TREASURE ISLAND
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This book is one of our favourites. A survey showed that it is just as popular with young ladies as it is with gents. In fact, the ladies appear to love this story, slightly more than the chaps. Mostly, the book is read in schools. But, parents often purchase a copy for their children. There has not been a recent re-make of the classic, faithful to the book, though a number of animations have been released, deviating from the original quite considerably. The problem being the competition from super-hero movies that tend to make adventure 'period dramas' slow and somewhat boring to modern audiences. Unless, they've read the book or a graphic novel version.
Stevenson originally gave the book the title
'The Sea Cook.' One month after conceiving of the book, chapters began to appear in the pages of the Young Folks magazine. After completing fifteen or nineteen chapters rapidly, Stevenson was interrupted by illness; 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
installments from October 1, 1881, to January 28, 1882. The book was later republished as the novel
'Treasure Island' and proved to be Stevenson's first financial and critical success. The Liberal politician William Ewart Gladstone, who served four terms as British Prime Minister between 1868 and 1894, was one of the book's biggest fans.
1. The navy yarn, which places a capable officer in adventurous situations amid realistic settings and historical events, and
2. The desert island romance, which features shipwrecked or marooned characters confronted by treasure-seeking pirates or angry natives.
Around 1815, the latter genre became one of the most popular fictional styles in Great Britain, perhaps because of the philosophical interest in Rousseau and Chateaubriand's "noble savage". Treasure Island was a climax of this development. The growth of the desert island genre can be traced back to 1719 when
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe was published. A century later, novels such as S. H. Burney's The Shipwreck (1816), and Sir Walter Scott's The Pirate (1822) continued to expand upon Defoe's classic. Other authors, in the mid-19th century, continued this trend, with works including James Fenimore Cooper's The Pilot (1823). During the same period, Edgar Allan Poe wrote, "MS Found in a Bottle" (1833) and "The Gold-Bug" (1843). All of these works influenced Stevenson's end product.
Stevenson conceived the idea for the novel based on a map of an imaginary, romantic island which he drew with his stepson Lloyd Osbourne, during a holiday in Braemar, Scotland in the summer of 1881. 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 the best book about Buccaneers that can be had". Jim Hawkins: The narrator of most of the novel. Jim is the son of an innkeeper near Bristol, 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.
A TO Z OF TREASURE ISLAND
Admiral Benbow, The - A tavern where Jim Hawkins lived Adventure - An 8 gun sloop captured by Blackbeard Adventurers - People who explore land and oceans, looking to solve riddles AI - Artificial Intelligence, by way of computer programs that simulate human like responses AmphiMax-Calypso - Beach launch and recovery system for SeaVax-Calypso seaweed harvesting machines AmphiMax-Sargasso - Beach launch and recovery system for SeaVax-Sargasso seaweed cleaning machines Anne - Queen 1665 - 1714 Apple Barrels - Carried on sailing ships to prevent the crew from getting scurvy Battle of Ocracoke, The - Where Lt. Robert Maynard boarded the Adventure, and killed the pirate Blackbeard in 1718 Ben Gunn - A marooned pirate who likes cheese Billy (One Eye) Bones - Is a dead shot marksman, ex SBS Royal Navy sailor, turned pirate adventurer Blackbeard - Edward Teach, the Queen Anne's Revenge and Adventure Blackbeard Island - Georgia, is a location where the pirate Edward Teach, may have buried some of his treasure Black Dog - A pirate Black Jack - Pirate computer hacker Black Spot, The - A dreaded pirate sign British Geographical Society - BGS is a fictional thinkers club situated in Pall Mall, London, England Calypso - Highly rythmic form of African Kaiso music, origination on French owned plantations, spreading to most Caribbean islands Captain Sir Henry Morgan - Buccaneer, turned privateer and Governor of Jamaica Captain Flint - Long John Silver's pet parrot Captain Nemo - AI autopilot named after Jules Verne's character in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Caribbean Sea - A to Z of the West Indies islands: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Cayman, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Hispaniola, Jamaica Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Roatan, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin Saint Vincent, Sint Maarten, Tortuga, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos, Virgin US Characters - Blackbeard's Curse & Pirates Gold Charles I King of England - 1600 to 1647 Charles II King of England - 1630 to 1685 Charles III - King of England 2022, COP 27, Buckingham Palace Christopher Columbus - Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castile Coracle - A small round boat Davy Jones's Locker - The sailors devil, a chest at the bottom of the sea signifying passing and their final resting place Dead (Man's) Chest Island - British Virgin Islands - Where Blackbeard marooned his unruly pirates in folklore Dead men tell no tales - Pirates language or code for giving reason to kill another pirate for careless talk Diamonds - Highly prized gemstones as treasure favoured by pirates Doubloons - Coins minted from solid gold Elizabeth Swann - A high tech zero emission, autonomous ship, with AI England - Home of the the Admiralty, British naval forces who operated ships in the Caribbean and all over the world Fifteen men on a dead man's chest, yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum Fortress - A fortified building or town, typically sporting cannons and turrets Gold - Coins and bullion treasure of pirates Graphics - Blackbeard's Curse and Pirates Gold Guineas - Gold coins HAL - The world's most advanced AI, artificially intelligent ship management supercomputer Henry VII - Eighth King named Henry, English tyrannical (divine) ruler, beheadings without trial & six wives Hispaniola - Schooner used to sail the Skeleton Island - Island of Hispaniola Hurricanes - Tropical revolving storms, very high winds Hydrofoils - Underwater wings that lift boats and small ships clear of the waves, for hull efficiency Islands, Caribbean Jewels - Precious gemstones, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, pearls, jewellery Jim Hawkins - Cabin boy John Storm - A conservationist and amateur anthropologist, who is an ocean adventurer Kingston - The capital of Jamaica Lieutenant Robert Maynard - British Royal Navy, HMS Pearl, the man who killed Blackbeard Londoner's Island (Lunging) Isle of Shoals, Blackbeard & buried treasure, History Channel Long John Silver - Pirate captain Lord James Huntington - English aristocrat and professional treasure hunter Maps - Treasure charts, usually written on waterproof velum or parchment Movies - Ten and more of the best and worst Treasure Island films (so far) Navigation - A skill that all pirates and naval officers needed to learn before the invention of GPS Old Providence - Isla de Providencia, Columbia Orgies - Port Royal and other pirate locations where morals are very low Pearls - Valuable pirate tender Pieces of Eight - The Spanish dollar is a coin made of silver Pirates - Sailors who scour the sea for ships they can plunder Plum Point - Bath Creek, North Carolina is a site where Blackbeard may have buried part of his treasure Port Royal - The former capital of Jamaica, that got washed into the sea by a tsunami Queen Anne of England 1665 - 1714 Queen Anne's Revenge - Former French slave traders ship captured by Blackbeard, rediscovered wreckage historic site Queen Anne's War - Spanish war of Succession, inter colonial fight for control of the American colonies Robert Louis Stevenson - Scottish novelist: Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Curious Case of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde Robin John Longstride - A pirate known as 'John Long' to his shipmates. He has a parrot named Captain Flint and cooks ROVs - Remotely Operated Vehicles, typically smaller underwater vessels for marine survey and salvage work Rubies - Red gemstones highly prized by pirates Rum - The devil drink of Jamaica, Captain Morgan's Rum SeaVax-Calypso - Floating, navigable seaweed harvesting machines for the Caribbean Sea SeaVax-Sargasso - Floating seaweed harvesting machines for the Caribbean Island, serviced by AmphiMax-Sargasso launchers Skeleton Island - An uncharted location known only to a few pirates, inhabited by numerous well positioned human skeletons Sargassum - US Virgin Islands declares a state of emergency April 2022 Scott Tremaine - Ship's captain and explorer Script - Blackbeard's Curse and Pirates Gold Silver - Coins and bullion, pirates treasure, pieces of eight Sir Rodney Baskerville - Professor of maritime history, specializing in shipwrecks and recovery Skeleton Island - The Map, Old Providence Smithsonian Magazine - March 2011, did archaeologists uncover Blackbeard's treasure on the Queen Anne's Revenge Sovereigns - British solid gold minted coins, Henry VIII, 1489 Spain - Spanish treasure ships, laden with gold and gemstones Squire Trelawny - Treasure hunt sponsor Stealth Ships - Vessels (including aircraft) that are invisible to radar Storms - Hurricanes, rough seas and tornadoes Sugar Plantations - Farms where cane is grown to produce sugar The Goonies - A treasure hunting yarn from 1985 based on the pirates map of One Eyed Willy The Old Anchor Inn, Bristol Top Ten Films - 10 best Treasure Island movies index Tortuga - A favourite pirate haunt of old Treasure Island Movies - 1934 MGM, 1950 RKO Walt Disney Pictures, 202? Universal & Mandeville Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
PART
ONE - The Old Buccaneer
Treasure Trove - Who owns the treasure that is found buried or stashed away. Is it you or the State? Trisha Lippard - Cleopatra's alias, to protect her royal identity Tsunami - A giant wave usually triggered by seismic activity such as an earthquake Underwater Kingdom - Innerspace, is the opposite of outerspace UNESCO - World Heritage Sites, top ten United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization Universal & Mandeville Studios - Treasure Island under development Oct 2019 >>> Velum - Animal skin version of parchment Virginia Beach - Chesapeake, North Carolina, is a spot where Blackbeard may have buried some of his treasure Voodoo - The practice of black and white magic, now a recognised religion for its healing powers Water - Traditionally kept in a barrel, but subject to William Gray - Former US Navy Captain
MAIN CHARACTERS
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.
LINKS & REFERENCE
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Contemporary, great classic writers & kindred spirits: Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne and Herman Melville.
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