Long John Silver

Long John Silver is the one-legged ship’s cook and pirate ringleader in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island (1883). Sailing aboard the Hispaniola, he conceals his mutinous intent behind a genial manner before leading the crew’s revolt for Captain Flint’s buried gold. With his crutch, his parrot Captain Flint, and his cry of pieces of eight, Silver became the defining popular image of the pirate, more influential on later depictions than any historical buccaneer.