Long John Silver

How Stevenson describes him:

"His left leg was cut off close by the hip, and under the left shoulder he carried a crutch, which he managed with wonderful dexterity, hopping about upon it like a bird. He was very tall and strong, with a face as big as a ham - plain and pale, but intelligent and smiling".

His role in Treasure Island:

Long John Silver was hired by the Squire to be the cook on the Hispaniola. He turns out not to be a cook but an evil pirate who is also hunting for Captain Flint's treasure. Generally he is not to be trusted. He is a clever, sneaky and dastardly villain who is feared by all. He escapes at the end of the book with some of the treasure and is never seen again.

Long John Silver said,

"Being a pirate is all well and good...for any man, but once I lost me leg it was never the same. I needed the treasure for me and the wife to get our retirement home in Eastbourne".

"He was the bloodthirstiest buccaneer that sailed. Blackbeard was a child to Flint."

His role in Treasure Island:

Captain Flint was the most evil, cruel and heartless pirate to sail the seven seas and it is his treasure that everyone is after. A really nasty piece of work but now long dead (thankfully).

Captain Flint said,

"I wish I'd put my treasure in the bank now! If I could just get my hands on them..."

"He was plainly blind for he tapped before him with a stick, and wore a great green shade over his eyes and nose; and he was hunched, as if with age or weakness, and wore a huge old tattered sea-cloak with a hood, which made him appear positively deformed ".

His role in Treasure Island:

An evil and sinister pirate who was blinded in a pirate attack. He is cruel, scary and determined to get the map. He gives Billy Bones the Black Spot and is trampled to death by horses.

Blind Pew said,

"All I needed was the map, then I would have been home and dry - Billy Bones got what he deserved!"

"A tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man; his tarry pigtail falling over the shoulders of his soiled blue coat; his hands ragged and scarred, with black, broken nails; and the sabre cut across one cheek, a dirty, livid white".

His role in Treasure Island:

A drunken, violent and yet terrified man who brings the map to Jim's Inn. He is given the Black Spot by Blind Pew and dies of a heart attack from terror.

Billy Bones said,

"Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum...(hic)".