Treasure Island (Unst)

Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia that anyone can edit

Treasure Island - The map as given in most of the publications of "Treasure Island / Kidnapped" since the original drawing by R.L. Stevenson and his stepson Lloyd Osbourne got lost.

Despite the fact that there are two islands bearing the name Treasure Island – one in California, the other one in Florida – there are some more islands claiming to be the "real" treasure island and the real life inspiration for Stevenson's "Skeleton Island": Clipperton Island, Cocos Island, and Oak Island. One particular story goes that Stevenson got his inspiration from the tales of a mariner uncle who told him about Norman Island in the British Virgin Islands.

Although Stevenson himself reported frankly that he has borrowed a lot of details from other authors like the parrot from Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, the skeleton from Edgar Alan Poe, or Billy Bones, the chest and other details from Washington Irvine's Tales of a Traveller he never said anything about his inspiration for the island itself. Even more: Stevenson himself and surviving family papers report clearly that the inspiration for Treasure Island was entirely from his own imagination.

Nevertheless some authors have it that the Shetland Island of Unst might be the island which had fired his imagination. What we know for sure is the fact that R L Stevenson visited Shetland and Unst in 1869 when he accompanied his father on an inspection tour on board of the lighthouse steamer "Pharos".