Flint's ship. Why Captain Flint was afraid of John Silver (1 photo). Flint after being wounded on the island

Evseev Anton 03/04/2019 at 16:00

The image of the pirate captain Flint, created by Stevenson, still attracts many lovers of sea romance. It is believed that the prototype of this insidious villain was Captain Edward Teach, also called Blackbeard. Interestingly, this quite historical character is probably the most maligned pirate in the entire history of the corsair.

What do we know about Flint from Stevenson's novel? That he was extremely cruel with the prisoners and dishonest with his own team. After the capture of the ship, he preferred to kill the first, and the second he constantly deceived (the story of the murder of assistants on Treasure Island while burying the treasure is a good proof of this). Flint constantly abused not only the trust of his associates, but also alcohol - the novel says that he died of the rum. From time to time, Flint allowed himself some very wild antics - for example, he made a pointer to the place where the treasure was buried from the corpse of one of his sailors.

Stevenson's narrative also says that Flint got the treasure as a result of an attack either on Spanish galleons, or on coastal settlements. From the characters' remarks, we can conclude that Flint's name alone terrified all sailors who went to the Caribbean, including the military. So, as you can see, despite his physical absence from the narrative, Flint is nevertheless described in sufficient detail.

Many researchers of Stevenson's work believe that the famous pirate Edward Teach was the prototype of Flint (however, some believe that his nickname should sound like Teich, from English thatch- thick hair), also known as Blackbeard. However, his real name was Edward Drummond. In various books on the history of piracy, they wrote about him that he was extremely cruel with both prisoners and the crew, was a drunken drunkard and a boozer, and was also famous for wild antics.

For example, one late evening Teach, his navigator Israel Hands (whom Stevenson made a gunner in the novel), a pilot and another pirate were drinking on board the ship. Teach, unnoticed by those sitting next to him, pulled out two pistols and, cocking the hammers, put them down beside him. The pirate noticed these actions and decided to leave the table, which was becoming more and more dangerous to sit at, leaving Hands and the pilot to wander with the captain. Then Blackbeard, extinguishing the candle, which greatly increased his chances of not receiving a bullet in response, lowered both pistols under the table and fired from them, although there was no obvious reason for this act.

As a result, he wounded his navigator in the kneecap, from which he limped until the end of his days, the pilot escaped with a slight fright. When Blackbeard was asked what caused this act of his, he replied: "If I do not kill any of my people from time to time, they will forget who I really am."

It was also often said that, shortly before his death, Teach hid a large amount of gold and other riches on several uninhabited islands. At the same time, he always left to bury treasures with one of the sailors, and returned alone. When asked by the team about where his companion had gone, Blackbeard replied that he "fell off a cliff", although in fact he always killed his assistant with a shot in the back of the head. By the way, many literary scholars believe that, perhaps, it was the legend of Teach's treasures that prompted Stevenson to write the famous novel.

The very appearance of Blackbeard was quite intimidating. In Charles Johnson's book "A History of Piracy" (it was recently revealed that the famous writer Daniel Defoe was hiding under this pseudonym) it is said that this pirate braided many braids on his beard and hair (this detail was used in the image of Jack Sparrow from "Pirates of the Caribbean "). Preparing for boarding, he weaved fuses into them, set them on fire and in puffs of smoke, like Satan from the underworld, burst into the ranks of the enemy. Not surprisingly, everyone was afraid of Teach like fire - who wants to meet such a monster?

However, modern researchers of piracy believe that Dafoe either deliberately mystified Teach's story, or retold legends in his book, mistaking them for historical facts. Because when examining the testimony of his sailors and the captains robbed by him, a completely different person appears before us. But let's talk about everything in order.

It is believed that Edward Drummond was born in Bristol (the same city from where, as we remember, "Hispaniola" sailed in search of treasures) somewhere in 1680. There is no information about his childhood and youth, it is only known that in 1701-1703 he took part as a corsair (that is, a "licensed" pirate) in the War of the Spanish Succession. Everyone who saw him then noted that he was distinguished by reckless courage and was an unsurpassed master of boarding saber combat. After the end of the fighting, he served for some time in the British navy as a fencing instructor (hence another version of his nickname, because teach means to teach).

Teach began piracy in October 1717. He went to sea on the ship of another pirate captain, Benjamin Hornigold, but soon took command of the captured six-gun sloop. A month later, he managed to capture the huge French ship "Concorde", which transported slaves. This ship was refitted, its armament increased to 40 cannons, after which Teach made it his flagship, having previously renamed Queen Anne's Revenge.

On this ship, with a crew of 80 to 100 people, Teach, sometimes teaming up with other captains, pirated for about a year in the Bahamas, the Gulfs of Mexico and Honduras, and off the northern coast of Cuba. Actually, he practically never visited the Caribbean, so he cannot be considered a Caribbean pirate. The pirates made their base in the city of Buttown in North Carolina, with officials from which Teach had an excellent relationship - he sold them the stolen goods.

During this time, Blackbeard is believed to have robbed over 30 ships, although only 19 attacks have been documented. However, in 1718, English lieutenant Robert Maynard put an end to his robbery by attacking a pirate near Ocracoke Island. On November 22, a boarding battle took place between Teach's and Maynard's teams, during which Blackbeard and most of his pirates were killed.

Teach himself, fighting four opponents, received more than 25 saber wounds (including three in the head), after which he fell down dead. Maynard chopped off the captain's head and ordered it to be hung on the bowsprit of his ship. Of the 15 pirates captured alive, 13 were convicted and executed by hanging, one was acquitted, and one was pardoned for agreeing to testify against the corrupt officials of Battown (this was the very Israel Hands).

According to the captains, whose ships were robbed by Blackbeard, he treated the prisoners very humanely, never used torture and very rarely destroyed the captured ships. For pirates of the time, this attitude was rare. The residents of Buttown, many of whom knew Teach personally, said that the man was very amiable and pleasant when drunk and absolutely unbearable when drunk. However, this can be said about many, this is not at all an indicator of some kind of extreme cruelty.

As for Teach's wild antics, then, apparently, most of them were invented by his sailors (or himself). The story with the injury of Hands, according to the testimony of several sailors at the trial, was actually somewhat different - the navigator cheated while playing cards, and an enraged Teach shot him in the thigh. However, later he very much regretted his act, gave Hands compensation as for being wounded in battle and even paid for his treatment.

As for the fuses in the hair, none of those who dealt with Teach personally, including Maynard, mention them. And, you must admit, such a masquerade is pure absurdity - during a battle, this decoration interferes primarily with the fighter himself and, moreover, can turn the original from Captain Blackbeard into Captain Bald Skull in a matter of minutes. The braids in the beard are also fiction - no one has ever seen them. And who would have braided them for the captain? His mythical 14 wives (it was believed that he had exactly that many, but only one Blackbeard's marriage was documented)?

Apparently, this pirate did not have any special treasures either. His biggest production is the 6,000 yohimstaller captured aboard Captain Clark's ship. However, then Teach's team consisted of about 120 people, so the captain himself (he, according to the contract, received a seventh share of the booty) did not get so much. In most cases, however, the cost of looting pirates was less than £ 500 at a time. This, of course, is not so little, but with such an income, you must agree, and there is nothing special to bury on the island. So all reports about buried treasures and assistants killed in the process are pure legend.

During the piracy, Teach never attacked Spanish ships or Spanish settlements. That is why pure silver and gold were rarely found in him, and there were no jewelry at all. And the money that he could get, Teach quickly drank, because, judging by the reviews of his contemporaries, he was indeed a chronic alcoholic. It is possible that he was constantly tormented by his conscience about the wrong way of life, which he soothed with the traditional method with the help of rum and brandy.

Although Flint is not a direct participant in the novel, episodic information about him periodically "emerges" in the course of the narrative, mainly in the memories of John Silver and other pirates. Flint had a long history of successful piracy. According to Silver, Flint's ship "The Walrus" was "... soaked through with blood, and there was so much gold on it that it almost went down."

During his pirate career, Flint has built himself a very sinister fame, enough to horrify people at the mere mention of his name. The only person Flint himself feared 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), iron discipline was maintained on his ship, according to Silver's memoirs.

According to the plot of the novel, Flint hid his huge treasures, 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 had 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 treasure was hidden. The location of the hidden treasures was marked by Flint on the map, which later fell into the hands of the navigator of the "Walrus" William (Billy) Bons, and after Bones died of apoplectic stroke - to the novel's hero, young Jim Hawkins.

Flint died some time before the start of Treasure Island, at an inn in Savannah, Georgia (it is believed that this place has survived to this day, although it has undergone changes since it was built in, and is now called the 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 Treasure Island, he has been featured several times in its film adaptations.

Prototype

Flint's image may have been based on a biography of a real person. According to Pierre McOrlan, Flint was mentioned by the English novelist M. Charles Whitehead in his book Life and Feats 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 A General History of Robberies and Murders Perpetrated by the Most Famous Pirates.

Undoubtedly, one of the most charismatic pirates of his time, Edward Teach, "Blackbeard" also played a role in shaping the image of Captain Flint. The novel even contains a deliberate opposition ("Blackbeard before Flint is a baby"), however, put into the mouth of the talkative squire Trelawney, and the duration of the novel (the first half of the 18th century) roughly coincides with 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 death of Teach in the sea battle, and the real Israel Hands, one of the negative heroes of Treasure Island, was the senior assistant on Edward Teach's ship.

Reminiscences

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

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 giving away the bag of coins… "
Ronald Frederick Delderfield, in his novel The Adventures of Ben Gunn, gives a more detailed description of Flint than Stevenson does. 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 were exporting wealth. After the robbery of Santalena, it becomes clear where the treasures came from and how they ended up on Kidda Island.
The Buccaneer (with Yul Brynner), set during the War of 1812, featured a character named Captain Flint (played by Paul Newman).
In the book "Swallows and Amazons" by Arthur Ransome. Arthur Ransome mentioned this name in subsequent books.
In the sci-fi animated feature film Treasure Planet.
In the famous bardic song of the 30s "Brigantine".
In the TV series "Black Sails" (USA-South Africa, 2014-2016), Toby Stevens played the role of Captain Flint. According to the plot, the man who became Flint was previously an English naval officer James McGraw, very ambitious due to his low birth, which attracted the attention of the equally ambitious nobleman Thomas Hamilton, 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 de facto wife of McGraw and lives in Nassau, and McGraw himself called himself James Flint and became the semi-legendary pirate captain of the ship "Walrus". At the beginning of the series, Flint meets John Silver and tries to take from him a page from the logbook of the sunk ship, where Silver served as a sailor (he introduced himself as a cook to the Walrus crew). The page contains an entry about the route of the Spanish galleon Urca de Lima, which contains gold and silver, later buried on Treasure Island. In the middle of the second season, namely in the fifth episode, it was revealed that James McGraw had an affair with Thomas Hamilton. Thomas's father Alfred Hamilton used this information to imprison his son in a mental institution when his political views became too dangerous for their family. James and Miranda were expelled from England on pain of death.
Borderlands 2 introduces a second boss (with a special cutscene), who is the commander of the South Shelf bandits and the captain of the fortress ship, Captain Flint.

Robert Louis Stevenson almost did not invent the heroes of the book "Treasure Island". Russian historians managed to trace the fate of the prototype of one of the main characters in the book.

The romance of pirate adventures remains in vogue to this day. Although the "golden age" of piracy is a thing of the past, many in childhood were fond of the works of Stevenson or Sabatini. And the film industry continues to produce films about pirates, which enjoy constant success. Dmitry Kopelev, Ph.D. in History from the Russian State Pedagogical University. AI Herzen in St. Petersburg decided to find out what real characters became the prototypes of the heroes of the famous "Treasure Island" by Stevenson.

Fictional and real pirates

The prototype of Billy Bons, for example, was a very real Bones, however, very different from a fictional character. In Stevenson's novel, Bones was the navigator of the legendary Captain Flint, who inherited his treasure island map. The real Bones pirated under the command of the actually existing Captain Bartholomew Roberts and ended his life on the gallows.

Kopelev focused on the history of the famous captain Edward Teach, known by the nickname Blackbeard. In Treasure Island, Captain Flint hid his treasures on a desert island before dying. But even before the novel appeared, there was a legend that Captain Teach also hid his treasures, which no one has ever found, although many were looking. Perhaps it was this story that prompted Stevenson to create "Treasure Island".

Pirates were overgrown with legends during their lifetime, so it is rather difficult to separate the truth from fiction. For example, Charles Johnson, author of the book "The General History of Robberies and Murders Perpetrated by the Most Famous Pirates, as well as Their Manners, Order and Governance from the Beginning and Appearance on Providence Island in 1717 until 1724," said that Teach's black beard terrified everyone, and the pirate himself seemed "possessed by a demon." However, people who knew Teach personally or who were in his captivity spoke about this man much more succinctly. For example, the captive of a pirate, the skipper of the ship he had captured, Henry Bostock, gave him a rather common description: "a tall, thin man with a long black beard."

The beginning of a marine career

In official correspondence, the famous pirate was called Thatch, and the name Teach, common today, appeared thanks to the already mentioned Johnson. Historians can only guess about the pirate's childhood and youth. Some researchers report that he was born in Bristol, others suggest the island of Jamaica, London or Philadelphia. It is known that Teach died in 1719, and then he was about 40 years old. Therefore, the conditional date of his birth can be considered 1680.

According to Johnson, Teach's father was a privateer and participated in the Anglo-Dutch wars, and the son followed in his footsteps. In 1693, after the death of her husband, Teach's mother remarried, and the teenager went to sea, where he began his pirate career. There is another version according to which Teach is actually a fictitious surname, and initially his name was Drummond, and he came from a good family who lived in Virginia.

One way or another, but Teach received some education - he could write and read. This is evidenced by a letter found after his death, written to him by the secretary of the governor of North Carolina. The document also indirectly testifies to the pirate's high-ranking acquaintances.

Why it was young Teach who first went to sea is also not known for certain. Maybe he really followed in his father's footsteps. However, naval service at that time was far from the most popular profession. A popular proverb said: "Anyone will do for the gallows and the fleet." As Kopelev notes, there were not enough recruits for the fleet, so recruiters often simply kidnapped people from coastal zones. For example, this is how Rodrik Random got to the navy in 1740, whose adventures were described by Tobias Smollett, who served as a ship's doctor in those years and, apparently, knew well how it usually happened. Admiral of the Russian fleet FM Apraksin also left us a certificate of active recruitment of sailors. Russian sailors in Holland were actively persuaded to flee to the West Indies or East Indies, and it took a lot of effort to get people back from the hands of recruiters. So it is quite possible that Teach ended up at sea against his will.

From privateers to pirates

One way or another, but in 1697 he arrived in Jamaica, took part in the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713), and after the prohibition of privateering he became a pirate. It is known that at the end of 1716 Teach, along with another pirate, Benjamin Hornigold, robbed off the eastern shores of North America. Six months later, the pirates moved south to the Windward Islands region. There they were able to capture the French 14- or 26-gun ship "Concorde". The French cabin boy Louis Haro showed them where the valuables that the ship was carrying were hidden. As a result, the pirates boarded a French ship, took in command a smart cabin boy and several other members of the Concorde's crew, some of them against their will. They were later able to capture several more ships and created their own flotilla. Teach named his ship "Queen Anne's Revenge" in memory of those happy times when privateering was allowed. On May 31, 1718, the Governor of Bermuda, Benjamin Bennett, in his letter to London, estimated the strength of the pirates at five ships and 700 men.

After several more successful operations, Teach decided to go under the amnesty announced in the summer of 1718, settled in North Carolina and even married the daughter of a local planter (although, according to other sources, he had a wife and a child in London). However, Blackbeard lived peacefully for no more than a month or two and soon again went to sea.

The death of Teach and his impact on modernity

Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood decided to end piracy and equipped a punitive expedition at his own expense. In the fall of 1718, two warships under the command of Robert Maynard arrived at the harbor where Teach was stationed. Despite the fact that the pirate had been notified in advance of the impending operation by the governor's secretary, he was not lucky here. During a deck battle, he died. Then 25 wounds were found on his body. The same sailors from his crew who survived the battle were then executed. And Teach's head was put on public display in Williamsburg Square.

Blackbeard became the hero of not only Stevenson's novel. He has appeared more than once on the pages of other works, four films have been made about him, two of them more recently. And modern researchers are still puzzling over the question of who this person really was. For example, the American researcher D. Moore believes that Teach was not a bloodthirsty killer: “... there are no documents showing evidence that Blackbeard killed anyone at all, except for the final battle, and even in this case it can be proved that that he first of all defended himself. "

In 1996, archaeologists found the remains of a ship at the bottom of Beauforg Bay, which was considered the famous "Revenge of Queen Anne" by Teach. And in North Carolina, many names are still reminiscent of the famous pirate.

Kopelev's article "The Real and Fictional Life of Captain Teach" was published in the magazine "

Black Sails is a television series based partly on rhetorical events and partly on the most famous pirate novel Treasure Island by Robert Stevenson. Viewers will see a unique combination of entertainment and historical exploration. Here are some facts about the show that you might not know about:

16 Flint's ship "The Walrus" never sailed

The ship was built on the set and was not meant to enter the real ocean. Instead, he swam through the show in a giant pool built specifically for the show.

15 Jack really came up with the famous skull and crossbones flag

You probably remember the episode in which freshly baked captain Jack Rackham had an obsession with making the perfect flag for his ship. This episode was based on a true story, Jack was indeed the first pirate to use a skull and crossbones flag on his ship. He was one of the richest inhabitants of Nassau.

14 The Blackbeard Pirate from the TV Show isn't actually the famous Blackbeard

The show features a bald, tattooed character with a long black beard (who has a misunderstanding with Wayne), although his name is never mentioned, the beard has led some fans to believe that it is Blackbeard. We now know this is not the case because Blackbeard appears later in Season 3, played by Ray Stevenson.

13 the creators of the series deliberately did not recruit American actors

Zach McGowan (Charles Wayne) is one of the few American actors on the show. Most of the pirates were from Europe, respectively, and in the series tried to adhere to the historical line. It was originally planned to take a Briton for the role of Wayne, but Zach's agent knew some of the producers of the series, which helped to audition. Lucky for him!

12 The scenery in Black Sails is huge!

Many of the filmmakers stated that they were amazed by the set environment for the series. It was said that it felt as if they really were in the era of pirates.

11 The Urca de Lima crash did take place

In 1715, a major hurricane destroyed a group of Spanish ships transporting gold from the Florida coast. One of them was called Urca de Lima.

10 Jack Rackham and Anne Bonnie

Actors Toby Schmitz and Clara Paget play characters who were actually married during their lifetime in the 18th century! Not many people know this.

9 Silver is a bad guy

By the end of the show, he will be the most brutal pirate ever.

8 The book important to Flint is "To Myself: Reflections" by Marcus Aurelius

You may remember Miranda Barlow telling Richard Guthrie that if he wants to understand what kind of person Captain Flint is, he must read the book of Marcus Aurelius. The book mentioned is called "To Myself: Reflections."

7 All flashback flashbacks of the second season were filmed in 10 days

All the flashbacks from Flint's past that were shown throughout the second season were filmed in a very short time. Filming took only a week and a half.

6 Flint actor Toby Stevens is familiar with the sword

Before becoming Captain Flint, actor Toby Stevens participated in the swordfight scene of the James Bond film Die Another Day. The actor trained in fencing when he was studying at drama school.

5 Some of the characters really existed

Although Black Sails was based on the novel Treasure Island, characters such as Captain Charles Wayne, Jack Rackham, and Anne Bonnie were drawn from a true story. They were actually pirates in the Caribbean.

4 The main theme song of the series was made using the Hurdy Gurdy

This instrument was popular in the 1700s, so the show's composer Bear McCreary decided it would be appropriate to use it. He also composed music for several other shows, including The Walking Dead and Battlestar Galactica.

3 The actors of the series love the game "Assassin's Creed"

When Luke Arnold (Silver) was asked in an interview what he thought of acting, he enthusiastically responded that almost the entire cast enjoyed playing the game on the Black Sails set.

2 The series was extended even before the full appearance on the screens

The show's pilot was such a success that Starz immediately decided to shoot a second season.

1 Decorations

The series was filmed at Cape Town Film Studios in Cape Town, South Africa. A detailed life-size mock-up of the ship was created especially for filming. About three hundred people worked on the creation of the layout and all the elements.