Ben Gunn's Cave

Ben Gunn's Cave is the hidden treasure-house on Treasure Island where the marooned sailor Ben Gunn secretly stored Flint's treasure after digging it up, and it becomes the final refuge and stronghold of the loyal party after they abandon the stockade. The cave is located on the two-pointed hill at the north-east angle of the island, a position that proved strategically vital: it was far from the malarial swamps of the anchorage, and it allowed the loyal party to guard the recovered gold while they prepared to leave the island. Its discovery and use mark the turning point of the treasure hunt, transforming the cave from a secret cache into the headquarters of the expedition's final phase.

Location and Discovery

The cave is situated on the two-pointed hill at the north-east angle of Treasure Island, a feature that Jim Hawkins had noted earlier as the landmark near which he first encountered Ben Gunn. The maroon had found the cave during his three years of solitary wandering, and it was there that he stored the treasure he had dug up from beneath the tall pine on the plateau. The cave's entrance was described as a black mouth, visible from the sea, and it was approached by a gentle slope running up from the beach. When the loyal party first entered it, they found a large, airy place with a little spring and a pool of clear water, overhung with ferns, and a floor of sand. It was a far more salubrious spot than the stockade, which the doctor had condemned as fever-ridden.

The Treasure's Hidden Cache

Ben Gunn had discovered the treasure months before the Hispaniola arrived. He had found the skeleton of one of Flint's victims, rifled it, and then located the buried gold. He dug it up with a pick-axe, the haft of which was later found broken in the excavation, and carried it on his back in many weary journeys from the foot of the tall pine to the cave. There it lay stored in safety for two months before the ship came. The treasure consisted of great heaps of coin and quadrilaterals built of bars of gold, a collection so vast that it took days to transport to the beach and then to the ship. The cave thus held the object of the entire voyage, the seven hundred thousand pounds that had cost the lives of seventeen men from the Hispaniola alone.

The Loyal Party's Refuge

After the mutiny, Dr. Livesey learned of the cave and the treasure from Ben Gunn. Seeing the anchorage deserted, the doctor made a bargain with Long John Silver, giving him the now-useless chart and the stores from the stockade, in exchange for the freedom to move the loyal party to the cave. The doctor's plan was to escape the malaria of the swamp and to keep a guard upon the money. The cave became the base from which the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn launched their ambush at the treasure pit, and it was there that Captain Smollett lay recovering from his wounds. The squire stood guard at the cave's mouth, leaning on a musket, as the others worked to transport the treasure.

The Final Gathering

When the loyal party and Silver arrived at the cave after the ambush, they found Captain Smollett by a big fire, and in a far corner, only duskily flickered over by the blaze, the great heaps of coin and bars of gold. It was there that the squire confronted Silver, calling him a prodigious villain and imposter, and it was there that the captain, seeing Jim, remarked that they would not go to sea again. The cave was the scene of a celebratory supper, with Ben Gunn's salted goat and a bottle of old wine from the Hispaniola, and Silver sat back almost out of the firelight, eating heartily and joining quietly in the laughter. The cave thus served as the final gathering place of the expedition, where the treasure was sorted and packed into bread-bags for transport to the ship.

Significance

The cave represents the culmination of Ben Gunn's lonely endurance and the loyal party's strategic retreat. It is a space of safety and abundance in contrast to the exposed and feverish stockade, and it holds the promise of wealth that had driven the entire adventure. The cave's discovery by Ben Gunn, and its use by the loyal party, underscores the theme of hidden knowledge and the reversal of fortune: the mutineers sought the treasure in the open, while the loyal party guarded it from within a secret stronghold. The cave also marks the end of the treasure hunt, as the gold is finally loaded onto the Hispaniola, and the island is left behind, with the cave's black mouth fading into the distance.