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Cast of characters in the
original Treasure Island novel
Ben
Gunn is the marooned pirate who dreams of cheese, having spent three years
alone on Skeleton Island in the Caribbean
Sea.
Ben Gunn is an ex-crewman of Captain Flint's who has been marooned for three years on Treasure Island by his crewmates, after his failure to find the treasure without
the
map. During his time alone on the island, Gunn develops his obsessional craving for cheese. He first appears in the novel when Jim Hawkins encounters him. Ben treats Jim kindly in return for a chance of getting back to civilization.
Jim leaves Ben Gunn behind but escapes to the Hispaniola on Ben's coracle. Ben appears later making ghostly sounds to delay Long John Silver's party on its search for the treasure, but Silver recognizes his voice, which restores the pirates' confidence. They forge ahead and locate the place where Flint's treasure was buried. The pirates discover that the cache has been rifled and all of the treasure is gone.
The enraged pirates turn on Silver and Jim, but Ben Gunn and several others attack the pirates by surprise, killing two and dispersing the rest. Silver surrenders to Dr. Livesey, promising to return to his "dooty". They go to Ben Gunn's cave home, where Gunn has had the treasure hidden for some months. The treasure is divided amongst Squire Trelawney and his loyal men, including Jim and Ben Gunn (who gets a very small share, £1000 of £700,000 total), and they return to England, leaving the surviving pirates marooned on the island.
Once in England, Gunn manages to spend his entire portion of the treasure in just a few days and becomes a porter for the rest of his life.
Porto Bello Gold
In the prequel story Porto Bello Gold, written by Arthur D. Howden Smith with explicit permission from Stevenson's executor and published in 1924, Ben Gunn is a servant of captain Andrew "Rip-Rap" Murray, a Jacobite privateer. The cunning Murray masterminds the capture of a Spanish treasure ship, having obtained details on its route through an elaborate ploy and his Jacobite connections. Murray considers Ben Gunn to be a "half-wit" and thus a particularly trustworthy servant, unable to understand Murray's schemes and incapable of deceit or treachery.
Captain Flint's pirate band works with Murray in the operation, and are promised just short of half the captured treasure (which is transferred from Murray's Royal James to Flint's Walrus at
Captain
Kidd's Anchorage on Treasure Island). Mistrusting each other, Murray's and Flint's bands come to blows over the treasure, however. Flint's crew prevails, and in the aftermath Ben Gunn, although hating being a lackey and wearing a "livery-shuit", offers to serve Flint. Ben Gunn is given the exact same duties he had under Murray, being assigned as a servant to Flint's cabin boy Darby McGraw.
During in-fighting among the pirates over the treasure map following Flint's death in Savannah, Ben Gunn and Darby McGraw escape to Charleston with the protagonists and a small amount of
gold. Still fearful of a life as a servant, he insists on becoming a proper sailor and the protagonists find him a berth on a Barbados packet boat.
The Adventures of Ben Gunn
Ben Gunn is the main character in The Adventures of Ben Gunn, a prequel to Treasure Island written by R. F. Delderfield. The story follows Ben Gunn from parson's son to pirate and is narrated by Jim in Gunn's words. Ben Gunn is viewed as insane at first but proves them wrong by showing of his strengths. Ben Gunn finds the treasure before the rest of the pirates.
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
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