Billy Bones and Long John Silver

Billy Bones and Long John Silver were bound by a shared history as senior officers under the dreaded Captain Flint. Bones, who lodged at the Admiral Benbow Inn under the alias "captain," had been Flint's first mate. Silver, who lost a leg in the same broadside that cost Blind Pew his sight, served as quartermaster. Their connection was the secret that haunted Bones's final weeks and that Silver exploited to seize control of the treasure hunt.

Shared Past Under Flint

Both men had sailed on Flint's old ship, the Walrus, and had witnessed the burial of Flint's treasure on the island. Bones was the only man who knew the exact location, having received the map from Flint himself as the pirate lay dying in Savannah. Silver, as quartermaster, had been present when Flint returned alone from the burial, his six companions all dead. The two men had also served together on other voyages: Silver mentioned that he had sailed first with Captain England and then with Flint, while Bones's own account-book and the tattoo "Billy Bones his fancy" on his arm testified to a life spent among the same lawless company. Their shared knowledge of Flint's cache made them both targets and conspirators.

Bones's Fear of the One-Legged Man

From the moment Bones took up residence at the Admiral Benbow, he lived in terror of a "seafaring man with one leg." He paid young Jim Hawkins a silver fourpenny each month to keep watch for this figure, and the boy's nightmares were filled with grotesque visions of the one-legged man. Bones never spoke Silver's name aloud to Jim, but his warnings made clear that this man was the most dangerous of all Flint's former crew. When Black Dog appeared, Bones recognized him as a lesser threat; it was the one-legged man he truly feared. The blind beggar Pew's delivery of the Black Spot finally broke Bones, and he died of apoplexy moments later, still haunted by the knowledge that Silver's network was closing in.

Silver's Role in the Conspiracy

Silver, meanwhile, had been working from Bristol to assemble a crew for the treasure voyage. He presented himself to Squire Trelawney as a retired sailor who had lost his leg in the service of Admiral Hawke, and he used his position as cook to recruit former pirates—many of them Flint's old hands—into the crew of the Hispaniola. When Jim Hawkins recognized Black Dog at the Spy-glass Tavern, Silver feigned outrage and sent men in pursuit, but his performance was a calculated act to conceal his own involvement. Silver's parrot, named Captain Flint, served as a constant reminder of the buccaneer legacy that bound the mutineers together.

The Revelation in the Apple Barrel

Jim Hawkins overheard Silver's true plans from inside the apple barrel on the night before the island was sighted. Silver boasted of his past as quartermaster under Flint and revealed that most of Flint's old crew were now aboard the Hispaniola, including Israel Hands, who had been Flint's gunner. Silver spoke of Bones as a man who had known "the long and short on it" and who had lived by the maxim "Dead men don't bite." This conversation confirmed that Silver and Bones were not merely former shipmates but fellow survivors of Flint's brutal regime, each knowing the other's capacity for violence.

The Island Encounter and Aftermath

When the loyal party took refuge in the stockade, Silver's knowledge of the island—gained during his time with Flint—proved invaluable. He conned the ship through the narrow passage and later led the treasure hunt using the map that had once belonged to Bones. The skeleton of one of Flint's victims, laid out as a compass pointer, was a grim reminder of the violence that both Silver and Bones had once served. After the treasure was found and the mutineers defeated, Silver escaped with a bag of coin, and the narrative records that he "has at last gone clean out of my life." Bones, dead before the voyage began, had already been buried in the sand near the Admiral Benbow. The two men never met again after Bones's flight from Bristol, but their shared history shaped every stage of the adventure.