I was thinking about the Treasure Island Movies being filmed and I thought I would provide some links to Robert Louis Stevenson's books to read. If you want to download, or read the book online here is a link for the Internet Archive and the from Project Gutenberg. The version I linked to from the internet archive is illustrated by Louis Rhead and has some interesting illustrations.
The initial catalyst for the story was an island map that Stevenson and his stepson drew while on holiday in the Scottish Highlands.
The first page of the book contains the lines for a ditty.
"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest— Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"
Stevenson intended the rhyme as a forewarning of the events in his tale.It was expanded in a poem years later, titled Derelict by Young E. Allison. Here's the music of "15 Men On a Dead Man's Chest."
Why do you enjoy pirates? They are nasty and they kill people. We know the recent news of the Somalian pirates and other modern pirates are barbaric. Yet, we still enjoy entertainment about pirates. Why doesn't the routine robbing of perfectly innocent people by pirates stop us from enjoying books and movies about them?
"A Pirate's Life for me," is the famous quote from a song. Some dream of life out on the seas, watching the stars in the night sky, having the thrill and terror of fighting harsh storms, and battling other ships. For some, pirates bring out the thrill seeker -- men and women alike. Men want to be like them -- adventure seekers, women want to be with them. They help some indulge in their wildest fantasies.
I like them because they have given the world hundreds of years of myths and legends. Pirates have inspired imaginations and stories. Their whole persona and lifestyle lends to tales that appeal to little children, grown men and romantically inclined women. It is not often that criminals lend themselves so well to so many less barbaric interpretations.
My teen-age child checked out a book from the Library called Pirates! by Celia Rees. He checked it out mainly because he knew I was doing some pirate research. Over the 4th of July Holiday, I picked it up and read it. He ended up not reading it after I read it. I told him the target audience was probably mainly girls, grades 6 - 8.
The book is the fictional autobiography of a woman named Nancy in the 1700's, who tells about her life. I think it was a bit superficial in some areas with very little sea action. The story is a little slow at first -- the pirate action doesn't even happen until mid-way through the book. The inclusion of some of the crueler aspects of slavery, and some details of murders may preclude this for being for the fainter younger readers. There is a small section about a man caged in a gibbet being eaten alive by ravens. This situation even makes Nancy sick.
Narrator Nancy joins a pirate crew to escape an arranged marriage to Bartholomew, an evil former pirate. She takes along Minerva, a slave. They dress up as boys and become pirates. Girls who dress up as boys and seek their fortune in the world is based on history (Anne Bonny and Mary Read come to mind immediately in the world of pirates).
The book does have the elements of adventure, history, greed, loyalty, danger, murder, romance, and sisterhood. If you love pirates, you will like this book.
The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation given to periods of piracy from the 1650's to the 1720's. The manner in which pirates are depicted in popular culture is derived largely, though not always accurately, from the Golden Age of Piracy. Although some of the details are often misremembered, the effect upon popular culture of the Golden Age of Piracy is vast. Let's talk about it.
