The Island (Benchley novel)

The Island is a novel by Peter Benchley, published in

1979 by Doubleday & Co.

Plot summary

Blair Maynard, a divorced journalist in New York City,

decides to write a story about the unexplained disappearance of yachts and other small boats in the Caribbean,
hoping to debunk theories about the Bermuda Triangle.
He has weekend custody of his preteen son Justin, and decides to mix a vacation with work, taking his son along.
They y from Miami to the Turks and Caicos island chain
but, while on shing trip, are captured by a band of pirates. The pirates have, amazingly, remained undetected
since the establishment of their pirate enclave by JeanDavid Nau, the notorious buccaneer L'Olonnais, in 1671
(in reality, however, L'Olonnais is known to have died
four years earlier). The pirates have a constitution of
sorts, called the Covenant, and have a cruel but workable
society. They raise any children they capture to ensure
the survival of the colony, but kill anyone over the age
of thirteen. In short order, Justin is virtually brainwashed
and groomed to lead the pirate band, much to Maynards
horror. Maynard tries repeatedly to escape, and nally
attracts the attention of the passing United States Coast
Guard cutter New Hope. The pirates attack and capture
it, but Maynard is able to use a machine gun aboard to
kill most of the pirates and to win Justins and his own
freedom.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The Island (1980 lm), a lm directed by Michael

Ritchie, was based upon the book; Benchley wrote the
screenplay. It starred Michael Caine and David Warner,
opened to decidedly mixed reviews and was considered a
box oce op.

References

[1] Modern rst editions - a set on Flickr

4 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

4.1

Text

The Island (Benchley novel) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(Benchley_novel)?oldid=668147569 Contributors: David

Gerard, Tim!, SmackBot, Grey Shadow, Hmains, Kevinalewis, Elendils Heir, Crouchbk, Alexander lau, Fayenatic london, Skier Dude,
GrahamHardy, Medusa9, Safemariner, Fadesga, Mlas, Addbot, Yobot, Erik9bot, BenzolBot, In ictu oculi, Greefan443, ArmbrustBot and
Anonymous: 3

4.2

Images

File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0

Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007

4.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0