B. J. Harrison Reads Treasure Island recap

Jim Hawkins acquires the map to Captain Flint's buried treasure after pirates descend on his family's inn. Doctor Livesey and Squire Trelawney organize a voyage aboard the Hispaniola, unaware that their engaging cook, Long John Silver, has recruited much of Flint's old crew and plans a mutiny. Jim overhears the plot, and the loyal party occupies an old stockade on Treasure Island. He meets the marooned Ben Gunn, survives several independent adventures, and eventually falls into Silver's hands. Silver protects Jim while trying to retain control of his wavering men. The treasure pit proves empty because Gunn moved the hoard years earlier. Livesey's party routs the mutineers, loads the treasure, and sails for home, marooning the surviving rebels. Silver escapes at a port with a small share, while Jim and his companions return to England wealthy but permanently marked by the voyage.

A scarred old seaman known as Billy Bones settles at the Admiral Benbow inn and pays young Jim Hawkins to watch for a one-legged sailor. The captain lives in fear of former shipmates and suffers a stroke after a hostile visit from Black Dog. A blind pirate called Pew later gives him the black spot, a summons with a deadline, and Billy dies. Jim and his mother open his sea chest to collect the money owed for his lodging, taking a wrapped packet before Pew's gang raids the inn. The pirates fail to find what they want, and approaching officers scatter them. Pew is killed on the road while Jim escapes with the packet.

Jim brings Billy Bones's packet to Doctor Livesey and Squire Trelawney. It contains a log of plunder and a map marking where Captain Flint buried a great treasure. Trelawney buys the Hispaniola in Bristol and hires a crew, many recommended by the genial one-legged cook Long John Silver. Captain Smollett distrusts the arrangements and has the weapons moved near the loyal officers. During the voyage Jim hides in an apple barrel and overhears Silver explaining that he served under Flint and has assembled a crew of pirates. Silver plans to let the gentlemen locate the treasure before killing them. Jim warns Livesey, Trelawney, and Smollett. With the ship nearing the island and most of the crew disloyal, the four decide to conceal what they know until they can act.

Smollett allows the restless crew ashore, and Jim impulsively goes with them. On the island he witnesses Silver murder a sailor who refuses to join the mutiny. Fleeing, Jim meets Ben Gunn, a former member of Flint's crew who was marooned three years earlier and hints that he can help in exchange for passage home. Meanwhile, Livesey and the loyal men discover a defensible stockade with fresh water. They carry supplies ashore and abandon the Hispaniola, though their overloaded boat sinks near land and much of their cargo is lost. The faithful sailor Abraham Gray joins them. In the fighting that follows, Trelawney's old servant Tom Redruth is killed, and the loyal party raises the British flag over the stockade while cannon fire begins from the ship.

Jim rejoins the stockade and tells Livesey about Ben Gunn and the small boat Gunn has hidden. Silver approaches under a flag of truce, offering safe passage in exchange for Flint's map. Smollett refuses and warns the pirates away. Silver's men then storm the stockade. The defenders repel them and kill several attackers, but Captain Smollett is wounded and two of Trelawney's servants die. With the mutineers reduced and the loyal party temporarily secure, Jim remembers Gunn's boat and slips out alone, intending to cut the Hispaniola loose so the pirates cannot use her.

Jim reaches the anchored Hispaniola in Ben Gunn's tiny coracle and cuts its cable. After a dangerous night adrift, he boards the ship and finds only Israel Hands and another mutineer, who has been killed in a quarrel. Jim runs the wounded Hands ashore under a temporary bargain, but Hands attacks him once the ship is secure. Jim shoots him and survives, leaving the Hispaniola hidden in the northern anchorage. Returning proudly to the stockade after dark, Jim discovers it occupied by the pirates. Silver prevents his men from killing him, partly because Jim may serve as a hostage. Jim admits his role in frustrating the mutiny but refuses a chance to desert Silver when Doctor Livesey visits. Silver has somehow acquired the treasure map, and the remaining mutineers set out with Jim to find the hoard.

The treasure hunt leads the nervous pirates past a skeleton used as a marker and through woods where Ben Gunn imitates the voice of the dead Flint. At the marked place they find an empty pit: Gunn discovered the treasure long ago and carried it to his cave. The enraged mutineers turn on Silver and Jim, but Livesey, Gray, and Gunn fire from hiding and scatter them. The reunited loyal party moves the treasure aboard the recovered Hispaniola. They leave three surviving mutineers on the island with supplies and sail away. At a port on the voyage home, Silver escapes with a bag of coins. The others reach England and divide the fortune. Smollett retires, Gray advances himself, and Gunn soon spends his share. Jim retains both wealth and disturbing memories of the island and refuses ever to return.

Ben Gunn has already found Flint's treasure and moved it from its burial pit to his cave, so the mutineers discover only an empty hole. When they turn on Silver and Jim, Livesey, Gray, and Gunn attack from concealment and defeat them. The survivors transfer the treasure to the Hispaniola, leaving three mutineers supplied but marooned on the island. Silver remains useful during the escape and is allowed aboard, but at a later port he slips away with a small bag of coins. Jim, Livesey, Trelawney, Smollett, Gray, and Gunn return safely to England and divide their shares. Gray uses his money responsibly and Gunn quickly spends his. Jim says that no reward could persuade him to return to the island; in dreams he still hears the surf and Silver's parrot crying about pieces of eight.