BILLY BONES

BILLY BONES

Cast of characters in the original Treasure Island novel

Billy Bones is the old sea captain who has the treasure map in a chest he carries with him to the Admiral Benbow.

He appears at the very outset of the story with a mysterious sea chest, looking for a wayside inn with a view of the sea. Bones decides upon the Admiral Benbow Inn where he asks to be addressed merely as "Captain". Though his down-payment for lodgings is adequate, even generous, he stays for many months and browbeats Jim Hawkins' father out of asking for more money even when his deposit has been spent. He does, however, pay Jim fourpence a month to keep watch for "a seafaring man with one leg". Though he seems sometimes on the verge of deciding this was a waste of money, he invariably relents. Most of the daytime is spent walking the cliffs and looking out to sea.

A habitual drunkard, the Captain terrorizes the customers of the Benbow with his swearing, singing and general bullying. Yet he begins to attract customers by his very notoriety, and earns some admiration from locals who consider him a "real old salt". The winter after his arrival, the Captain is visited by Black Dog, a villainous-looking man with two fingers missing from his hand. There is a noisy argument between the two, which turns into a lively sword fight and the Captain drives off a wounded Black Dog. As soon as the unwelcome visitor is gone, the Captain suffers a stroke. He is tended to by Dr. Livesey, who discovers the real name of the Captain to be Billy Bones when his arm is bared as a prelude to a surgical bloodletting and the name is found tattooed there.

The doctor saves Bones' life and tells him to lay off the alcohol, but Bones does not heed Livesey's warning. He is plainly weakened by his stroke and the shock of Black Dog's visit, and at one point Hawkins even hears him sing a country love song, a gentle relic of his innocent days as a youth. He admits to Jim Hawkins that he sailed with Captain Flint, the notorious pirate, and was first mate on his ship. This explains much of the mysterious circumstances and solitary behavior of the early part of the story.

A few days later, a blind pirate known only as Pew reaches the inn, and Bones is plainly terrified. Pew slips a Black Spot into Bones' hand and departs. Immediately, Bones suffers a second stroke and dies. The pirates come nonetheless and ransack the inn. The attackers fail to find the map, as it is now in Hawkins' possession, but they destroy the inn, ruining the Hawkins' livelihood. This prompts Hawkins and his companions to embark on a search for the treasure.

Abraham Gray - Ships carpenter

Ben Gunn - Marooned pirate

Billy Bones - Former mate of Captain Flint

Black Dog - Pirate

Blind Pew - Pirate

Captain Alexander Smollett - Hispaniola captain

Captain Joseph Flint - Deceased pirate, owner of buried treasure chest and map

Dick Johnson - Is a young pirate with a Bible

Doctor David Livesey - Medical man and magistrate

George Merry - A mutinous pirate

Hispaniola - The sailing ship hired for the adventure

Jim Hawkins - Cabin boy

Job Anderson - Ship's boatswain

John Hunter - Squire Trelawney's manservant

Israel Hands - Ship's coxwain, mate of Captain Flint

Long John Silver

Richard Joyce - Valet to Squire Trelawney

Squire John Trelawney - A wealthy landowner

Tom Morgan - Pirate friend of Captain Flint

Tom Redruth - Gamekeeper

Treasure Island was written by Robert Louis Stevenson, becoming an instant hit, popular with children and adults, the subject of many films and graphic novels.

STUDIO/AGENTS: A draft script for Kulo-Luna is available on request. Cleopatra The Mummy is currently under development

TREASURE ISLAND - THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN STORM & THE ELIZABETH SWANN

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