Hispaniola
The Hispaniola is the two-hundred-ton schooner that carries the treasure-hunting expedition to Treasure Island, and its capture, loss, and recapture form the central pivot of the novel's action. Purchased and fitted out by Squire Trelawney through his friend Blandly, the ship becomes the stage for the mutiny led by Long John Silver, and its fate—from the crew's corruption to Jim Hawkins's solo recapture—determines the survival of the loyal party and the ultimate success of the voyage.
Purchase and Fitting Out
Squire Trelawney, writing to Dr. Livesey from the Old Anchor Inn in Bristol on March 1, announces that the ship is bought and fitted, lying at anchor ready for sea. He describes her as "a sweeter schooner—a child might sail her—two hundred tons; name, HISPANIOLA." The squire obtained her through his old friend Blandly, who "literally slaved" in his interest, and the ship was acquired for "the merest trifle," though some in Bristol maliciously claimed Blandly had sold it absurdly high. The squire's enthusiasm is unbounded: he declares that in three weeks—or even ten days—they will have "the best ship, sir, and the choicest crew in England." The fitting out is delayed by annoyingly slow workpeople, but the greater trouble is finding a crew, a problem solved when Trelawney meets Long John Silver on the dock and engages him as ship's cook, who then helps recruit "a company of the toughest old salts imaginable."
The Voyage and the Mutiny
The Hispaniola proves a good ship with capable seamen, and Captain Smollett, despite his initial misgivings about the cruise, takes a fancy to her, saying she "'ll lie a point nearer the wind than a man has a right to expect of his own married wife." The voyage is prosperous until the crew's corruption becomes evident. Mr. Arrow, the mate, disappears overboard one dark night, and the boatswain Job Anderson is advanced in his place. The ship's cook, Long John Silver, carries his crutch by a lanyard round his neck aboard ship, and rigs lines called "Long John's earrings" to cross the deck in heavy weather. The crew's mutinous intentions are overheard by Jim Hawkins from the apple barrel, where he learns that Silver plans to let the squire and doctor find the treasure and then seize it. The Hispaniola is brought to anchor at Treasure Island, and the mutiny erupts, with the loyal party forced to abandon the ship.
Abandonment and Loss
When the loyal party decides to leave the Hispaniola, they load the jolly-boat with powder, muskets, biscuits, pork, cognac, and the doctor's medicine chest, and drop the remaining arms and powder overboard in two and a half fathoms of water. Captain Smollett hails the coxswain Israel Hands, warning that any signal will mean death, and the six mutineers aboard are cowed. Abraham Gray, a carpenter's mate, breaks away from the mutineers with a knife cut on his cheek and joins the captain. The jolly-boat's last trip is perilous, overloaded with five grown men and stores, and the ebb tide sweeps them off course. The mutineers on the Hispaniola prepare the long nine gun, and Israel Hands, Flint's former gunner, fires at them, but the squire's shot misses Hands and hits another man. The boat sinks in three feet of water, and the party wades ashore, leaving the Hispaniola in the mutineers' hands. The ship is then seen flying the Jolly Roger, and the mutineers use her cannon to bombard the stockade.
Jim Hawkins's Recapture
Jim Hawkins, having slipped away from the stockade, finds Ben Gunn's coracle and, on a night of absolute blackness, paddles out to the anchored Hispaniola. He cuts the hawser, setting the ship adrift, and is swept alongside her, where he climbs aboard. He finds the two watchmen, Israel Hands and O'Brien, dead drunk and fighting; they have killed each other, with O'Brien dead and Hands wounded. Jim strikes the Jolly Roger and takes possession of the ship, declaring himself captain. He sails her along the coast with Hands's help, intending to beach her in North Inlet. During the voyage, Hands attempts to murder Jim with a dirk, but the ship's lurch saves the boy, and Jim shoots Hands, who falls into the water and drowns. Jim beaches the Hispaniola in North Inlet, leaving her "clear at last from buccaneers and ready for our own men to board and get to sea again."
Recovery and Return
The loyal party, having learned of the ship's location from Jim, recovers the Hispaniola. They find her cruising by herself just inside the mouth of North Inlet, the last flood having lifted her off the sand. They drop another anchor in a fathom and a half of water, and Gray returns to the ship to pass the night on guard. After loading the treasure, they weigh anchor and stand out of North Inlet, flying the same colours the captain had flown and fought under at the palisade. The three surviving mutineers, left on the island, fire a shot at the ship as she departs, whistling over Silver's head and through the main-sail. The Hispaniola reaches Bristol just as Mr. Blandly is beginning to think of fitting out her consort, with only five of those who had sailed returning with her. The ship's journey thus frames the entire adventure, from its hopeful departure to its diminished but triumphant return.
