Treasure Island (originally titledThe Sea Cook: A Story for Boys[1]) is anadventure andhistorical novel by Scottish novelistRobert Louis Stevenson. It was published as a book in 1883, but is set in the 18th century, and tells a story of "buccaneers andburied gold". It is considered acoming-of-age story, and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action.
The novel was originally serialised from 1881 to 1882 in the children's magazineYoung Folks under the titleTreasure Island or the Mutiny of the Hispaniola, credited to the pseudonym "Captain George North". It was first published as a book on 14 November 1883 byCassell & Co. It has since become one of the most-often dramatised and adapted novels.
Stevenson's map of Treasure IslandJim Hawkins hiding in the apple-barrel, listening to the pirates
In the mid-18th century, an old sailor who identifies himself as "The Captain" starts to lodge at the rural Admiral Benbow Inn nearBristol. He tells the innkeeper's son,Jim Hawkins, to keep a lookout for "a one-legged seafaring man".
Black Dog, a shady pirate with missing fingers, comes to visit the captain who is a former shipmate. They argue about the disposition of a mysterious chart, and "The Captain" runs Black Dog off in a cutlass fight. The Captain, proper name Billy Bones, suffers a stroke. That night, Jim's father dies. Days later, Pew, a blind beggar, visits the inn, delivering a summons to Bones called "the black spot". Shortly thereafter, Bones suffers another stroke and dies.
Pew and his accomplices attack the inn but are attacked and routed by mounted excise officers, and Pew is trampled to death by one of their horses. Jim and his mother escape with a packet from The Captain's sea chest, which is found to contain a map of the island on which the infamous pirateCaptain Flint hid his treasure. Jim shows the map to the local physicianDr. Livesey andSquire Trelawney, and they decide to make an expedition to the island, with Jim serving as a cabin boy.
They set sail from Bristol on aschooner chartered by Trelawney, theHispaniola, underCaptain Alexander Smollett. Jim forms a strong bond with the ship's one-legged cook,Long John Silver. The crew suffers a tragedy when first mate Mr. Arrow, a drunkard, is washed overboard during a storm. Late one night, Jim hides when he overhears several crewmen, led by Silver, discussing their pasts as pirates on Flint’s crew. They plan to mutiny after the salvage of the treasure, and to murder the captain and the few remaining loyal crew. Jim secretly informs Captain Smollett, Trelawney, and Livesey.
Arriving at the island and going ashore, Jim flees into the jungle after witnessing Silver murder a sailor for resisting an order. He meets a marooned pirate namedBen Gunn, who is also a former member of Flint's crew. The mutineers arm themselves and take the ship, while Jim and Smollett's loyal band take refuge in an abandoned stockade on the island. After a brief truce, the mutineers attack the stockade, with casualties on both sides of the battle. Jim makes his way to theHispaniola and cuts the ship from its anchor, drifting it along the ebb tide. He boards the ship and encounters the pirate Israel Hands, who had been injured in a drunken dispute with one of his companions. Hands helps Jim beach the schooner in the northern bay, then attempts to kill Jim with a dagger, but Jim shoots him dead with two pistols.
Jim goes ashore and returns to the stockade, where he is horrified to find only Silver and the pirates. Silver tells Jim that when everyone found the ship was gone, Captain Smollett's party had agreed to a truce whereby the pirates take the map and allow the besieged party to leave. In the morning, Livesey arrives to treat the wounded and sick pirates, and tells Silver to look out for trouble once he's found the site of the treasure. After a dispute over leadership, Silver and the others set out with the map, taking Jim along as a hostage. They find a skeleton with its arms oriented toward the treasure, unnerving the party. Ben Gunn shouts Captain Flint's last words from the forest, making the superstitious pirates believe that Flint's ghost is haunting the island. They eventually find a treasure cache, but it is empty. The pirates prepare to kill Silver and Jim, but they are driven off by the doctor's party, including Gunn. Livesey explains that Gunn had already found the bulk of the treasure and taken it to his cave, long ago. The expedition members load this portion of the treasure onto theHispaniola and depart the island, with Silver as their only prisoner. At their first port, inSpanish America, Silver steals a bag of money and escapes. The remaining crew sail back to Bristol and divide up the treasure. Some treasure was never found, but Jim refuses to return to the "accursed" island to look for it.
Treasure Island was written by Stevenson after returning from his first trip to America, where he was married. Still a relatively unknown author, inspiration came to him in summer of 1881 inBraemar, Scotland, when bad weather kept the family inside.[3] To amuse his 12-year old stepsonLloyd Osbourne, he used the idea of a secret map as the basis of a story about hidden treasure.
He had clearly started work by 25 August, writing to a friend, "If this don't fetch the kids, why, they have gone rotten since my day. Will you be surprised to learn that it is about Buccaneers, that it begins in the Admiral Benbow public house on the Devon coast, that it's all about a map and a treasure and a mutiny and a derelict ship... It's quite silly and horrid fun – and what I want is thebest book about Buccaneers that can be had."[4]
Stevenson originally gave the book the titleThe Sea Cook. One month after conceiving of the book, chapters began to appear in the pages of theYoung Folks magazine.[5] After completing several chapters rapidly, Stevenson was interrupted by illness.[6] He left Scotland and continued working on the first draft near London, where he and his father discussed points of the tale, and his father suggested elements that he included. The novel eventually ran in seventeen weekly instalments from 1 October 1881 to 28 January 1882. The book was later republished as the novelTreasure Island and proved to be Stevenson's first financial and critical success.
Stevenson also consciously borrowed material from previous authors. In a letter from July 1884 toSidney Colvin, he wrote that, "Treasure Island came out ofKingsley'sAt Last, where I got the Dead Man's Chest — and that was the seed — and out of the greatCaptain Johnson'sHistory of the Notorious Pirates." Stevenson also admits that he took the idea of Captain Flint's pointing skeleton fromPoe'sThe Gold-Bug and he constructedBilly Bones's history from the "Money-Diggers" section ("Golden Dreams" in particular[8]) ofTales of a Traveller byWashington Irving, one of his favourite writers.[9]
Jim Hawkins: The narrator of most of the novel. Jim is the son of an innkeeper on the northDevon coast of England and appears to be in his mid-teens. He is eager to go to sea and hunt for treasure. Jim consistently displays courage and heroism, but is also sometimes impulsive and impetuous. He exhibits increasing sensitivity and wisdom as the journey progresses.
Long John Silver: The one-legged cook aboard theHispaniola. Silver is the secret leader of the pirates. He is deceitful, mean, and greedy, but also charismatic, and his physical and mental strength are impressive. He is kind toward Jim and appears genuinely fond of him. Silver was based in part on Stevenson's friend and mentorWilliam Ernest Henley.
Dr. David Livesey: A doctor andmagistrate; he narrates a few chapters of the novel. He exhibits common sense and rationality, and is fair-minded, treating wounded pirates just as he does his own comrades. But he does not hesitate to express his opinions and dislikes openly towards the pirates. Some years prior to the events of the novel, he had participated in theBattle of Fontenoy, during which he waswounded in action.[10]
Captain Alexander Smollett: The captain of theHispaniola. He is savvy and is rightly suspicious of the crew that Trelawney hires. Smollett is a real professional, taking his job seriously and displaying skill as a negotiator. Smollett believes in rules and does not like Jim's disobedience, but later in the novel states that he and Jim shouldn't go to sea together again as Jim was too much of the born favourite for him.
Squire John Trelawney: A wealthy landowner who arranges the voyage to the island. He is too trusting and is duped by Silver into hiring pirates as the ship's crew.
Billy Bones: An old seaman who resides at the Admiral Benbow Inn. He used to be Flint's first mate, and is surly and rude. He exhorts Jim to be on the lookout for a one-legged man. A treasure map in his possession sets the events of the novel in motion.
Ben Gunn: A former member of Captain Flint's crew who was found on Treasure Island, having been marooned there by another ship's crew three years earlier when they couldn't find Flint's treasure. He is described as being "insane", at least partially, and has a craving forcheese. He helps Silver escape and in England receives £1,000 (equivalent to £127,219 in 2023) which he spends or loses in 20 days. He becomes a Lodgegamekeeper and also sings in a church choir.
In the semi-official prequel storyPorto Bello Gold byArthur D. Howden Smith, Ben Gunn was the servant of captain Andrew "Rip-Rap" Murray, Flint's associate and the mastermind behind the capture of the treasure shipSantissima Trinidad, whence the buried treasure was taken. Murray described Ben Gunn as a "half-wit" whom he kept as servant specifically because he considered him intellectually incapable of treachery. After Flint's crew killed Murray and overpowered his crew, Ben Gunn went to serve Flint and fled theWalrus in Savannah after Flint's death.
Black Dog: Formerly a member of Flint's pirate crew, later one of Pew's companions who visits the Admiral Benbow to confront Billy Bones. He is spotted by Jim in Silver's tavern and slips out to be chased by two of Silver's men (in order to maintain the ruse that Silver and his men are not associated with him). Two fingers are missing from his left hand, and from his first appearance at the Admiral Benbow Inn, it appears Billy Bones may have previously attacked him and caused the injury.
Alan: An honest sailor who is killed by the mutineers during the landing on the island and whose death scream is heard across the isle. The incident occurs just before Long John murders Tom.
Allardyce: One of the six members of Flint's Crew who, after burying the treasure and silver and building the blockhouse on Treasure Island, are all killed by Flint, who returns to his ship alone. Allardyce's body is lined up by Flint as a compass marker to the cache.
InPorto Bello Gold, one sailor on Flint's ship is named "Tom Allardyce". A lanky fellow with rather long, yellow hair, he is an antagonistic ringleader of sailors opposing Flint in at least two "fo'c'sle councils". Flint thinks they may present him with theBlack Spot; he eventually challenges Allardyce to bring six friends and bury the treasure together.
According toThe Adventures of Ben Gunn, his first name was "Nic", he was surgeon on Flint's crew, and Ben Gunn was his servant and friend from back home.
Job Anderson: The ship's boatswain and one of the leaders of the mutiny. He participates in the storming of the blockhouse and is killed by Gray while attacking Jim. He is probably one of Flint's old pirate hands, though this is never stated. Along with Hands and Merry, he tipped a Black Spot on Silver and forced Silver to start the mutiny before the treasure was found.
Mr. Arrow: Thefirst mate of theHispaniola. He is an alcoholic and is useless as a first mate. He disappears before they get to the island and his position is filled by Job Anderson. Silver had secretly given Mr. Arrow alcohol and he fell drunkenly overboard on a stormy night. In his BBC adaptation of 1977, John Lucarotti gives him the first name "Joshua". His first name was not stated in the novel.
Pew: A vicious, deadly, and sinister blind beggar who served as a member of Flint's crew. Despite his blindness, he proves to be a dangerous adversary and can even be considered a ringleader amongst his fellow crewmen. He is the second messenger to approach Billy Bones and the one to deliver the Black Spot. He is trampled to death by the horses of revenue officers riding to assist Jim and his mother after the raid on their inn. Silver claims Pew spent his share of Flint's treasure at a rate of £1,200 (equivalent to £152,663 in 2023) per year, and that for two years until his accident at the "Admiral Benbow", he begged, stole, and murdered. Stevenson avoided predictability by making the two most fearsome characters a blind man and an amputee. In the playAdmiral Guinea (1892), Stevenson gives him the full name "David Pew". Stevenson's novelKidnapped (1886) also features a dangerous blind man.
InPorto Bello Gold by Arthur D. Howden Smith, Pew fatally stabs Captain Murray, working in concert with Long John Silver. From the context, it seems that Silver means Pew when he addresses one man as "Ezra" just previously.[original research?]
Mr. Dance: Chief revenue officer (titled Supervisor) who ascends with his men upon the Admiral Benbow, driving out the pirates, and saving Jim Hawkins and his mother. He then takes Hawkins to see the squire and the doctor.
Dogger: One of Mr. Dance's associates, who doubles Hawkins on his horse to the squire's house.
Captain J. Flint: A pirate who was captain of a ship called theWalrus, and who is dead before the events of the novel begin. In life he was the leader of the pirates and they refer to him often. He was the original possessor of the treasure, and buried it on the island. Long John Silver's parrot is named after him.
Abraham Gray: A ship'scarpenter's mate on theHispaniola. He is almost incited to mutiny but remains loyal to the Squire's side when asked to do so by Captain Smollett. He saves Hawkins' life by killing Job Anderson during an attack on the stockade, and he helps shoot the mutineers at the rifled treasure cache. He later escapes the island together with Jim Hawkins, Dr. Livesey, Squire Trelawney, Captain Smollett, Long John Silver, and Ben Gunn. He spends his part of the treasure on his education, marries, and becomes part owner of a full-rigged ship.
Israel Hands: The ship's coxswain and Flint's old gunner. He tries to murder Jim Hawkins, who shoots him in self-defence.
Harry: He is probably one of Flint's old pirate hands; one of those who "ran after Black Dog" at the Spyglass Inn.
Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins: The parents of Jim Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins dies early in the story.
John Hunter: A manservant of Squire Trelawney. Dr. Livesey considers him to be the most steady and capable of Livesey's servants to have in a fight. He accompanies Trelawney to the island but is later knocked unconscious in an attack on the stockade. He dies of his injuries while unconscious.
John: A mutineer who is injured while trying to storm the blockhouse. Throughout the latter narrative he is primarily referred to by Hawkins as 'the man with the bandaged head' and ends up being killed at the rifled treasure cache. He is probably one of Flint's old pirate hands, as his name is called by Blind Pew before Pew was killed at the Inn.
Dick Johnson: The youngest of the mutineers, who has a Bible. The pirates use one of its pages to make a Black Spot for Silver, only to have him predict bad luck on Dick for sacrilege. Soon becoming mortally ill withmalaria, Dick ends up being marooned on the island after the deaths of George Merry and John.
Dirk: One of Flint's old pirate hands, he was a lookout for the ex-pirates in Pew's attack on the Inn
Richard Joyce: One of the manservants of Squire Trelawney who accompany the squire to the island, a mild-mannered valet inexperienced in firearms. He is shot through the head and killed by a mutineer during an attack on the stockade.
George Merry: A mutinous and hostile member of Silver's crew, who disobeys orders and occasionally challenges Silver's authority. With Anderson and Hands he launches the mutiny prematurely; he forces Silver to attack the blockhouse instead of waiting for the treasure to be found. He almost overthrew Silver's rule and forced Long John to take Jim as a hostage. Later killed at the empty cache just as he is about to kill both Silver and Hawkins.
Tom Morgan: An ex-pirate from Flint's old crew. He ends up marooned on the island with Dick and one other mutineer.
O'Brien: A mutineer who survives the attack on the blockhouse and escapes. He is later killed by Israel Hands in a drunken fight on theHispaniola. He is referred to by Hawkins as the pirate 'with the red nightcap' throughout most of the narrative, until Hands reveals to Hawkins that the fellow was an Irishman named O'Brien.
Tom Redruth: The gamekeeper of Squire Trelawney. He accompanies the Squire to the island but is shot and mortally wounded by the mutineers as the captain's party are relocating from the ship to the stockade.
Tom: An honest sailor who is killed by Silver for refusing to join the mutiny.
Among other minor characters whose names are not revealed are the four pirates who were killed in an attack on the stockade along with Job Anderson; the pirate killed by the honest men minus Jim Hawkins the day before the attack on the stockade; the pirate killed by Ben Gunn the night before the attack; the pirate shot by Squire Trelawney when aiming at Israel Hands, who later died of his injuries; and the pirate marooned on the island along with Tom Morgan and Dick Johnson.
The historian Luis Junco suggests thatTreasure Island is a combination of the story of the murder of CaptainGeorge Glas aboard theEarl of Sandwich in 1765 and the taking of the shipWalrus off the island ofLa Graciosa nearTenerife. The pirates of La Graciosa buried their treasure there, and were subsequently all killed in a bloody battle with theRoyal Navy; the treasure was never recovered.[citation needed]
In his bookPirates of the Carraigin, David Kelly deals with the piracy and murder of Captain Glas and others by the ship's cook and his gang aboard a ship travelling from Tenerife to London. The perpetrators of this crime also buried the considerable treasure they had stolen but most of it was later recovered. They were all executed in Dublin in 1766. In his research, Kelly showed that Stevenson was a neighbour of the named victim in Edinburgh, and so was aware from an early age of these events, which had been a scandal at the time. Stevenson and his family were members of a church congregation set up by the victim's father. Although he never visited Ireland, Stevenson based at least two other books,Kidnapped andCatriona on real crimes that were perpetrated in Dublin; these crimes were all reported in detail inThe Gentleman's Magazine, published in Dublin and Edinburgh.[11]
The name "Israel Hands" was taken from that of a real pirate inBlackbeard's crew, whom Blackbeard maimed (by shooting him in the knee) simply to ensure that his crew remained in terror of him. Allegedly, Hands was taken ashore to be treated for his injury and was not at Blackbeard's last fight (the incident is depicted inTim Powers' novelOn Stranger Tides), and this alone saved him from the gallows. Supposedly, he later became a beggar in England.
Silver refers to "three hundred and fifty thousand"pieces of eight at the "fishing up of the wrecked plate ships". This remark conflates two related events: first, the salvage of treasure from the1715 Treasure Fleet which was wrecked off the coast of Florida in a hurricane; second, the seizure of 350,000 salvaged pieces of eight the following year (out of several million) by privateerHenry Jennings. This event is mentioned in the introduction toJohnson'sGeneral History of the Pyrates.
Silver refers to a ship's surgeon from Roberts' crew who amputated his leg and was later hanged atCape Coast Castle, a British fortification on the Gold Coast of Africa. The records of the trial of Roberts' men list Peter Scudamore as the chief surgeon of Roberts' shipRoyal Fortune. Scudamore was found guilty of willingly serving with Roberts' pirates and various related criminal acts, as well as attempting to lead a rebellion to escape once he had been apprehended. He was, as Silver relates, hanged, in 1722.
Stevenson refers to theViceroy of the Indies, a ship sailing fromGoa, India (then aPortuguese colony), which was taken byEdward England off Malabar while John Silver was serving aboard England's ship theCassandra. No such exploit of England's is known, nor any ship by the name of theViceroy of the Indies. However, in April 1721, the captain of theCassandra,John Taylor (originally England's second in command who had marooned him for being insufficiently ruthless), together with his pirate partner, Olivier Levasseur, captured the vesselNostra Senhora do Cabo nearRéunion island in the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese galleon was returning from Goa toLisbon with the Conde da Ericeira, the recently retired Viceroy of Portuguese India, aboard. The viceroy had much of his treasure with him, making this capture one of the richest pirate hauls ever. This is possibly the event that Stevenson referred to, though his (or Silver's) memory of the event seems to be slightly confused. TheCassandra was last heard of in 1723 atPortobelo, Panama, a place that also briefly figures inTreasure Island as "Portobello".
The preceding two references are inconsistent, as theCassandra (and presumably Silver) was in the Indian Ocean during the time that Scudamore was surgeon aboard theRoyal Fortune, in the Gulf of Guinea.
A real life 1800s smuggling gang, the"Benbow Brandy Men", operated out of the Benbow pub inPenzance, smuggling gin, brandy, and tobacco to avoid paying the massive import taxes imposed bythe Crown to fund its foreign wars.[13]
1747: Squire Trelawney and Long John Silver both mention "Admiral Hawke", i.e.Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke (1705–81), promoted to rear admiral in 1747.
Treasure Island was in part inspired byR. M. Ballantyne'sThe Coral Island,[14] which Stevenson admired for its "better qualities."[15] Stevenson alludes to Ballantyne in theepigraph at the beginning ofTreasure Island, "To the Hesitating Purchaser", "... If studious youth no longer crave, His ancient appetites forgot,Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave, OrCooper of the wood and wave ..."
Dr. Livesey may have been named forJoseph Livesey (1794–1884), a famous 19th-century temperance advocate, founder of the tee-total "Preston Pledge". In the novel, Dr. Livesey warns the drunkard Billy Bones that "the name of rum for you is death."[16][17]
Stevenson himself never said he based on the island on a real place. He did sayDead Chest Island, a barren rock in the British Virgin Islands, which Stevenson found mentioned inCharles Kingsley'sAt Last: A Christmas in the West Indies,[18] which he said "was the seed" for the phrase "Dead Man's Chest".[19][20] Beyond this there is no evidence, by Stevenson, that the island was anything other than an imaginative piece of fiction. Nevertheless this has not stopped many places from capitalizing on the name attempting to lay claim as the "real" island. These claimants include:
Isla de Pinos nearCuba, which served as a supply base for pirates for about 300 years, is believed to have inspired Treasure Island.[21][22]
Norman Island in theBritish Virgin Islands was supposedly mentioned to Stevenson by a sailor uncle, and also possesses a "Spyglass Hill" like the fictional Treasure Island.[23]
Osborn Island (now Nienstedt Island) in theManasquan River inBrielle, New Jersey. Stevenson supposedly visited there in May 1888 (five years after writingTreasure Island) and christened it "Treasure Island"[25][26]
In August 2022Mick Whitley, then themember of Parliament forBirkenhead, supported the findings of a local historian named John Lamb that Stevenson had set his classic novelTreasure Island in the towns of Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula lying opposite Liverpool. This followed a previous announcement by Alan Evans of Wirral Borough Council that the French science fiction writer Jules Verne had also set his 1874 novelThe Mysterious Island in Birkenhead. Their letters of support for Mr Lamb's claims were posted on theJules Verne and the Heroes of Birkenhead website in August 2022.[29][30][31]
As a child, Stevenson repeatedly summered in thespa town ofBridge of Allan. "Stevenson's cave" in Bridge of Allan was reportedly the inspiration for Ben Gunn's dwelling on Treasure Island.[32]
The Admiral Benbow in Penzance, reportedly an inspiration for Stevenson's Inn
Both theLlandoger Trow inBristol, and the Admiral Benbow inPenzance, have claimed to be an inspiration for the Admiral Benbow Inn. Stevenson visited Cornwall and Penzance in August 1877, and as the inn is described in the book as being in a rural area and it was necessary to travel to Bristol, Penzance's"Benbow Brandy Men" may have inspired him to feature the Penzance Benbow in Treasure Island.[33][13] The Hole in the Wall, in Bristol, is claimed to be the Spyglass Tavern.[34]The Pirate's House inSavannah, Georgia, is where Captain Flint is claimed to have spent his last days,[35] and his ghost is claimed to haunt the property.[36]
Stevenson'sTreasure Island has spawned an enormous amount of literature based upon the original novel:
Porto Bello Gold (1924), aprequel byA. D. Howden Smith that was written with explicit permission from Stevenson's executor, tells the origin of the buried treasure and recasts many of Stevenson's pirates in their younger years, giving the hidden treasure someJacobite antecedents not mentioned in the original.
Flint's Island (1972), a sequel byLeonard Wibberley, who notes in the introduction that it had long been a dream of his to do so.
Long John Silver – Den äventyrliga och sannfärdiga berättelsen om mitt liv och leverne som lyckoriddare och mänsklighetens fiende (1998) is a prequel by the Swedish author Björn Larsson, who tells the fictional story of the pirate Long John Silver, told in first person by Silver himself in a manuscript in his last days of life.
Treasure Island!!! (2012) is a novel by Sara Levine about an American woman who becomes obsessed withTreasure Island (Europa Editions, 2012).[42]
Tread Carefully on the Sea (2014), by David K. Bryant, merges all the references to Captain Flint into a prequel covering the burial of the treasure.
Skulduggery (1991/2014), a prequel written byTony Robinson which features Ben Gunn attending a school for pirates and meeting junior counterparts of Blind Pew and Long John Silver. Originally published as part of the Silvery Jackanory compilation in 1991. (ISBN9781781124086)
Treasure Island Comprehension Guide (2009) is a guide for understanding this book from Veritas Press. This is written byNed Bustard.[43]
Return to Treasure Island (1986), written by Ivor Dean, Robert S. Baker and John Goldsmith, is a HTV television series that features Silver, Hawkins and Gunn.
Black Sails (2014–2017), a prequel drama series by Robert Levine andJonathan E. Steinberg, tells the story of Captain Flint and John Silver leading up to theTreasure Island story. The series is said to take place 20 years before the events of the book, in 1715; however this is actually 40 years before the dates given by Stevenson. The series consists of four seasons.[44]
Treasure Island (1950) — starringBobby Driscoll andRobert Newton, notable for being the first version in colour and theWalt Disney Studios' first completely live-action film. A sequel to this version was made (but not by Disney) in 1954, entitledLong John Silver, which also starred Newton in the titular role.
Treasure Island (1973) — aFilmation animated film released byWarner Bros. directed by Hal Sutherland, written by Ben Starr, starring Richard Dawson as Long John Silver, Davy Jones as Jim Hawkins, and Dal McKennon as Captain Flint & Ben Gunn.
Treasure Island (1987) — another animated adaptation, this film produced byBurbank Films Australia and directed by Warwick Gilbert.
Treasure Planet (2002) — a reimagined adaptation fromWalt Disney Animation Studios set in space, with Long John Silver as a cyborg and many of the original characters re-imagined as aliens and robots, except for Jim, his mother and his father, who are human.
Treasure Planet (1982), a Bulgarian animated science fiction adaptation directed byRumen Petkov. Petkov's idea of moving the action of the novel into space influenced Antonio Margherit, who in 1987 directed the television series Treasure Island in Space. In the English dub, Philip (Jimmy Hawkins in the original) is voiced byBryan Cranston.
Treasure Island (1982) — a Soviet film in three parts; almost entirely faithful to the text of the novel. FeaturingOleg Borisov as Long John Silver.
Shin Takarajima (1965) — a 52-minuteanime TV special directed byOsamu Tezuka and animated byMushi Productions with the characters replaced as animals. Originally planned as a 26-episode TV series for a bi-weekly program, only one episode was produced before the idea was scrapped and it was aired as a one-off special.[50] It is not an adaptation of Tezuka'smanga of the same name.
L'isola del tesoro (1959 Italian television miniseries) produced by RAI with Alvaro Piccardi, Ivo Garrani and Arnoldo Foà.
"Mr. Magoo's Treasure Island" (1964) — a two-part episode of the cartoon seriesThe Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, was based on the novel, withMr. Magoo in the role of Long John Silver.
Treasure Island (1966) — a German-French co-production for German television stationZDF.
Treasure Island (1968) — a BBC series of nine 25-minute episodes starringPeter Vaughan.
"Treasure Island" (1988) — an episode ofAlvin and the Chipmunks starring Alvin as Jim Hawkins, Dave as Long John Silver, Simon as Dr. Livesey, Theodore as Squire Trelawney, and Brittany as Mrs. Hawkins.
Black Sails – a 2014 television drama that serves as a prequel to the story, detailing the origins of Captain Flint, Billy Bones, and John Silver during the Golden Age of Piracy.
Treasure Island (L'isola del tesoro; 2015) — an Italian CGI animated series by Rai Fiction and Mondo TV. It mixes the original work with new characters and mythical elements such as voodoo.
Edward Emery as Long John Silver in the 1915 Broadway production ofTreasure Island.
There have been over 24 major stage adaptations made, though the number of minor adaptations remains countless.[52] The story is also a popular plot and setting for a traditionalpantomime wherein Mrs. Hawkins, Jim's mother is thedame.
In 1986, a Danish language musical adaptation ofTreasure Island namedSkatteøen premiered atFolketeatret, Copenhagen with a book byPreben Harris and music and lyrics by singer-songwriterSebastian. Since its premiere, it has been put on stage frequently by several Danish theatre companies.[54]
In 2007, an adaptation ofTreasure Island byKen Ludwig premiered at the Alley Theatre, Houston; played at theTheatre Royal, Haymarket on London'sWest End in 2008; and won the AATE Distinguished Play Award for Best Adaptation of the Year.
Treasure Island: the Curse of the Pearl Necklace (2014–15), by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper, is an alternativepantomime that included gay, lesbian, and trans characters, and played a sold-out run at London'sAbove The Stag Theatre.
From October 2013 to 2014,Mind the Gap Theatre Company, a leading UK theatre company in working with actors with learning disabilities, embarked on a national tour ofTreasure Island, retold with a twist by Olivier award-winning writerMike Kenny.
In 2013, YouthPlays publishedLong Joan Silver byArthur M. Jolly, an adaptation in which all of the pirates are women.
In 2018 the newly reopenedLeicester Haymarket Theatre staged a new version ofTreasure Island, adapted bySandi Toksvig, as their first Christmas show in 10 years.
There have been two BBC Radio adaptations ofTreasure Island, with Silver being played byPeter Jeffrey in 1989,[61] andJack Shepherd in 1995.[62]
AuthorJohn le Carré performed an abridged reading of the novel in five parts as part ofBBC Radio 4'sAfternoon Reading.[63]
Treasure Island 2020 (November 12, 2018 – January 12, 2020) is a 10-partBYU Radio radio adaptation broadcast viaThe Apple Seed. The audio adventure places the main trio of kids in 2019 and turns it into a time-traveling adventure that involves both them going to the past to look for treasures and Long John Silver, Billy Bones, and others coming to the present through the time vortex. The series is now available as a free podcast.
The King Arthur/Treasure Island album features a 15 minutes long adaptation of the novel with Captain Flint replacing Billy Bones as the holder of the map.
There is also a 30-minute recording of the novel with a more expanded version of the plot. Both these albums feature different orchestration of the song "Fifteen men on a Dead man's chest", and the 30 minute version features a song about Long John Silver's parrot, Captain Flint.
"La isla del tesoro",Joyas Literarias Juveniles #2 (1970,Editorial Bruguera) — adapted by José Antonio Vidal Sales and Alfonso Cerón Nuñez; translated and reprinted as "Treasure Island",King Classics #7 (1977,King Features)
Godspeed (1993) — a science-fictional novel byCharles Sheffield that recasts the search for pirate treasure as the search for lost faster-than-light drive technology
Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island: The Graphic Novel (2005,Penguin Books) — adapted by Tim Hamilton
Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (2007,Capstone Publishers) — adapted by Greg Rebis
L'Île au trésor, de Robert Louis Stevenson (2007–2009,Delcourt) — adapted by David Chauvel and Fred Simon; translated and reprinted asPapercutz Classics Illustrated Series #5 (2010,Papercutz)
Disney Treasure Island, Starring Mickey Mouse (Oct. 2018,Dark Horse Comics) — adapted by Teresa Radice, Erin Brady (translation), and Stefano Turconi
The self-titled Ben Gunn Society album released in 2003 presents the story centred on the character ofBen Gunn, based primarily on Chapter XV, "Man of the Island", and other relevant parts of the book.
"Treasure Island" (1992) is a song byRunning Wild, from theirPile of Skulls album, that tells the novel's story.
Scottishglam rock artistsThe Sensational Alex Harvey Band paid tribute to the book with their 1974 song "The Tomahawk Kid". The song names many ofTreasure Island's characters in its lyrics, and was often dedicated to Robert Louis Stevenson in live performance.
The Cursed Island (2014) is an album bySkull & Bones that is based onTreasure Island.
'Dead Man's Sea Shanty', a song written by Chonny Jash, is a retelling of the story of Treasure Island, told as a sea shanty, utilising a rearrangement of 'Dead Man's Chest' heavily.
Treasure Island (2025) is a suite for orchestra composed by Andrea Montepaone and published by Telecinesound Records in which the events of the novel are described through 13 pieces.
Treasure Island (1984) is a graphical adventure computer game based loosely on the novel. It was written by Greg Duddle, published by Mr. Micro (and often rebranded by Commodore) on theCommodore 16,Commodore Plus/4,Commodore 64, andZX Spectrum. In the game, the player takes the part of Jim Hawkins travelling around the island dispatching pirates with cutlasses before getting the treasure and being chased back to the ship by Long John Silver.
Treasure Island (1985) is an adventure game based upon the novel published byWindham Classics.[69]
La Isla del Tesoro de R. L. Stevenson (1999) is a point-and-click adventure game based upon the novel developed, edited, and published by Barcelona Multimedia.[70]
Monkey Island, aLucasArts adventure game, is partly based onTreasure Island, lending many of its plot points and characters and using many humorous references to the book.
Captain Silver is an arcade game that follows its protagonist, Jim Aykroyd, in his quest to find Captain Silver's hidden treasure, for which he must battle an undead Captain Silver in order to find.
A 1960 episode ofDennis the Menace is centered around the pursuit of buried treasure, inspired by Mr. Wilson reading his childhood copy ofTreasure Island to Dennis and his friends.
At the beginning of a fifth-season episode ofArthur titled "You Are Arthur" (2000), the titular character is seen readingTreasure Island.
In an episode ofSurvivor: Heroes vs. Villains, titled "Jumping Ship" (2010), the castaways Amanda, Colby and Danielle win an overnight trip to the former home of Robert Louis Stevenson and a screening of the 1934 version ofTreasure Island.
InThe Way Back (2010), one of the prisoners in the Russiangulag briefly narrates some ofTreasure Island to his fellow inmates. He mentions the characters Jim and Long John Silver.
In the teen fiction novelOne for Sorrow (2015, Fledgling Press) byPhilip Caveney, the main character, Tom Afflick, is readingTreasure Island which serves as the catalyst for his adventure.
InBlade Runner 2049 (2017),Rick Deckard makes a continued allusion toTreasure Island upon first meeting the protagonist; in the scene, he explicitly references Ben Gunn's craving for cheese.
Disney'sPirates of the Caribbean franchise referencesTreasure Island many times. In the 2006 revamp of theoriginal attraction, the island port was officially named Isla Tesoro, with the Spanish translation of Treasure Island isLa isla del tesoro. In makingPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,Treasure Island was one of many inspirations behind making the film, noted by the filmmakers like producerJerry Bruckheimer, who regarded the 1950 Walt Disney Studio feature.[75][76]
In writingCaptainJack Sparrow, screenwritersTed Elliott andTerry Rossio took from their experience onTreasure Planet, and asked the question, "Is Long John Silver a delightfulFalstaffian character or a contemptible villain?"[77] Hector Barbossa's petmonkey, named "Jack" after Jack Sparrow, is a reference to Long John Silver's petparrot Captain Flint. Both animals are named after their owner's former captain.[78]
Of the films in the series,Dead Man's Chest features the most references.
Joshamee Gibbs sings "Dead Man's Chest," a song from the novel, which served as the original opening in an earlier version of the film.[79][80]
GovernorWeatherby Swann witnessesMercer kill the captain, who was intended to be called "Captain Hawkins", as revealed by screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio on the film's DVD commentary. Hawkins' backstory was intended to relate to that of Jim Hawkins' father inTreasure Island, explaining the circumstances of his father's disappearance at sea and why he never returned to the Admiral Benbow Inn.[81]
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has Hector Barbossa begin wearing a wooden peg leg where a real one used to be, revealed to have been lost in an off-screen encounter withBlackbeard. Barbossa is feared as an omen of death and referred to as "the one legged man" by Blackbeard and his daughterAngelica, which is a parallel to Billy Bones having feared John Silver and ominously referred to him by the same moniker. Regarding this change in Barbossa, actorGeoffrey Rush noted Robert Newton playing Long John Silver inTreasure Island[82][83]
Terry Rossio referencesTreasure Island andTreasure Planet in the annotations for his screenplay draft forPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which features a character named Captain (later Admiral) John Benbow as a reference to the Admiral Benbow Inn.[84] One of Chris Schweizer's early ideas for thePirates of the Caribbean comic book series was to haveWill Turner andElizabeth Swann's12-or-13-year-old son be involved in Jack Sparrow's search forAnamaria who had disappeared while searching for a mystical treasure, with the boy eventually growing up and becomingBilly Bones, a character fromTreasure Island.[citation needed] A phantom pirate named Black Dog Briar appears in thevideo game expansion.
^Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." InA Robert Louis Stevenson Companion, Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan.doi:10.1007/978-1-349-06080-1_6.
^Cordingly, David (1995)Under the Black Flag: the romance and reality of life among the pirates; p. 7
^"The Works".Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. Retrieved30 March 2024.
^Booth, Bradford A.; Mehew, Ernest.The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson. p. iii. 225.
^Stevenson, Chapter 16: "I was not new to violent death—I have served his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, and got a wound myself at Fontenoy—but I know my pulse went dot and carry one."
Cordingly, David (1995).Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates.ISBN0-679-42560-8.
Letley, Emma, ed. (1998).Treasure Island (Oxford World's Classics).ISBN0-19-283380-4.
Pietsch, Roland (2010).The Real Jim Hawkins: Ships' Boys in the Georgian Navy.ISBN978-1-84832-036-9.
Reed, Thomas L. (2006).The Transforming Draught: Jekyll and Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson, and the Victorian Alcohol Debate.ISBN0-7864-2648-9.
Watson, Harold (1969).Coasts of Treasure Island: A Study of the Backgrounds and Sources for Robert Louis Stevenson's Romance of the Sea.ISBN0-8111-0282-3.
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