It’s time to raise the Jolly Roger and sail the seas under the black sails of plundering pirates in search of treasure, triumph, and revenge! Then again, maybe it’s best to settle for just watching such adventures.
Thanks to Netflix, the greatest show about pirates has been revived as Black Sails is now available on the streaming service. Originally running on the Starz network from 2014-2017, Black Sails justiciably received rave reviews. With the life of real pirates rarely depicted accurately, this series accomplishes just that despite being a work of fiction. It’s a realistic portrayal of pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1730) as opposed to the cartoonish portrayals of the raiders of the sea in films such as Pirates of the Caribbean. Jack Sparrow wouldn’t last a day in this dark world of Black Sails.
The 4-season series acts as a prequel to Treasure Island, taking place about 20 years prior to the events of the famous book by Robert Louis Stevenson.
As a result, some of the pirates in Treasure Island also appear in Black Sails, though only a handful, and most are fictional pirates whereas others in the series are depictions of real-life buccaneers.
So, here’s a list of pirates in Black Sails who are also in Treasure Island.
Those watching the show who are unfamiliar with the book should take this as a spoiler alert because it obviously means that those mentioned below survive the series.
Long John Silver
We start off with the most famous fictional pirate in literary history. In Treasure Island, originally published in 1883, Long John Silver a one-legged pirate with a parrot on his shoulder. He walks with a peg leg and unofficially becomes the most imitated pirate character of all-time.
He’s untrustworthy and can be rather ruthless, but in Black Sails we see how he becomes a pirate, and actor Luke Arnold is truly exceptional in the role. As his wit keeps him alive, the series eventually shows how he lost his leg, and how John Silver becomes the feared Captain Long John Silver, though no prequel parrots are flying around.
Silver is arguably the most important character of the book and one of the two most important in the series, as his motives do more to twist the plot of Treasure Island than any other character.
Captain Flint
The dangerous Captain Flint makes this list on a technicality. No, not because Long John Silver’s parrot is named after Flint, but because Flint’s existence throughout the book and possible return frighten those who know the name.
As a boy reading Treasure Island, nothing is quite like the moment when the men finally approach the no longer hidden treasure only to suddenly, and rather shockingly, hear Flint’s voice. All is not what it seems however and some will argue that the end of Black Sails can be described in that same way.
Toby Stephens portrays Flint — rather, he is Flint. There is no point during the series where you’d believe he is an actor. You believe he is the character, I dare say he truly is, and he and Silver are the stars of the series.
Billy Bones
The first pirate we come across in Treasure Island is none other than Billy Bones. He’s a shell of his former self but his fear of Long John Silver in the novel’s early stages become adopted by the reader. In the series, we get to see Billy Bones in his better days.
8n terms of personality, no character is more different from Black Sails to Treasure Island than Billy Bones, and that’s saying something. Bones is just a drunk come the time period that the book takes place, trying to drown his fears away. He’s almost a completely different character in the series and it’s meant to show you just how far the man is from his former self. Actor Tom Hopper makes the role his own.
Israel Hands
Israel Hands is the only pirate on this list who is not completely fictional, having served under Blackbeard’s command. However, in Stevenson’s novel, there’s no mention of this and Hands serves with Long John Silver.
Black Sails puts all of those pieces together and gives us an unforgettable version of the character thanks to his initial introduction in the series — which is anything but kind to Silver — and thanks to actor David Wilmot who is nothing short of extraordinary in his performance.
Ben Gunn
In Black Sails, Gunn serves on Captain Flint’s crew and has many twists and turns to his story, yet the biggest twist is where he ends up.
Played by Chris Fisher in the series, Gunn is not a main character but becomes a very important one in the book. He doesn’t appear in Treasure Island until the story brings us to said island. That’s when readers get something they didn’t expect and, at least in this author’s opinion, might be the biggest surprise of the book. Once on the island, it becomes clear that someone is actually living there. Ben Gunn is that someone, though almost unrecognizable, having been marooned there for 3 years. His addition to the book is a genius move by Stevenson as you don’t expect to be introduced to an important new character once the story finally moves to the island.
Of all the pirate movies and pirate shows you can watch, Black Sails is must-see with 38 episodes that are worth the journey. Though not a pirate, there is one more character in the series that is also in the book, albeit unnamed in Treasure Island, but I’ll leave that one to you to figure out.
