What happens in Chapter 24 of Treasure Island?
Chapter 24 begins with Jim Hawkins still stuck on the bowsprit of the Hispaniola after his impulsive jump onto the anchored ship. From his hiding spot, he sees the two remaining pirates—Israel Hands and the man called O'Brien—deep in a drunken stupor on deck. Taking advantage of the situation, Jim quietly slips into the coracle—a small, round hide boat he made with Ben Gunn's assistance—and paddles out into the darkness toward the Hispaniola. His plan is bold and not fully thought out: cut the ship's anchor cable and let the tide carry her away from the pirates. He works at the hawser with his knife, the rope fraying strand by strand against the current. Just as the last fibers snap, the ship jerks free and swings wildly; Jim almost capsizes in the coracle and finds himself swept out to sea in the dark, completely at the mercy of the tide and wind. The chapter ends with Jim adrift, the island fading away, and the Hispaniola gliding into the night—a moment of thrilling, terrifying freedom that leaves the larger adventure completely unanchored.
Analysis
Stevenson uses Chapter 24 to explore controlled recklessness—both in Jim's actions and within the narrative itself. The chapter's title, "The Cruise of the Coracle," presents what is essentially a close call as a youthful adventure, and the contrast between the title and the actual events is a key element of the chapter's craft. Stevenson maintains a brisk and dynamic pace while describing the cutting of the hawser, with each severed strand adding to the growing tension, before plunging everything into the tumult of the swinging ship and the dark ocean.
The coracle serves as a recurring symbol of improvisation and instability: round, wobbly, and barely seaworthy, it perfectly embodies Jim's impulsive heroism. In contrast, the Hispaniola signifies adult authority and pirate threats, while the coracle feels childlike, homemade, and absurd—but it manages to function, in its own way.
Stevenson also employs darkness and water as moral indicators. Jim operates in the shadows, hidden from view, and the tide—mechanical and indifferent—takes on a significant role in his actions, complicating any straightforward interpretation of his agency. He displays equal parts bravery and luck, and Stevenson skillfully blurs the lines between the two.
This chapter represents a crucial structural shift: Jim has now distanced himself from both the Admiral Benbow world introduced at the beginning and the sheltered safety of the middle section. Alone on the open sea, he is completely self-defined, for better or worse—a change that Stevenson emphasizes by concluding with his isolation rather than a sense of victory.
Key quotes from Chapter 24
“I had scarce gained a position on the bowsprit, when the flying jib-boom swung across and knocked me clean off into the sea.”
Jim describes the violent, near-fatal moment when the freed *Hispaniola* swings and throws him from his precarious perch, underlining how thin the margin between heroism and disaster truly is.
“The hawser was as taut as a bowstring, and the current so strong she pulled upon her anchor. All at once a peculiar sound began—a sort of singing in the rope.”
Stevenson renders the physical tension of the fraying cable in acoustic terms, transforming a mechanical act into something almost musical and alive with danger.
“I was no sooner out of the coracle and on the ship, than the little craft, left to herself, began to drift away.”
The moment Jim boards the *Hispaniola*, his only means of retreat vanishes—a quiet, devastating detail that seals his commitment to the gamble he has taken.
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Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Chapter 24
- coracle
- A small, lightweight round boat made of a wicker or wooden frame covered with a waterproof skin, traditionally used in Wales and Ireland, here used to paddle out to a ship.