Ben Gunn

J ust as the pirates were getting to shore Jim ran away and, although hotly pursued, escaped. Here he encountered Ben Gunn for the first time - marooned for five years - frightened of Flint's men and in particular Long John Silver. He told Jim that he had lived on goats and berries but longed for cheese. When Gunn realised Jim wasn't one of Flint's men they became friends and he showed him the coracle he had made.

Meanwhile the Squire and his comrades had left the ship for the shore, leaving two men on board to keep the pirates in order but they were soon overpowered and the buccaneers immediately started firing on the Squire's party. They made their way to Flint's old stockade where Hawkins was reunited with them, after leaving Gunn. Once there, Trelawney's men made it safe to repel the inevitable pirate attack. Silver threatened them by calling out "them that die'll be the lucky ones|", after he had been snubbed trying to parlez a truce. Smollett led a sally out to chase off the pirates but received a shot in exchange. Several men on both sides were killed.

Smollett revealed what dire straits they were in and explained that in the morning the pirates would be able to bring up the Hispaniola and flatten the stockade with its cannon. Jim heard this and ran off to the ship, using Gunn's coracle, to stifle their plans.

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Redcliffe caves have had a multitude of uses over the centuries and would be the natural haunt of someone like Gunn, emulating his home in Treasure Island, and also hopefully triggering even greater use of one of Bristol's hidden treasures.