Return to Treasure Island- Plot Synopsis
Many years have passed since the adventures of Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins on the notorious Treasure Island. Jim has grown into a man – a successful merchant trader, an Englishman whose ships sail from the New World. He has long since lost touch with his old companions. The last thing he expects is once more to come face-to-face with that strange and dangerous part of his past …
Trouble is brewing between the British Crown and its most prosperous colony, America. The order from King George is that all ships out of Boston are to be confiscated – loyalist or not. British naval officers who are little more than sanctioned pirates are making a killing on the high seas, with the blessing of the Crown: and one of the most ruthless is the coldly charming captain of HMS Sea Wolf, Joseph Savage.
Jim’s fleet has been heavily plundered already. In trying to avoid losing his last ship, the Eagle, Jim and his men flee before Savage into the teeth of an oncoming storm. Jim, his loyal crewmen Tom and Jenkins, and the runaway slaveboy Jonah, narrowly avoid shipwreck – and are blown far from their course…
Dawn breaks over the Eagle to reveal a stunningly beautiful tropical island. As they explore, Jim and his dog Patch happen upon, and gallantly rescue, two damsels in distress – the lovely Coral and her little cousin Rose. Fate has just taken a convoluted twist: Jim discovers that the woman he has rescued is none other than the daughter of his old adversary, Long John Silver.
The years have treated the opportunistic old pirate well. He has become a rich, respectable widower. His daughter is the greatest joy of his life, and his only real sadness the loss of her mother, the ex-slave Cleo, whom Long John loved to distraction.
Unbeknownst to Jim, Long John’s primary source of income is a long-standing deal he has with Joseph Savage. Savage scuttles the ships, and Long John sells on the pillaged cargo. Far from a temporary haven for Jim’s battered ship, Long John’s island is probably the most dangerous place he could have come to harbour.
Savage learns of Jim’s presence on the island and blackmails Long John into helping him seize the Eagle. Rather than face the gallows for outstanding crimes against the Crown, Long John tricks Jim into taking Coral, Rose and himself to a safer port. Secretly, he has tipped off Savage, and Jim and the crew find themselves on the run once more. In a thrilling sequence, the Eagle escapes and Jim takes refuge in a place he and Long John know as no other can: Treasure Island…
Savage is angered by Long John’s apparent betrayal and intent on revenge. He gives chase, vowing to run Jim to ground at any cost. A game of cat and mouse ensues all over the island. Savage is joined by Jack Feathers, an old enemy of Long John’s, and matters are further complicated by treachery within Jim’s own crew – not least from Coral. She and Jim are bewildered by their own strong attraction to each other, particularly as Coral still believes Savage to be an honourable man. Long John, as of old, plays both sides against the middle – and waits to see who will win …
Jim at last earns Long John’s eternal gratitude by rescuing the urn containing his beloved wife’s ashes. Then Savage confirms his own villainy by scattering them to the four winds as a punishment for Long John. This act of cruelty decides Long John on where his loyalties must lie, regardless of the consequences to himself…
At the site of the old stockade a furious battle is pitched – through gunpowder, muskets, pistols, cutlasses, swords and fists – culminating in hand-to-hand combat between Jim and Savage. In the skirmish Long John is fatally wounded by Feathers; Feathers in his turn is shot by Coral. Treasure Island has finally claimed the lives it marked so many years ago…
Long John’s dying words are a command that Jim set the slaveboy Jonah free … for Coral, herself the daughter of a slave, cannot marry a man who tolerates slavery.
In death, his mortal remains mingling with the earth where his wife’s ashes lie, Long John too has found a kind of freedom.
And so – old scores settled, and new loves found – Jim, Coral, Rose and Jonah set sail for America: to the New World waiting to be won.