Billy Bones

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Billy Bones
Treasure Island character
Illustration by N. C. Wyeth for 1911 edition.
First appearance
Created byRobert Louis Stevenson
Portrayed by
Voiced by
In-universe information
NicknameBill
SpeciesHuman
GenderMale
OccupationPirate
NationalityEnglish

Billy Bones is a fictional character appearing in the first section of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel Treasure Island.[1][2][3]

Among other things, he is notable for singing the "Dead Man's Chest" sea song.[3]

In the novel[edit]

Billy Bones 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.[2]

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.

Fictional biography[edit]

Bones' account book, read by Jim Hawkins and Dr. Livesey, says that Bones was a pirate for nearly 20 years.[2]

According to the map notes of Treasure Island, Captain Flint hid his treasure in August 1750 and Bones received the Map in July 1754 while Flint was dying.

According to Long John Silver's conversation with Dick Johnson, Blind Pew spent his share of treasure in one year and that for two years until his accidental death under the Revenue Officer's horse, he was starving and murdering—thus a tentative date for Treasure Island is 1756–1757.

Other media[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Treasure Island. In The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (2000).
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Black Sails: 10 Facts Everyone Should Know About Billy Bones". ScreenRant. 2020-05-10. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  3. ^ a b Stevenson, Robert Louis. 1883 [1994]. "The Old Sea-dog at the 'Admiral Benbow'." Ch. 1 in Treasure Island. Retrieved 2021-11-21. via Project Gutenberg.
  4. ^ Treasure Island (1934) at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata