Are Marooned Pirates Really Red?

Rising slowly in the dark evening sky, the full moon is shrouded in a gossamer blanket of cottony fog. The old walnut clock begins striking, startling young Jim Hawkins and his nervous mother, alone in the eerily quiet Admiral Benbow Inn. On the bare floor lies the hulking, lifeless body of the loud, gruff, rum-guzzling Billy Bones, suddenly struck dead by “thundering apoplexy.”

The frightened pair hear the tapping of the blind man’s cane on the empty street, each strike louder than the one before as the hideous, hunched pirate draws closer. Pew’s strong bony arm fiercely rattles the inn door, but the latch holds. In the fog-filtered moonlight he turns to fetch the rest of the pirate gang, a peculiar figure in his hooded sea cloak and green shades.

Jim grabs the oilskin packet from the captain’s sea chest as he and his frightened mother flee the Admiral Benbow just before the return of the pirate swarm. They reach a small bridge within earshot of the inn, hiding under its arch, barely hidden from the approaching rogues.

Little does young Jim Hawkins know that the contents of this oilskin packet are the catalyst for the adventure of a lifetime. Pirates, doubloons, a treasure map, a voyage to an obscure island aboard the schooner Hispaniola, schemes and chicanery, one of the most memorable characters in literature – this is Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island.

Stevenson, a chronic invalid, wrote this story to amuse his stepson. Its hero and narrator is a young boy whose courage and wits help him survive numerous challenges and sometimes overwhelming odds. Stevenson’s father was familiar with pirates and seamen and it is from him that Stevenson drew the language and nautical terms that flavor and give life to this tale. Treasure Island was originally published as a serial in a boy’s magazine. This is evident as one reads the 34-chapter book and is hooked by the teasing suspense, foreshadowing, and unanswered questions at the end of each chapter. One can only imagine the anticipation of the original readers anxiously awaiting the appearance of the next magazine issue and Treasure Island installment.

SOME RANDOMLY SELECTED AND SUNDRY CHARACTERS

Jim Hawkins – A bright lad he is and “smart as paint”. Jim’s a favorite of ol’ Long John Silver. His hankerin’ for apples put holes in the mutiny’s sails and saved the lives of the Squire and Doctor Livesey.

Captain Flint – The most feared of all the pirates, even in death. Silver’s parrot was named after ‘im. Favorite phrase of the parrot Flint – “Pieces of eight, pieces of eight”

Billy Bones – “A tall nut-brown man with a sabre cut across one cheek.” Known as the Captin by the reg’lars at the Admiral Benbow Inn. Loved his rum, this old salt did, and he were heard piping loudly and often “Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest.” Favorite saying – “Doctors is all swabs.”


Ben Gunn - Marooned for three long years by Flint’s crew. Pious and peculiar lubber with an odd manner o’ speakin’. Loves cheese and’s shivers his timbers at the mention o’ his old shipmate, John Silver.

Long John Silver – Barbecue, the ship’s cook and Flint’s former quartermaster. Fond of Jim Hawkins, this gentleman of fortune is a master of duplicity. You be crossin’ John Silver an’ your life’s not worth a plug nickel. The other buccaneers was afeared of this one-legged sailor and victimized by Silver’s charm and smooth words. And you may lay to that.

Pew - A blind but fearsome old buccaneer. This swab tips the Black Spot to Billy Bones. Trampled by a horse’s hooves “ like a cockroach.”


I ‘ve read, enjoyed and admired Treasure Island many times despite its transparent plot and flat, stereotypical characters. Stevenson’s style and superb use of suspense craft a story that’s always keeping the reader wanting to find out what happens next. His use of language and dialect to create mood and atmosphere also are positive aspects of this nautical tale. For me, the best part of this entertaining book is Long John Silver himself, an enigmatic, duplicitous scoundrel shifting from charming warmth to bloodthirsty callousness at will. Treasure Island is well worth reading, though because of its challenging vocabulary and sometimes confounding dialog, it is a book not within the independent reading level of many current 14-year-olds.

I’d recommend reading a chapter each morning at breakfast like it was meant to be read.
After all, remember, it was first published as a serial.