembers that Francis Haddock's original three parchments said, "For 'tis from the light that light will dawn, and then shines forth the Eagle's cross" and realises that this message referred, not to the location of theUnicorn, but to Saint John "the eagle": his traditional symbol. Tintin locates the island on the globe, presses a secret button which he finds there, and discovers Red Rackham's treasure hidden inside. Sometime later, Haddock hosts an exhibition of the treasure and severalUnicorn artefacts in Marlinspike Hall.[2]
Red Rackham's Treasure was serialized amidst theGerman occupation of Belgium during World War II.Hergé had accepted a position working forLe Soir, Belgium's largest Francophone daily newspaper. Confiscated from its original owners,Le Soir was permitted by the German authorities to reopen under the directorship of Belgian editorRaymond de Becker, although it remained firmly underNazi control, supporting the German war effort and espousinganti-Semitism.[3] After joiningLe Soir on 15 October 1940, Hergé became editor of its new children's supplement,Le Soir Jeunesse, with the help of an old friend, Paul Jamin, and the cartoonistJacques Van Melkebeke, before paper shortages forcedThe Adventures of Tintin to be serialised daily in the main pages ofLe Soir.[4] Some Belgians were upset that Hergé was willing to work for a newspaper controlled by the occupying Nazi administration,[5] although he was heavily enticed by the size ofLe Soir's readership, which numbered some 600,000.[6] Faced with the reality of Nazi oversight, Hergé abandoned the overt political themes that had pervaded much of his earlier work, instead adopting a policy of neutrality.[7] Entertainment producer and authorHarry Thompson observed that, without the need to satirise political types, "Hergé was now concentrating more on plot and on developing a new style of character comedy. The public reacted positively".[8]
Red Rackham's Treasure was the second half of a two-partstory arc which had begun with the previous adventure,The Secret of the Unicorn. This arc was the first that Hergé had produced sinceCigars of the Pharaoh andThe Blue Lotus (1934–36).[9] However, asTintin expertMichael Farr related, whereasCigars of the Pharaoh andThe Blue Lotus had been largely "self-sufficient and self-contained", the connection betweenThe Secret of the Unicorn andRed Rackham's Treasure is far closer.[10]
Red Rackham's Treasure introducedProfessor Cuthbert Calculus toThe Adventures of Tintin, who became a recurring character.[11] Hergé had made use of various eccentric professors in earlier volumes of the series, such as Sophocles Sarcophagus inCigars of the Pharaoh, Hector Alembick inKing Ottokar's Sceptre, and Decimus Phostle inThe Shooting Star, all of whom prefigure the arrival of Calculus.[12] The character's deafness had been inspired by a colleague whom Hergé had worked with years earlier atLe Vingtième Siècle.[13] Visually, Calculus was based on a real scientist, the Swiss inventorAuguste Piccard, who had been the first man to explore thestratosphere in ahot air balloon in 1931. Hergé had observed Piccard walking about Brussels on a number of occasions, however the character of Calculus would be notably much shorter than Piccard.[14] Hergé named this character Tryphon Tournesol; while at one level the surname meant "sunflower", the expression "papier tournesol" refers tolitmus paper, used to measure pH levels or acidity, and the forename was adopted from a carpenter named Tryphon Beckaert whom Hergé had encountered inBoitsfort.[15] Tryphon Tournesol was later renamed Cuthbert Calculus in the English translation and Balduin Bienlein (the surname meaning "Little Bee") for the German translation.[15]
Calculus' shark-shaped submarine was visually based on a real American submarine; Hergé had seen a picture of this in a German newspaper.[16] The diving suit worn in the story was also based on clippings that Hergé had accumulated. Similarly, the dockside bar depicted by the cartoonist was based on an illustration that he had collected.[17] The shop where Haddock and Tintin buy the diving equipment, including the suit, was inspired from a picture of a bar which was featured in the German magazine,Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung.[17] The tribal effigy found on a Caribbean island by Sir Francis Haddock was based on aBamileke tribal statue from Cameroon that Hergé saw in a museum.[18] TheSirius, which had appeared before inThe Shooting Star, was named after theSS Sirius, the first ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean solely understeam power, but was visually based upon the design of atrawler, theJohn-O.88. Hergé had sketched this ship inOstend docks before obtaining both detailed plans of the trawler from the builders, Jos Boel & Son, and a small-scale model of it from a collector.[19] The undersea wreck of theUnicorn was loosely inspired by images of the wreck of a 17th-century Swedish vessel, theVasa, which Hergé had collected.[20] The instance in the story in which a shark swallows a large box (that the characters hope contains the treasure) is based on a real account of a shark that swallowed a camera from the American underwater photographerOtis Barton, which Hergé had encountered in a French illustrated magazine.[17]
The brief appearance of Dr. Daumière, who warns Haddock to cease drinking alcohol, was an allusion to Hergé's own physician, Dr. Daumerie.[21][a] Hergé made a comical reference to the French comedianSacha Guitry in the story by advertising a play by Guitry titledMe in which Guitry himself plays every role.[23][b]
Le Trésor De Rackham Le Rouge began serialisation as a daily strip inLe Soir from 19 February 1943.[24] The title of the new adventure had been announced in an advertisement in the newspaper two days previously.[25] In Belgium, it was then published in a 62-page book format byEditions Casterman in 1944.[26]Red Rackham's Treasure contained one of Hergé's two favourite illustrations fromThe Adventures of Tintin. It combines three actions encapsulating a sequence of events into one drawing: Haddock striding up the beach in the foreground, Tintin, Thomson and Thompson bringing the rowboat ashore in the midground, and theSirius weighing anchor in the background.[27][c]
Rather than immediately embark on the creation of a new Tintin adventure, Hergé agreed to a proposal thatLe Soir's crime writer, Paul Kinnet, would author a detective story featuring Thomson and Thompson. The story was titledDupont et Dupond, détectives (Thomson and Thompson, Detectives), and was illustrated by Hergé.[29]
The Secret of the Unicorn andRed Rackham's Treasure were the first twoAdventures of Tintin to be published in standalone English-language translations for the British market, asKing Ottokar's Sceptre had previously been serialised inEagle in 1951. Published by Casterman in 1952, these two editions sold poorly and have since become rare collector's items.[30] They would be republished for the British market seven years later, this time byMethuen with translations provided by Michael Turner and Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper.[15] Farr reported thatRed Rackham's Treasure is the best-selling story inThe Adventures of Tintin,[10] while Harry Thompson referred toThe Secret of the Unicorn-Red Rackham's Treasure arc as "the most successful of all Tintin's adventures".[31]
Harry Thompson stated that theSecrets of the Unicorn-Red Rackham's Treasure arc marked the beginning of the third and central stage of "Tintin's career". He furthermore stated that in these two stories, Tintin has been converted from a reporter into an explorer to cope with the new political climate.[9] He stated that in this story, Hergé "abandons the complex plotting ofThe Secret of the Unicorn in favour of an episodic style of adventure not seen since the early books".[32] Thompson further draws attention to the arrival of Calculus in the story, describing him as the "third and final member" of Tintin's "family".[32] Thompson was critical of the use of colour in the story, stating that much of it looks better in black-and-white, as it was originally printed inLe Soir.[33]
Hergé biographerBenoît Peeters observed that bothThe Secret of the Unicorn andRed Rackham's Treasure "hold a crucial position" inThe Adventures of Tintin as it establishes the "Tintin universe" with its core set of characters.[35] He felt that while religious elements had been present in previous stories, they were even stronger inThe Secret of the Unicorn and its sequel, something which he attributed to Van Melkebeke's influence.[36] Peeters believed thatRed Rackham's Treasure was "an unforgettable book" because it is the volume in which the "family"—meaning Tintin, Snowy, Haddock, and Calculus—all come together.[37] Fellow biographerPierre Assouline echoed this idea, noting that Hergé had "settled" the three characters in their new home.[34] Focusing on the character of Calculus, he noted that the idea of the eccentric professor was "so universal that it would be inaccurate to point to any one source", suggesting possible influences fromCharlie Chaplin and Hergé's own father.[38] For Assouline, the professor embodies "the gentle madness and subtle humour in comic strips".[34] He added that bothRed Rackham's Treasure and its predecessor "reveal Hergé at a new level in his art", and suggested that the reason for their popularity lay in the fact that they were "the visual continuation of a literary universe that stretches fromJules Verne toPierre Benoit".[34]
Jean-Marc Lofficier and Randy Lofficier opined thatThe Secret of the Unicorn-Red Rackham's Treasure arc represents "a turning point" for the series as it shifts the reader's attention from Tintin to Haddock, who has become "by far, the most interesting character".[39] They claim that the introduction of Calculus "completes the indispensable triangle that imbues Tintin with its mythic quality".[39] Asserting that here, Hergé's "art has reached a degree of near-perfection", they awarded it five stars out of five.[40]Michael Farr said that the scene introducing Calculus was "a comic tour de force" marking the start of the "rich vein of humour" that the character brought to the series.[15] Noting that unlikeThe Shooting Star, this two-book story arc contains "scarcely an allusion to occupation and war", he praised the arc's narrative as "perfectly paced, without that feeling of haste" present in some of Hergé's earlier work.[17]
In hispsychoanalytical study of theAdventures of Tintin, the academicJean-Marie Apostolidès characterised theSecret of the Unicorn-Red Rackham's Treasure arc as being about the characters going on a "treasure hunt that turns out to be at the same time a search for their roots".[41] He stated that the arc revolves around Haddock's ancestry, and in doing so "deals with the meanings of symbolic relations within personal life".[42] He compared Sir Francis Haddock toRobinson Crusoe and noted how the Caribbean natives deified Sir Francis Haddock by erecting a statue of him in the same manner that the Congolese deify Tintin at the end ofTintin in the Congo.[43] Highlighting that Calculus is one of many eccentric scientists to appear in the series, Apostolidès nonetheless emphasises the uniqueness of Calculus, by noting that the character approaches Tintin, rather than Tintin approaching him, as the young reporter had done with previous scientists.[44] Commenting on the introduction of Calculus' shark submarine, Apostolidès states that it "allows them to cross a boundary previously restricting human beings and to penetrate into another universe, the one beneath the seas that holds secrets hitherto unknown".[44] Ultimately, he believes that by the end of the story, "the family structure is in place", with Calculus representing a father figure with financial control, and Haddock and Tintin, who have become brothers through their joint adventure, adding that with the aid of Francis Haddock, "the ancestor", they are given a home at Marlinspike Hall.[45]
Literary criticTom McCarthy highlighted what he perceived as scenes inRed Rackham's Treasure which reflected common themes inThe Adventures of Tintin. He pointed out that in being a stowaway aboard the ship, Calculus was one of many stowaways in the series,[46] and that the treasure represented the theme of jewels and precious stones which also cropped up inThe Broken Ear,Tintin in the Congo, andThe Castafiore Emerald.[47] He noted Tintin's misreading of the parchments and stated this was one of a number of calculation mistakes that the character makes in the series.[48] He suggested that a scene in which the shark submarine pushes between Haddock's buttocks was a form ofsexual innuendo referencinganal sex, highlighting similar innuendo inThe Broken Ear andThe Crab with the Golden Claws.[49]
In 1957, the animation companyBelvision Studios producedHergé's Adventures of Tintin, a series of daily five-minute colour adaptations based upon Hergé's original comics.Red Rackham's Treasure was the fifth story to be adapted in the second series (and the eighth to be adapted overall), being directed by Ray Goossens and written by the cartoonistGreg. In later years, Greg would become editor-in-chief ofTintin magazine.[50]
In 1991, a collaboration between the French studioEllipse and the Canadian animation companyNelvana adapted 21 of the stories into a series of episodes, each 42 minutes long.Red Rackham's Treasure was the tenth episode ofThe Adventures of Tintin to be produced, although it ran half as long as most of the others. Directed by Stéphane Bernasconi, the series has been praised for being "generally faithful", with compositions having been actually directly taken from the panels in the original comic book.[51]
A 2011motion capture feature film directed bySteven Spielberg and produced byPeter Jackson was released in most of the world October–November 2011, under the titleThe Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn,[52] and in the US on 21 December, where it was simply titledThe Adventures of Tintin.[53] The film is partially based onRed Rackham's Treasure, combined with elements ofThe Secret of the Unicorn andThe Crab with the Golden Claws.[52] Avideo-game tie-in to the movie was released October 2011.[54]
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