Plot summary Treasure Island

stevenson s map of treasure island



jim hawkins hiding in apple-barrel, listening pirates



part i— old buccaneer

an old sailor, calling himself captain —real name billy bones—comes lodge @ admiral benbow inn on west english coast during mid-1700s, paying innkeeper s son, jim hawkins, few pennies keep lookout one-legged seafaring man . seaman intact legs, missing 2 fingers, shows confront billy sharing treasure map. after running stranger off in violent fight, billy drinks far rum has stroke , billy tells jim former shipmates covet contents of sea chest. after visit evil blind man named pew gives him black spot , summons share treasure, billy has stroke , dies; jim , mother (his father has died few days before) unlock sea chest, finding money, journal, , map. local physician, dr. livesey, deduces map of island deceased pirate—captain flint—buried vast treasure. district squire, trelawney, proposes buying ship , going after treasure, taking livesey ship s doctor , jim cabin boy.

part ii— sea cook

several weeks later, trelawney sends jim , livesey , introduces them long john silver, one-legged bristol tavern-keeper whom has hired ship s cook. (silver enhances outre attributes—crutch, pirate argot, etc.—with talking parrot.) meet captain smollett, tells them dislikes of crew on voyage, seems in bristol knows search treasure. after taking few precautions, however, set sail on trelawney s schooner, hispaniola, distant island. during voyage, first mate, drunkard, disappears overboard. , before island sighted, jim—concealed in apple barrel—overhears silver talking 2 other crewmen.most of them former gentlemen o fortune (pirates) in flint s crew , have planned mutiny. jim alerts captain, doctor, , squire, , calculate 7 19 against mutineers , must pretend not suspect until treasure found when can surprise adversaries.

part iii— shore adventure

but after ship anchored, silver , of others go ashore, , 2 men refuse join mutiny killed—one loud scream realizes there can no more pretence. jim has impulsively joined shore party , covertly witnessed silver committing 1 of murders; now, in fleeing, encounters half-crazed englishman, ben gunn, tells him marooned here , can against mutineers in return passage home , part of treasure.

part iv— stockade

meanwhile, smollett, trelawney, , livesey, along trelawney s 3 servants , 1 of other hands, abraham gray, abandon ship , come ashore occupy old abandoned stockade. men still on ship, led coxswain israel hands, run pirate flag. 1 of trelawney s servants , 1 of pirates killed in fight reach stockade, , ship s gun keeps barrage upon them, no effect, until dark when jim finds stockade , joins them. next morning, silver appears under flag of truce, offering terms captain refuses, , revealing pirate has been killed in night (by gunn, jim realizes, although silver not). @ smollett s refusal surrender map, silver threatens attack, and, within short while, attack on stockade launched.

part v— sea adventure

after battle, surviving mutineers retreat, having lost 5 men, 2 more of captain s group have been killed , smollett himself badly wounded. when livesey leaves in search of gunn, jim runs away without permission , finds gunn s homemade coracle. after dark, goes out , cuts ship adrift. 2 pirates on board, hands , o brien, interrupt drunken quarrel run on deck, ship—with jim s boat in wake—is swept out sea on ebb tide. exhausted, jim falls asleep in boat , wakes next morning, bobbing along on west coast of island, carried northerly current. eventually, encounters ship, seems deserted, getting on board, finds o brien dead , hands badly wounded. , hands agree beach ship @ inlet on northern coast of island. ship beach, hands attempts kill jim himself killed in attempt. then, after securing ship can, jim goes ashore , heads stockade. once there, in utter darkness, enters blockhouse—to greeted silver , remaining 5 mutineers, have somehow taken on stockade in absence.

part vi— captain silver

silver , others argue whether kill jim, , silver talks them down. tells jim that, when found ship gone, captain s party agreed treaty whereby gave stockade , map. in morning, doctor arrives treat wounded , sick pirates , tells silver out trouble when find site of treasure. after leaves, silver , others set out map, taking jim along hostage. encounter skeleton, arms apparently oriented toward treasure, unnerves party. eventually, find treasure cache—empty. pirates charge @ silver , jim, shots fired livesey, gray, , gunn, ambush. 1 pirate killed , george merry wounded, killed silver. other 3 run away, , livesey explains gunn had found treasure , taken cave.

in next few days, load of treasure onto ship, abandon 3 remaining mutineers (with supplies , ammunition) , sail away. @ first port in spanish america, sign on more crew, silver steals bag of money , escapes. rest sail bristol , divide treasure. jim says there more left on island, 1 not undertake voyage recover it.