Walrus ship. Under black sails: Captain Flint. Silver is a bad guy

Pirates are one of the most romantic literary characters. The historical realities are such that piracy has existed since the dawn of shipping. The temptation of easy money led the sailors and forced them to plunder. In ancient Greece, the term "leistes" was used to describe people who traded in piracy.

During the Age of Discovery, attacks on ships increased as many new routes emerged. The mere mention of some bandits horrified travelers and merchants. The biography of such persons inspired artists, among whom was the writer. The character of his work "Treasure Island" John Flint is a fictional character who had a real prototype.

History of creation

The excitement, adventure, and romance of travel have enveloped piracy since the 16th century, with the rise of the British navy. The authorities resorted to the help of bandits, organizing control over the colonies and the fight against competing countries: France, Holland and Spain. Pirate fleets were based on the islands of the Caribbean and gradually became a threat to states. The plots of political battles were known through newspapers, gossip and stories, which means they became an attractive motive for boyish games.

Stevenson originally planned to call the novel "Sea Cook, or Treasure Island: a story for children." The writer created a color map of the island and unconsciously gave it a name. Inspiration brought new images to weave into the narrative. The novel was conceived as a game for teenagers in which everyone could realize his fantasies.The author read passages to the family and made corrections, focusing on the comments of the household.

The adventure theme appealed to the children of that era. The heroes of the work are outstanding: John Silver, Captain Flint. The plot included interesting twists and turns, a description of travel, fights and intrigues. The author did not neglect the richness of the action, the pace of events and the change of locations. The unity of time, place and action gives a sense of reality.

Stevenson made the narrator a boy who watched what was happening from the side and at the same time was a direct participant in the events. He narrated in the first person, conveying sincere emotions and voicing thoughts. The boy minimizes the use of adjectives in his speech, talking about events, communication of characters and allowing him to fantasize landscapes and the surroundings of the characters.

The prototype for the image of Captain Flint was a real historical person who first appeared in literature on the pages of M. Whitehead's work "The Life of English Thieves and Pirates". Pierre MacOrlan mentions the pirate in the preface to his book A General History of the Robberies and Murders Committed by the Most Notorious Pirates.

Researchers believe that Edward Teach, nicknamed Blackbeard, served as the prototype of Captain Flint. His biography is fascinating. Pirate was born in Bristol in 1680. His youth is surrounded by mystery, but, judging by the rumors, Teach was literate and had an education, which indicates a noble origin.

According to legend, Tich served as a sailor on a ship during the war with Spain. In 1717, he joined the privateers who fought the pirates, and then changed sides and embarked on a criminal path. Over time, he took possession of a ship called Queen Anne's Revenge, and a black flag appeared on the ship's mast. From that moment on, the name Blackbeard became known to the sailors.

The pirate was agile and cunning. He robbed rich ships, fooled travelers, and bribed government officials. In 1718, the British fleet was sent to capture the pirate. In a duel, Tich lost and was killed. It is curious that Israel Hands is described in Stevenson's novel. This is a real character who was a pirate in the Blackbeard gang.

Image and plot

Captain Flint, the hero of the novel Treasure Island, embarked on the path of robbery in his youth. The son of a convict who was serving a sentence in the Barbados penal servitude, he hardly saw his father. After the change of power, Flint's father received a piece of land on the island, got married and started a family. The captain was the third son and had attractive prospects.

He could have become a planter or a ship owner, but the war with Spain prevented him. Once the village was robbed and burned by a private Spaniard who killed Flint's entire family. The teenager managed to wait out the siege, after which he became a buccaneer and fought against the Spaniards.

Like Silver, Flint used the terms of the amnesty to get the ship. His plans included capturing a silver caravan or plundering mainland settlements. The convict ship he received at his own disposal, he called the "Walrus". Despite his formidable reputation, Flint was peaceful: this was manifested in sympathy for animals. On his ship, pets were not uncommon.

According to the plot, Captain Flint buried the treasure on an island located in the West Indies. Six pirates helped him and were killed to prevent the secret from spreading. As a reminder of the place where the treasures were hidden, a corpse was left on the island, whose hands pointed to a hill called the Lonely Mountain. To measure the mountain on the map, Flint marked it with a dot. Later, the ship's navigator Billy Bones received the plan, and after his death, Jim Hawkins.

Flint was not afraid of enemies, rivals and treasure hunters. Only the name of the quartermaster, John Silver, haunted him. The latter's parrot was nicknamed "Captain Flint".

The captain is not the main character of the novel, he is mentioned briefly in the story. In the film adaptation, the author's characterization is supplemented by a visual appearance.

Screen adaptations

The book "Treasure Island" has been filmed more than once and presented to the audience as an animated project. In 1934, American directors presented a film to the attention of the public, in which Wallace Beery and Otto Krueger played the main roles.

In 1937, the novel was filmed in the Soviet Union. Osip Abdulov played Silver, and

Some were afraid of Pugh, others were afraid of Billy Bones, and me ... hehe ... Flint himself was afraid of me!
Who was so scary?
The only person Flint feared was his quartermaster, John Silver, who later even named his parrot "Captain Flint" in derision.

John Silver was quartermaster. And Flint himself was afraid of him. No wonder - Lanky John is an exceptional personality. But what is the position of "quartermaster"? The note to the Russian translation says: "supervisor of food." Which is not true at all.

In the original, Silver was not a quartermaster - he was a quartermaster, that is, a master of some quarter.

On ships, and not only pirate ones, but on English ships of the Renaissance in general, the master is the head of the deck. A deck or deck is a horizontal surface covering at least two-thirds of the ship's length. Each deck has its own master. If there are cannons on the deck, the master is an artilleryman, if this is the lowest deck, then the hold-machine, I don’t know exactly how it sounded called. By the way, it was the trumach who was engaged in food, he is closer.

The only deck on which the master was not responsible for the order was the uppermost deck, where the boatswain was in charge. This in no way infringed on the rights of the captain, who commanded the ship as a whole. The boatswain ensured only the proper performance of the part of the crew employed on the bridge of their duties.

But there was another deck, often virtual, sometimes built temporarily - the quarterdeck, so named because it did not exceed a quarter of the ship's length. Quarterdeck included quarterdeck (a platform or deck in the stern of a sailing ship, one level above the waist, where the captain was, in whose absence - watch and guard officers, and compasses were installed there) and a canopy temporarily built over the bridge, usually assembled before an attack and more often on combat or pirate (a special case of combat) ships.

There, on the quarterdeck and quarterdeck, was the boarding party, the Marines of that era, a team of desperate thugs with a high probability of being killed in an attack. In short boarding battles, the team that acted as a single organism, that is, was assembled, prepared and organized by a skillful and strong leader - the quarterdeck master, or quartermaster, won. Thus, John Silver was not the head of the production of feasts at Flint, but the chieftain of the Marine Corps.

Squabbling is a type of hobby for him, let's recall a similar character, professional amateur chef John Casey Ryback, performed by Steven Seagal (films Capture, etc.). Here everything immediately falls into place, Flint would be a fool if he were not afraid of such a person. I think so any captain, unless he combined the duties of a quartermaster with his basics (Blackbeard), was afraid of his chieftain. Something had to be done to counter it. Flint and opposed. On pirate ships, only one person, the captain, knew navigational science. At sea, the death of the captain meant the death of the team, only this kept Silver from attacking Flint. An interesting fact is that when the team was captured by pirates, they could leave the life of anyone, but a person with knowledge of navigation and navigation had no chance of surviving. They killed so that there would be no temptation of rebellion and the removal of the captain.

(1850-1894).

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Flint in Stevenson's novel

Although Flint is not a direct participant in the novel, episodic information about him periodically "emerges" in the course of the story, mainly in the memoirs of John Silver and other pirates. Flint has been successfully pirating for a long time. According to Silver, Flint's ship "Walrus" was "... soaked through with blood, and there was so much gold on it that it almost went to the bottom."

During his time as a pirate, Flint has created a very sinister reputation for himself, enough for the mere mention of his name to terrify people. The only person Flint himself was afraid of was his quartermaster, John Silver (according to Silver himself), who later actually, as if in mockery, called his parrot "Captain Flint".

Despite the fact that Flint himself, according to the memoirs of the pirates, suffered from a strong addiction to rum (especially at the end of his life), according to Silver's memoirs, iron discipline was maintained on his ship.

According to the plot of the novel, Flint hid his huge treasures by burying them on an island in the West Indies (the island itself does not exist in reality). He was assisted in burying these treasures by six members of the Walrus crew, whom Flint treacherously killed after the treasure was hidden. He left the corpse of a sailor named Allardyce as an imaginary arrow (compass) - with outstretched arms pointing to the place where the treasures were hidden. The location of the hidden treasures was marked by Flint on the map, which subsequently fell into the hands of the Walrus's navigator William (Billy) Bones, and after Bones died of apoplexy stroke - to the hero of the novel, young Jim Hawkins.

Flint died some time before the start of Treasure Island, at an inn in Savannah, Georgia (it is assumed that this place has survived to this day, although it has undergone changes since it was built in, and is now called Pirate's House Inn). Flint's dying words were "Darby McGraw! Darby McGraw! Darby, give me some rum!

Although Flint is only briefly mentioned in the Treasure Island novel, he has been featured several times in its film adaptations.

Prototype

The image of Flint may have been based on the biography of a real person. According to Pierre MacOrlan, Flint was mentioned by the English novelist M. Charles Whitehead in his book The Lives and Exploits of Robbers, Pirates and Robbers of All Nations. McOrlan writes about this in his preface to the French translation of Captain Charles Johnson's 1921 General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates.

Undoubtedly, one of the most charismatic pirates of his time, Edward Teach - Blackbeard, also played his role in shaping the image of Captain Flint. The novel even has a deliberate contrast (“Blackbeard in front of Flint is a baby”), put, however, into the mouth of the chatty squire Trelawney, and the time of the novel (the first half of the 18th century) approximately coincides with the period of Teach’s “pirate career”.

There are also a number of parallels between the biographies of Teach and Flint. In particular, the place of Flint's death from delirium tremens - Savannah - is very close to the place of Teach's death in a naval battle, and the real Israel Hands, one of the negative heroes of Treasure Island, was the senior assistant on the ship of Edward Teach.

reminiscences

The figure of Captain Flint is often cited as an archetypal pirate:

In Stephen Roberts' book "Piastres... Piasters!" (2016) Flint is shown as a surly evil pirate. His story is told and his part in the robbery of the Viceroy of India. This description of Flint is considered the best among followers. In addition, the book tells the full story of events leading up to the events of Stevenson's original novel.
In the novel Peter Pan by Scottish writer J. Barry: “... here is Bill Jukes, every inch of his body is covered with a tattoo, the same Bill Jukes who received six dozen from Flint on the Walrus before he gave the bag of coins ... »
Ronald Frederick Delderfield in his novel The Adventures of Ben Gunn gives a more detailed description of Flint than Stevenson. After reading this novel, you can find out the character of this character, his life story, and also where the Walrus came from. It also describes a raid on Santalena - one of the towns in South America, from where the Silver Caravans exported wealth. After the robbery of Santalena, it becomes clear where the treasures came from and how they ended up on Kidda Island.
In the movie "The Buccaneer" (with Yul Brynner), which was set during the War of 1812, there was a character called Captain Flint (played by Nassau in the bosom of the English crown. It is not known what happened to Hamilton, but it is known that his wife Miranda became the actual wife of McGraw and lives in Nassau, and McGraw himself called himself James Flint and became the semi-legendary pirate captain of the Walrus ship. of the ship where Silver served as a sailor (he introduced himself to the crew of the Walrus as a cook). On the page there is an entry about the route of the Spanish galleon Urca de Lima, on which there is gold and silver, later buried on Treasure Island. In the middle of the second season, and it was in episode 5 that it was revealed that James McGraw was having an affair with Thomas Hamilton.Thomas's father Alfred Hamilton used this information to imprison his son in asylum when his political views became too dangerous for their family. James and Miranda were expelled from England on pain of death.
The game Borderlands 2 features a second boss (with a special cutscene), who is the commander of the bandits in the South Shelf and part-time captain of the fortress ship, named "Captain Flint".

Flint was the son of a rebel who was exiled to the island of Barbados. Flint's father, having fallen under the amnesty, began to farm on the island and raised three sons (Flint was the youngest). Everything was fine, but one day, the Spaniards attacked the island and killed the whole family of Flint, who, hiding in the bushes, watched as his father and brothers were hanged.

After that, Flint joined the pirates. Having earned a good reputation for his fighting qualities and hatred of the Spaniards, Flint, at various times, was a member of the team of such famous pirates as Blackbeard, England and Davis. Having matured, he organized his team and became a captain.

In Delderfield's novel The Adventures of Ben Gunn, Flint's fate is described from the capture of a convict ship to his death, after dividing the booty on a "treasure island".

How Flint got the treasure and died

Flint, with the help of Billy Bones, Silver and familiar convicts, captured the ship on which Nick Allardyce and Ben Gunn were sailing. The ship was redesigned as a pirate (under combat) and received the name "Walrus".

Flint robbed small ships for a long time, but his dream was some big business. And soon he turned it over. The Walrus team, teaming up with French pirates, attacked the town of Santalena (South America), which was a transshipment base for the export of Indian gold and silver to Europe. The plan of attack was impeccably devised and, after the capture of the town, great wealth was in Flint's hands.

Pirates brought the loot to the island of Kidda (aka "treasure island"). And then Flint (together with Silver and other leaders) made a fateful decision for many people. He (through Silver, who was a good speaker) offered to hide the treasure on the island, and then come on several ships and divide it up. Naturally, the pirates began to resent (they were already planning to show off to their share), but Silver quickly calmed everyone down.

There was another problem. Who will know where the treasures are buried? A lottery was held and Flint, along with six pirates, went to hide wealth. After everything was buried, Flint killed his assistants (either out of distrust, or he was defending himself from Silver's "agents"). During the battle, Flint received a terrible wound, but was able to return to the ship.

After that, he began to drink soundly (this was facilitated by his dumb servant Darby McGraw, who could not refuse the owner and dragged him rum). As a result, he died (drunkenness and a wound), but before his death he managed to draw a map where the location of the treasure was indicated. It was from her that the adventures described in Stevenson's novel "Treasure Island" began (Billy Bones escaped with the map).

Excerpts from books describing the pirate Flint

Flint's appearance

It was he who first attracted my attention. His powerful build and tall stature were striking; broad shoulders and narrow hips denounced a man who could not only deliver a powerful blow, but also deftly evade a retaliatory attack. He wore a faded red doublet, like those worn by cavalrymen, and well-worn but still strong naval boots, tight-fitting to the calves. Over a silk sash with long tassels, he fastened a wide belt with a buckle and four clips into which pistols were inserted. The open-necked blue cambric shirt was darkened with sweat. This whole somewhat faded outfit was completed with a simple woolen cap, which tightly fit the filibuster's skull, suggesting that he was bald and usually wears a wig. However, it was not the clothes that struck me the most, but the face of this man. Elongated, fox-like treacherous, it was all dotted with dark dots. Of course, he was not born with such a face; it was said that Flint was disfigured by the explosion, which almost sent him to the next world and covered his face with powder from forehead to neck. It always seemed to me that the most terrible thing in Flint was not his face, not his voice, and not even the terrible composure, but his laughter. When Flint laughed, it was time to remember the catechism and sort out all his sins in memory, because he rarely laughed, and if he laughed, it meant that someone from those around him could slowly get ready for the journey to the next world. Flint's laughter was somehow special, guttural, not a single sound escaped from his throat, and his face remained completely motionless, only his shoulders were shaking ...

Flint in combat

Flint disarmed him in several steps and delivered a terrible blow, from which the captain collapsed on the deck with a cut shoulder. Soon the Spaniards threw down their weapons, asking for mercy. Perhaps Silver would have spared them if not for Flint. "Death! Death!" he shouted in a terrible voice. The Spaniards jumped overboard in fear, and the wounded, with the help of Pugh and Hands, went there too ...

Flint after being wounded on the island

He raised his head, and we saw that his face was even more terrible than usual: pale as chalk, his cheeks sunk in, his inflamed eyes burning like coals in deep sockets. It was as if they had taken a skull and wrapped it in brown leather. - The rest? Flint growled. “The rest gave up, damn that treacherous bastard!” Climbing up the ladder, he nearly fell off; Anderson had to go down and almost on his hands to drag him on board. There was dead silence when Flint stepped onto the deck. The crew stared at him, and he glared back at us, baring his yellow teeth in a wolfish grin. “Well,” he said at last, “does anyone want to join them?” Flint's right hand reached for one of the four pistols hanging from his belt. No one moved, everyone silently looked at the terrible, ominous face of the captain ...

Pirates of Flint

I don’t want something,” Morgan grumbled. - When I remembered Flint, I immediately lost my appetite. - Yes, my son, your happiness that he died, - said Silver. - And his face was like the devil! exclaimed the third pirate, shuddering. - All blue-blue! "It's from the rum," Merry added. - Blue! Still not blue! Roma makes you blue, that's right. The sight of the skeleton and the memory of Flint had such an effect on these people that they began to talk more and more quietly and finally reached a barely audible whisper, which hardly broke the forest silence. And suddenly, from a nearby grove, someone's thin, sharp, piercing voice sang a well-known song:

Fifteen men for a dead man's chest. Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Mortal horror gripped the pirates. All six of them turned green at once. Some jumped to their feet, others clutched each other convulsively. Morgan fell to the ground and crawled like a snake. It's Flint! Merry exclaimed...

During his time as a pirate, Flint has created a very sinister reputation for himself, enough for the mere mention of his name to terrify people. The only person Flint himself was afraid of was his quartermaster John Silver (according to Silver himself), who later actually, as if in mockery, called his parrot "Captain Flint".

According to the plot of the novel, Flint hid his huge treasures by burying them on an island in the West Indies (the island itself does not exist in reality). He was assisted in burying these treasures by six members of the Walrus crew, whom Flint treacherously killed after the treasure was hidden. He left the corpse of a sailor named Allardyce as an imaginary arrow (compass) - with outstretched arms pointing to the place where the treasures were hidden. The location of the hidden treasures was marked by Flint on a map, which subsequently fell into the hands of Walrus navigator William (Billy) Bones, and after Bones died of apoplexy - to the hero of the novel, young Jim Hawkins.

Although Flint is only briefly mentioned in the Treasure Island novel, he has been featured several times in its film adaptations.

Prototype

The image of Flint may have been based on the biography of a real person. According to Pierre McOrlan, Flint was mentioned by the English novelist M. Charles Whitehead in his book The Lives and Exploits of the Robbers, Pirates and Robbers of All Nations. McOrlan writes about this in his preface to the 1921 French translation of Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates.

Undoubtedly, one of the most charismatic pirates of his time, Edward Teach - "Blackbeard" played his role in shaping the image of Captain Flint. The novel even has a deliberate contrast (“Blackbeard in front of Flint is a baby”), put, however, into the mouth of the chatty squire Trelawney, and the time of the novel (the first half of the 18th century) approximately coincides with the period of Teach’s “pirate career”.

reminiscences

The figure of Captain Flint is often cited as an archetypal pirate:

In the novel Peter Pan by the Scottish writer J. Barry: “... here is Bill Jukes, every inch of his body is covered with a tattoo, the same Bill Jukes who received six dozen from Flint on the Walrus before he gave the bag of coins ... »
Ronald Frederick Delderfield, in his novel The Adventures of Ben Gunn, gives a more detailed description of Flint than Stevenson. After reading this novel, you can find out the character of this character, his life story, and also where the Walrus came from. It also describes a raid on Santalena - one of the towns in South America, from where the Silver Caravans exported wealth. After the robbery of Santalena, it becomes clear where the treasures came from and how they ended up on Kidda Island.
In the movie The Buccaneer (with Yul Brynner), set during the War of 1812, there was a character called Captain Flint (played by Paul Newman).
In Arthur Ransome's book "Swallows and Amazons". Arthur Ransom mentioned the name in subsequent books.
In the science fiction animated feature film Treasure Planet.
In the famous bard song of the 30s "Brigantine".
In the series " Black Sails" (USA-South Africa, 2014-2016), the role of Captain Flint was played by Toby Stevens. According to the plot, the man who became Flint was formerly an English naval officer, James McGraw, who was very ambitious due to his low birth, which attracted the attention of an equally ambitious nobleman, Thomas Hamilton, who was obsessed with the desire to return Nassau to the bosom of the English crown. It is not known what happened to Hamilton, but it is known that his wife Miranda became the actual wife of McGraw and lives in Nassau, and McGraw himself called himself James Flint and became the semi-legendary pirate captain of the Walrus ship. At the beginning of the series, Flint meets John Silver and tries to take from him a page from the logbook of the sunken ship, where Silver served as a sailor (he introduced himself to the Walrus crew as a cook). The page contains an entry about the route of the Spanish galleon Urca de Lima, on which there is gold and silver, later buried on Treasure Island. In the middle of the second season, namely in the fifth series, it was revealed that James McGraw entered into a love affair with Thomas Hamilton. Thomas' father Alfred Hamilton used this information to imprison his son in a psychiatric hospital when his political views became too dangerous for their family. James and Miranda were expelled from England on pain of death.
The game Borderlands 2 introduces the second boss (with a special cutscene), who is the commander of the bandits in the South Shelf and part-time captain of the fortress ship, named "Captain Flint".