Treasure Island: Read and Watch

Treasure Island

In the mid-18th century, an old sailor who identifies himself as "The Captain" lodges at the rural Admiral Benbow Inn near Bristol. He spends his mornings walking on the local beaches and cliffs watching for ships with a spyglass. Afternoons and evenings, he intimidates the other guests by singing pirate songs and telling wild sea stories. He tells the innkeeper's son, Jim Hawkins, to beware of "a seafaring man with one-leg".

A rogue known as Black Dog confronts "The Captain", a former shipmate. They argue about the disposition of a mysterious chart, and "The Captain", proper name Billy Bones, runs Black Dog off in a cutlass fight before collapsing from a stroke. That night, Jim's father dies from poor health. Days later, Pew, a blind beggar who is also a former pirate, delivers a summons to Bones which he calls "the black spot". Shortly thereafter, Bones dies of a stroke.

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 Bones' sea chest, which is found to contain a map of the island on which the infamous pirate Captain Flint hid his treasure. Jim shows the map to physician Dr. Livesey who is also a magistrate, and the local gentry, Squire Trelawney, and they decide to make an expedition to the island, with Jim serving as a cabin boy.

They recruit a crew and set sail from Bristol on a schooner chartered by Trelawney, the Hispaniola, under Captain 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 refusing to join the mutiny. He meets a marooned pirate named Ben 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 the Hispaniola 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 the Hispaniola and depart the island, with Silver as their only prisoner, marooning the other three surviving pirates. At their first port, in Spanish 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

In the West Coast of England in 1765, young Jim Hawkins lives with his mother in a country inn that they run. Captain William Bones, a sickly lodger, gives Jim a treasure map after receiving the "black spot" from two strangers. Squire Trelawney and Dr. Livesey accompany Jim to the inn, finding Bones dead. Trelawney recognizes the map as belonging to the legendary pirate Captain Flint and hires Captain Smollett and his ship, the Hispaniola, to find it, hiring Dr. Livesey as the ship's doctor and Jim as the cabin boy.

Before departure, Long John Silver, a one-legged innkeeper, agrees to gather a crew and joins the expedition as the ship's cook. Smollett is concerned about the crew, especially because the nature of their journey is common knowledge. At sea, Silver convinces Jim to steal Livesey's medical rum. During a storm, first mate Arrow, drunk from food specially prepared by Silver, falls overboard and drowns. Later, Jim overhears Silver discussing a planned mutiny, discovering that the seamen hired by Silver are Captain Flint's old crew and that the alcohol he lent was used by Silver to cause Arrow's death, Jim reveals the treachery to Smollett, who asks Jim to maintain his friendship with Silver to learn more.

Upon reaching Treasure Island, Silver offers to tow the ship to a safer anchorage, using two of the ship's rowboats. While the ship is being towed, one of Silver's men, Merry, stages the mutiny. Smollett forces the mutineers into the hold, but Silver cuts the rowboats from the Hispaniola and heads toward the shore with the rest of his men, taking Jim as a hostage. Smollett, Trelawney and Livesey go ashore after them.

On Treasure Island, Jim escapes and meets Ben Gunn, marooned by Flint five years ago. Gunn shows Jim the boat that he has built and leads him to Flint's old stockade, where he meets Smollett and the others. Merry escapes, takes the Hispaniola, and raises the Jolly Roger. Short of men, Silver attempts to parlay with Smollett, but when he is rebuffed, the mutineers stage an attack. The assault on the stockade fails, but Silver wounds Smollett. Although seemingly protected by the stockade, Smollett surmises that, with the morning tide, Silver could move the Hispaniola into cannon range and level the fort.

Jim takes Gunn's boat and cuts the Hispaniola's anchor rope. The pirate Israel Hands discovers Jim and chases him into the ship's rigging, where Jim shoots him dead despite being wounded. The Hispaniola runs aground, and Jim strikes the Jolly Roger and hoists the Union Jack. Slowed by his wound, which becomes infected by swamp water, it takes him all night to return to the unguarded stockade. Inside the stockade, Jim searches for the doctor to mend his wound, but the man asleep under Livesey's coat is Long John Silver, causing Jim to faint on the spot. Silver finds the map on Jim as his men awaken.

Merry wants Jim dead, but Silver deceives his men into believing that Smollett has the map so he can "trade" it for Jim. While attempting to signal the captain, Silver sees that the ship is aground and flying the Union Jack and mistakenly believes that Smollett's party has recaptured the ship. The other pirates give Silver the black spot, but he refuses to acknowledge it. They let him bargain with Livesey, who has come to treat Jim, for the map.

Silver secretly barters with Livesey for leniency in court, inadvertently revealing that the ship is no longer under his control. Livesey agrees only when Jim insists on staying out of loyalty to Silver. Livesey leaves and Silver returns with Jim, flaunting the map to convince his men that his bargain was successful. The pirates are overjoyed and retake the black spot, then proceed on a grueling treasure hunt. When they finally reach the spot where the £700,000 treasure is supposed to be buried, they discover instead an empty pit, save for one guinea. A fight breaks out, and only the arrival of Smollett saves Silver's life. Gunn then reveals that he buried Flint's treasure in a second, secret location.

Despite keeping his end of the bargain, Captain Smollett still wants Silver returned to England to stand trial for his mutiny. Hawkins, Trelawney and two others take Silver to the Hispaniola aboard a rowboat loaded with a few chests of treasure. Silver snatches Jim's pistol and forces Trelawney and the others from the boat but commands Jim to remain in order to steer him out of the cove. Jim instead beaches him on a sandbar, and Silver orders him to push him at gunpoint, but Jim refuses. Silver is unable to execute his threat to shoot and drops the pistol in the water, attempting to push the boat off on his own. Seeing Silver struggle, Jim helps him, waving a hesitant farewell as Silver rows away with the treasure and bids him farewell in return.