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| Captain Flint | |
|---|---|
| Treasure Island character | |
 Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins finding the skeleton of seaman Allardyce, illustration by Georges Roux, 1885 | |
| Created by | Robert Louis Stevenson |
| Portrayed by |
|
| Voiced by | Peter Cullen (Treasure Planet) |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | J. Flint |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Title | PirateCaptain |
| Occupation | Pirate |
| Nationality | English |
Captain J. Flint is afictionalgolden agepiratecaptain who features in a number of novels, television series, and films. The original character was created by the Scottish writerRobert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). Flint first appears in the classic adventure yarnTreasure Island, which was first serialised in a children's magazine in 1881, and later published as a novel in 1883.
Captain Flint is a fictional character in the bookTreasure Island, created byRobert Louis Stevenson in 1883.[1] In Stevenson's book, Flint, whose first name is not given, was the captain of a pirate ship, theWalrus, which accumulated an enormous amount of captured treasure, approximately £700,000. On 1 August 1750, Flint and seven members of his crew bury the plunder on an island located somewhere in theCaribbean Sea. Flint then murders all his assistants, leaving the body of one, Allardyce, with its legs outstretched in the direction of "E.S.E. and by E." with arms opposite.
The only person Flint was said to fear was his quartermasterJohn Silver, who later even called his parrot "Captain Flint" in mockery.
Flint is said to have died inPirates' House inSavannah, Georgia, many years before the book's central plot takes place. His last words were, "Darby M'Graw - fetch aft the rum...." His death was said to have been caused by the effects of drinking too much rum. The location of the treasure had been marked by Flint on a map entrusted to his first mateWilliam "Billy" Bones. The inscription on the map suggests that Flint died on 28 July 1754. With the exception of Long John Silver, many of Flint's crew spend their ill-gotten booty and end up begging (e.g.Blind Pew). Bones is too much of a drunk to find the rest of the treasure and too miserly to give up the map. He becomes a marked man three years after Flint's death, pursued by Flint's old crew: Blind Pew, Black Dog, Job Anderson, Israel Hands and Dirk, led by Long John Silver. They track down Bones (who, like Flint, dies of the effects of alcoholism). Before they can get the map, it falls into the hands of the protagonist of the novel,Jim Hawkins.
Flint has a major part in the 1924prequelPorto Bello Gold, byA. D. Howden Smith, which describes how the treasure was captured from a Spanish galleon. In this version, Flint is described as having started his piracy career as the junior partner of Andrew Murray, an idealisticJacobite turned pirate, who is not referenced in Stevenson's original book. Flint gradually becomes the dominant partner. The book describes how Flint secretly buries the treasure which would be recovered a generation later by the protagonists ofTreasure Island.
John Drake's prequels,Flint and Silver (2008),Pieces of Eight (2009), andSkull and Bones (2010), all heavily feature Captain Flint and give his Christian name as Joseph.[2]
Flint is mentioned in the novelPeter and Wendy byJ. M. Barrie, a friend of Stevenson. The first mention is in a passage introducingCaptain Hook's pirate crew: "Here is Bill Jukes, every inch of him tattooed, the same Bill Jukes who got six dozen on the WALRUS from Flint before he would drop the bag ofmoidores." The second mention is as Hook is attempting to intimidate the Darling children and theLost Boys, but is heckled by his inner demons: "'I am the only man whom Barbecue feared,' he urged, 'and Flint feared Barbecue.' 'Barbecue, Flint—what house?' came the cutting retort."[3]
InArthur Ransome's bookSwallows and Amazons, the Blacketts' uncleJames Turner isnicknamed Captain Flint by the Walkers. This is because they believed that he looked like a retired pirate and took the name fromTreasure Island. He is nearly always referred to by this name in therest of the books.[4]
Flint appears briefly in theSoviet comedy adaptationReturn to Treasure Island in some live-action scenes, although not in the "main story" hand-drawn part. At the very beginning of the film, he is seen digging his treasure and completing his map. In the same scene, some pirates try to kill Flint to get that map, but end up killing each other instead in a cartoon-ish manner, for they were unable to peacefully decide who should have it. However, Billy Bones appears among them from his hiding place behind a tree and shoots Flint, retrieving the map from his body. Nevertheless, a character meant to be Flint or resembling him (possibly his ghost) still appears in most of the live-action scenes, ending with the final scene, in which he comments that the movie is over, so he "won't be probably killed". He was played byValery Chiglyayev throughout the movie and Yuri Nevgamonny in the second part of the movie, the Ben Gunn story.
In the filmMuppet Treasure Island, a loose adaptation of the Stevenson story, Captain Flint is shown at the opening scene burying the treasure and subsequently killing all the crew who buried it for him. He then sails away from the location and gives his map to Billy Bones, who takes it with him. Flint has fifteen crew members to dig the treasure pit in this version instead of six, and treasure itself isguineas andpieces of eight. In the film,Benjamina Gunn mentions he is known as Bernie Flint.
Captain Flint was shown briefly in the animated feature filmTreasure Planet byDisney. In this film, the character was voiced byPeter Cullen and known asNathaniel Flint, aspace pirate of non-human origins whose reputation was legendary for leading his ship and his crew to plunder merchant ships, infamously appearing and disappearing without a trace, and eventually burying his treasure (called by many "Flint's Trove" and/or "the loot of a thousand worlds") inside the giant alien mechanism known as Treasure Planet. To make sure nobody would steal his treasure, he rigged the planet to explode should anyone set off the booby trap and stole the memory of navigational robot B.E.N so he would not tell anyone about it.
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Set roughly four decades before the events ofTreasure Island, the 2014 televised seriesBlack Sails follows the adventures of Captain Flint and his pirate crew. His first name is given asJames in episode "VI". Episodes "IX" and "XIII" reveal that he is a disgraced formerRoyal Navylieutenant namedJames McGraw, dismissed from service for falling in love and having affairs with Lord Thomas Hamilton and with his wife. He was exiled from England with Thomas's wife, Miranda Barlow, who had since hidden herself as a lowlyPuritan lady on the trading island ofNew Providence. Lord Thomas Hamilton was the son of Lord Alfred Hamilton, lord proprietor of theBahama Islands. McGraw adopted the name "Flint" after a mysterious man who boarded his grandfather's ship while anchored and then disappeared. He is portrayed byToby Stephens.
