Young Jim Hawkins lives a quiet life as the son of an innkeeper. This all changes when an ancient sailor takes up lodging at the inn. Jim is both horrified and fascinated by the captain's bloody stories. When the old man dies without paying his bill, Jim must search the sailor's one possession, a large sea-chest, for payment. He unknowingly pockets an old map from the chest. But Jim is not the only one interested in the sea-chest and has to flee when a group of cut-throats appears to ransack the few possessions of the old sailor.The family doctor recognizes the map as the key to a fortune. This commences a Caribbean treasure hunt, with the pirates only steps behind! Seventeen set sail, how many will return? This novel launched Stevenson on his long and fascinating writing career, and was the beginning of the pirate genre, with peg-legs, parrots, pieces-of-eight and the original Long John Silver.