Underlying book story — recording-specific coverage unverified
Coverage is limited to the scope described in this write-up. Recording changes, further installments or an unwritten ending may remain outside it.
This synopsis covers the underlying book linked to this recording: Treasure Island. Recording-specific abridgements, added material or adaptation changes have not been verified.
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.
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.
Sources and content license
Source and revision history ↗ · Underlying book identified by the catalog’s explicit book_slug relation. Exact source annotation 429. Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Treasure Island. Section headings and formatting adjusted. · Content license