Red Rackham's Treasure
Encyclopedia
Red Rackham's Treasure is the twelfth of The Adventures of Tintin
, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé
, featuring young reporter Tintin
as a hero. It is a continuation of The Secret of the Unicorn
, and is one of very few Tintin books to directly carry on the story of the preceding title. It is notable for the first appearance of the eccentric but ingenious Professor Cuthbert Calculus. According to Michael Farr
's Tintin: The Complete Companion, it is also the best-selling book in the Tintin series.
discover three parchment
s revealing the location of the Unicorn
, a 17th century navy ship commanded by Haddock's ancestor Sir Francis Haddock. The Unicorn was scuttled
by Sir Francis while battling the pirate Red Rackham for his treasure. Tintin and Haddock believe that the pirate's treasure is in the remains of the sunken Unicorn.
Tintin and Captain Haddock hire a fishing trawler, the Sirius, to search for the treasure. As the crew prepare for the search, their plans are discovered and publicized by the press, forcing Tintin and Haddock to deal with numerous strangers claiming to be Red Rackham's descendants and insisting on a share of the treasure. They are quickly driven away by Haddock, who reminds them he is the descendant of the man who killed Red Rackham.
Another petitioner is Professor Cuthbert Calculus
, an eccentric and hard-of-hearing inventor who offers the use of a special shark
-shaped, electrically powered one-man submarine
to help search for the sunken ship without being bothered by the numerous sharks in the area. The treasure hunters turn him down and prepare to embark.
Before Tintin and the Captain clear the port, the two detectives Thomson and Thompson
join the crew to protect their friends from the possible threat of the rival treasure hunters, the Bird brothers. Shortly after departure, Tintin and Haddock discover that Calculus has stowed away on board. The professor has stashed the unassembled parts of his submarine in the hold, removing the Captain's crates of whisky in the process. Despite initially threatening to throw Calculus into the hold on bread and water, Haddock grudgingly decides to keep him along for the trip.
Tintin and Captain Haddock reach the location stated in Sir Francis Haddock's parchments. Initially, the party cannot find anything at the coordinates (20°37′42"N 70°52′15"W, off the Mouchoir Bank
), but then Tintin hypothesizes that Sir Francis Haddock used the Paris Meridian
instead of Greenwich (which would yield 20°37′42"N 68°32′1"W, off the Navidad Bank
). Sure enough, the ship reaches an unknown and uninhabited island. As they come ashore to explore it, the Captain stubs his toe on a piece of wood protruding from the sand, which is excavated and turns out to be the remains of Sir Francis Haddock's jolly boat
. As they penetrate into the interior of the island, they encounter numerous skull
s, which Tintin deduces are the remains of the island's cannibalistic former inhabitants. There is also a magnificent pagan icon
of Sir Francis, and numerous parrot
s that repeat the Haddockian argot
, which an amused Tintin realizes has been passed down for generations.
Calculus's submarine proves useful in searching for the sunken Unicorn, while the actual examination of the wreck itself is performed with a hardhat diving suit
. Thomson and Thompson soon begin to rue their decision to join the treasure hunt, because they are consigned to manning the air pumps supplying the diving suit when Tintin, and later the Captain, explore the wreck. While facing complications like shark attacks, they discover a cutlass
, a gold bejeweled cross, a strongbox of old documents, the figurehead of the ship and, to Captain Haddock's delight, a large supply of vintage Jamaica
n rum
.
Although the search is otherwise unproductive, the crew spots a large wooden cross on the island itself and Tintin believes that the reference in Sir Francis' parchments to "the Eagle's cross" could refer to it as the marker for the treasure's location. Upon coming to the cross the party begins to dig, but after a while Tintin realizes that they are following a false lead, considering that Sir Francis would not deliberately leave his treasure on an island he did not intend to return to, so they return to the Sirius.
Time passes. Although there are further dives to the wreck, they are unable to find the treasure itself and they go home disappointed.
Calculus's examination of the documents from the retrieved strongbox allows him to determine that Sir Francis was the owner of the large estate of Marlinspike Hall
, the former home of the Bird brothers. Upon this discovery, Tintin insists that Haddock must purchase the estate, which is up for auction, but the Captain is short on funds due to the wasted expense of their failed treasure hunt. However, Calculus, who has received large sums of money from the government after a profitable sale of his submarine design, helps his friend overcome that difficulty.
After purchasing the Hall, Tintin and Captain Haddock explore the cellars of the main house. Amongst the Bird Brothers' cluttered antiques they find a statue of Saint John
holding a cross. Tintin suddenly shouts out, "The Eagle's cross!" as he remembers the Saint is called "The Eagle of Patmos
". At the statue's feet is a globe. On it, Tintin locates the island where Sir Francis Haddock was marooned. He touches that point and discovers it to be a trigger button—the globe springs opens and Red Rackham's treasure is found hidden inside.
(The 20th Century). Pioneering this new character in the story Tintin in the Land of the Soviets
, this comic, which involved Tintin battling the socialist authorities in the Soviet Union
, was serialised in Le XXe Siècles supplement for children, Le Petit Vingtième
(The Little Twentieth), from 10 January 1929 until 11 May 1930. Proving a success, Hergé went on to pen a string of new Adventures of Tintin, sending his character to real locations such as the Belgian Congo, the United States, Egypt, India, China and the United Kingdom, and also to fictional countries of his own devising, such as the Latin American republic of San Theodoros
and the East European kingdom of Syldavia
.
As he produced these works, his political approach to the world began to change; the earliest books reflected the socially conservative
, fascist
and imperialistic
attitudes of those for whom he worked. As he got older, he became more critical of the political far right, with the eighth Tintin adventure, King Ottokar's Sceptre
(1939), involving Tintin battling the forces of fictional fascist state Borduria
, whose leader, named Müsstler, was a combination of Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler
and Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini
. He continued this anti-German sentiment in his subsequent work, Land of Black Gold
, in which the main antagonist, Dr Müller, is a German intent on sabotaging the oil supply in the British Mandate of Palestine.
Then, in November 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium as World War II
broke out across Europe, and although Hergé initially considered fleeing into a self-imposed exile, he ultimately decided to stay in his occupied homeland. To ensure their own dominance, the Nazi authorities closed down Le XXe Siècle, leaving Hergé unemployed and his story Land of Black Gold unfinished. In search of employment, he was given a job as an illustrator by Raymond de Becker
, an executive of the popular newspaper Le Soir
(The Evening), which was allowed to continue publication under German management. On 17 October 1940 he was made editor of the paper's children's supplement, Le Soir Jeunesse, in which he set about producing new Tintin adventures, The Crab with the Golden Claws
(1941) and then The Shooting Star
(1942). In this new, more repressive political climate, Hergé could no longer explore political themes in his Adventures of Tintin lest he be arrested by the Nazi secret police, the Gestapo
. As Tintinologist Harry Thompson
noted, Tintin's role as a reporter came to an end, to be replaced by his new role as an explorer, something which was not a politically sensitive topic.
With the culmination of The Shooting Star, Hergé began work on a new Tintin adventure, which would spread through the two volume-length story The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure. Revolving around the "ultra-romantic theme" of the treasure hunt, Tintinologist Benoit Peeters
would later describe it as "an act of sheer escapism from the rigours of occupation". His decision to write a story that would span the length of two books was something which he had tried before, with the Tintin in the East story arch that was found in both Cigars of the Pharaoh
(1934) and The Blue Lotus
(1936). He considered it to be sufficiently successful that he repeated it over the next four books, The Seven Crystal Balls
(1948), Prisoners of the Sun
(1949), Destination Moon
(1953) and Explorers on the Moon
(1954).
By the time Red Rackham's Treasure had finished appearing in Le Soir, Tintin's next adventure, The Seven Crystal Balls
, was not yet ready for publication. Crime writer Paul Kinnet came up with a storyline which starred the Thompsons and had them investigate the disappearance of their farmer friend, on whose farm they can be seen working in much the same way as they did on the Sirius.
, was named after the SS Sirius
, the first ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean
solely under steam power, but was based on another ship called the John-o.88.
The speech bubbles and the fonts were made smaller and there were some changes in the text which, in some cases, toned down the aggression of the characters: in the original strip, when confronting the so-called descendants of Red Rackham, Haddock announces that he fancies killing them all in combat and, once they have fled, Tintin expresses satisfaction. In the book Haddock's words are changed to his claiming to feel the boiling blood of his ancestor, Sir Francis, and Tintin makes no comment on his methods.
In the newspaper strip, the sailor caps worn by the Thompsons displayed the name "Redoutable" (French for "Ruthless"). These were taken out in the book version.
Scenes from the strip that did not appear in the book edition included:
Scenes that were drawn for the book edition included:
Some of the panels were redrawn for the book edition in order to cover half-a-page rather than a small panel. These included:
in Rome
. The Methuen English translation alters this to Westminster Abbey
, London
; America's Golden Press translation alters it to St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
.
When making their way back to the ship with the idol of Sir Francis, Haddock, his hand trailing in the water, recites the opening lines of "The Galley of Count Arnaldos" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
. In the original French, he quotes from Alphonse de Lamartine
's "Le Lac" ("The Lake").
and the Canadian animation company Nelvana
. Adapting 21 of the stories into a series of episodes, each 42 minutes long, Red Rackham's Treasure was the tenth story to be produced into the series, with the story spanning two episodes. Directed by Stéphane Bernasconi, the series has been praised for being "generally faithful", with compositions having been actually directly taken from the panels in the original comic book.
," the real-life shark-shaped submersible
constructed by aquatic film-maker and oceanographic explorer Fabien Cousteau
, the grandson of Jacques Cousteau
.
In the movie Kramer vs. Kramer
, Dustin Hoffman
's character reads this book to his son.
The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...
, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi , better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also...
, featuring young reporter Tintin
Tintin (character)
Tintin is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Tintin is the protagonist of the series, a reporter and adventurer who travels around the world with his dog Snowy....
as a hero. It is a continuation of The Secret of the Unicorn
The Secret of the Unicorn
The Secret of the Unicorn is the eleventh title in the comic book series The Adventures of Tintin, written and illustrated by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Designed to be the first volume in a two-part story, the plot of The Secret of the Unicorn was continued in the twelfth Tintin adventure, Red...
, and is one of very few Tintin books to directly carry on the story of the preceding title. It is notable for the first appearance of the eccentric but ingenious Professor Cuthbert Calculus. According to Michael Farr
Michael Farr
Michael Farr is a British expert on the comic series Tintin and its creator, Hergé. He has written several books on the subject as well as translating several others into English...
's Tintin: The Complete Companion, it is also the best-selling book in the Tintin series.
The storyline
In the previous adventure, The Secret of the Unicorn, Tintin and Captain HaddockCaptain Haddock
Captain Archibald Haddock is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé...
discover three parchment
Parchment
Parchment is a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin, often split. Its most common use was as a material for writing on, for documents, notes, or the pages of a book, codex or manuscript. It is distinct from leather in that parchment is limed but not tanned; therefore, it is very...
s revealing the location of the Unicorn
Unicorn (ship)
The Unicorn is a fictional three-masted armed navy vessel appearing in The Adventures of Tintin comic books The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure published in 1943 and 1944, respectively...
, a 17th century navy ship commanded by Haddock's ancestor Sir Francis Haddock. The Unicorn was scuttled
Scuttling
Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull.This can be achieved in several ways—valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives...
by Sir Francis while battling the pirate Red Rackham for his treasure. Tintin and Haddock believe that the pirate's treasure is in the remains of the sunken Unicorn.
Tintin and Captain Haddock hire a fishing trawler, the Sirius, to search for the treasure. As the crew prepare for the search, their plans are discovered and publicized by the press, forcing Tintin and Haddock to deal with numerous strangers claiming to be Red Rackham's descendants and insisting on a share of the treasure. They are quickly driven away by Haddock, who reminds them he is the descendant of the man who killed Red Rackham.
Another petitioner is Professor Cuthbert Calculus
Professor Calculus
Professor Cuthbert Calculus is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé...
, an eccentric and hard-of-hearing inventor who offers the use of a special shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
-shaped, electrically powered one-man submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
to help search for the sunken ship without being bothered by the numerous sharks in the area. The treasure hunters turn him down and prepare to embark.
Before Tintin and the Captain clear the port, the two detectives Thomson and Thompson
Thomson and Thompson
Thomson and Thompson are fictional characters in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Thomson and Thompson are detectives of Scotland Yard, and are as incompetent as they are necessary comic relief...
join the crew to protect their friends from the possible threat of the rival treasure hunters, the Bird brothers. Shortly after departure, Tintin and Haddock discover that Calculus has stowed away on board. The professor has stashed the unassembled parts of his submarine in the hold, removing the Captain's crates of whisky in the process. Despite initially threatening to throw Calculus into the hold on bread and water, Haddock grudgingly decides to keep him along for the trip.
Tintin and Captain Haddock reach the location stated in Sir Francis Haddock's parchments. Initially, the party cannot find anything at the coordinates (20°37′42"N 70°52′15"W, off the Mouchoir Bank
Mouchoir Bank
Mouchoir Bank, in Spanish also called Banco de Pañuelo Blanco is located southeast of the Turks islands and is geographically a continuation of the Bahamas. It is part of the Turks and Caicos Islands and falls within its EEZ. Much of its north side is awash in two groupings of coral reef. A 1.8 m...
), but then Tintin hypothesizes that Sir Francis Haddock used the Paris Meridian
Paris Meridian
The Paris Meridian is a meridian line running through the Paris Observatory in Paris, France—now longitude 2°20′14.025″ east. It was a long-standing rival to Greenwich as the prime meridian of the world, as was the Meridian of Antwerp in Antwerp, Belgium....
instead of Greenwich (which would yield 20°37′42"N 68°32′1"W, off the Navidad Bank
Navidad Bank
Navidad Bank is an area in the Atlantic Ocean north of the Dominican Republic and southeast of the Territory of Turks & Caicos. It is separated from Silver Bank by the wide Navidad Bank Passage. It is a shallow underwater area composed of coral and sand that almost reaches the ocean's surface, but...
). Sure enough, the ship reaches an unknown and uninhabited island. As they come ashore to explore it, the Captain stubs his toe on a piece of wood protruding from the sand, which is excavated and turns out to be the remains of Sir Francis Haddock's jolly boat
Jolly boat
The jolly boat was a type of ship's boat in use during the 18th and 19th centuries. The origins of the name is the subject of debate, but it was by the 18th century one of a number of ship's boats, and was used mainly to ferry personnel to and from the ship, or for other small scale activities...
. As they penetrate into the interior of the island, they encounter numerous skull
Human skull
The human skull is a bony structure, skeleton, that is in the human head and which supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.In humans, the adult skull is normally made up of 22 bones...
s, which Tintin deduces are the remains of the island's cannibalistic former inhabitants. There is also a magnificent pagan icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
of Sir Francis, and numerous parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
s that repeat the Haddockian argot
Argot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
, which an amused Tintin realizes has been passed down for generations.
Calculus's submarine proves useful in searching for the sunken Unicorn, while the actual examination of the wreck itself is performed with a hardhat diving suit
Standard diving dress
A standard diving dress consists of a metallic diving helmet, an airline or hose from a surface supplied diving air pump, a canvas diving suit, diving knife and boots...
. Thomson and Thompson soon begin to rue their decision to join the treasure hunt, because they are consigned to manning the air pumps supplying the diving suit when Tintin, and later the Captain, explore the wreck. While facing complications like shark attacks, they discover a cutlass
Cutlass
A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket shaped guard...
, a gold bejeweled cross, a strongbox of old documents, the figurehead of the ship and, to Captain Haddock's delight, a large supply of vintage Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
.
Although the search is otherwise unproductive, the crew spots a large wooden cross on the island itself and Tintin believes that the reference in Sir Francis' parchments to "the Eagle's cross" could refer to it as the marker for the treasure's location. Upon coming to the cross the party begins to dig, but after a while Tintin realizes that they are following a false lead, considering that Sir Francis would not deliberately leave his treasure on an island he did not intend to return to, so they return to the Sirius.
Time passes. Although there are further dives to the wreck, they are unable to find the treasure itself and they go home disappointed.
Calculus's examination of the documents from the retrieved strongbox allows him to determine that Sir Francis was the owner of the large estate of Marlinspike Hall
Marlinspike Hall
Marlinspike Hall is Captain Haddock's country house in Hergé's comic book series The Adventures of Tintin.The hall is modeled after the central section of the Château de Cheverny...
, the former home of the Bird brothers. Upon this discovery, Tintin insists that Haddock must purchase the estate, which is up for auction, but the Captain is short on funds due to the wasted expense of their failed treasure hunt. However, Calculus, who has received large sums of money from the government after a profitable sale of his submarine design, helps his friend overcome that difficulty.
After purchasing the Hall, Tintin and Captain Haddock explore the cellars of the main house. Amongst the Bird Brothers' cluttered antiques they find a statue of Saint John
John of Patmos
John of Patmos is the name given, in the Book of Revelation, as the author of the apocalyptic text that is traditionally cannonized in the New Testament...
holding a cross. Tintin suddenly shouts out, "The Eagle's cross!" as he remembers the Saint is called "The Eagle of Patmos
Patmos
Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea. One of the northernmost islands of the Dodecanese complex, it has a population of 2,984 and an area of . The highest point is Profitis Ilias, 269 meters above sea level. The Municipality of Patmos, which includes the offshore islands of Arkoi ,...
". At the statue's feet is a globe. On it, Tintin locates the island where Sir Francis Haddock was marooned. He touches that point and discovers it to be a trigger button—the globe springs opens and Red Rackham's treasure is found hidden inside.
Background
The Belgian comic book creator Georges Remi – who would become better known under his pen name of Hergé – first came up with the character of Tintin, a young boy reporter, whilst working at the right wing Belgian newspaper Le XXe SiècleLe XXe Siècle
Le XXe Siècle was a Belgian newspaper that was published from 1895 and 1940. Its supplement Le Petit Vingtième is known as the first publication to feature The Adventures of Tintin....
(The 20th Century). Pioneering this new character in the story Tintin in the Land of the Soviets
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets is the first title in the comic book series The Adventures of Tintin, written and drawn by Belgian cartoonist Hergé...
, this comic, which involved Tintin battling the socialist authorities in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, was serialised in Le XXe Siècles supplement for children, Le Petit Vingtième
Le Petit Vingtième
Le Petit Vingtième was the weekly youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle from 1928 to 1940. The comics series The Adventures of Tintin first appeared in its pages.-History:...
(The Little Twentieth), from 10 January 1929 until 11 May 1930. Proving a success, Hergé went on to pen a string of new Adventures of Tintin, sending his character to real locations such as the Belgian Congo, the United States, Egypt, India, China and the United Kingdom, and also to fictional countries of his own devising, such as the Latin American republic of San Theodoros
San Theodoros
San Theodoros is a fictional Central American country in The Adventures of Tintin. It is a satirical version of a Latin American banana republic country under the yoke of military government.-History:...
and the East European kingdom of Syldavia
Syldavia
Syldavia is a fictional Balkan kingdom featured in The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé. The name was derived from TranSYLvania and MolDAVIA.-Overview:...
.
As he produced these works, his political approach to the world began to change; the earliest books reflected the socially conservative
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
, fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and imperialistic
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
attitudes of those for whom he worked. As he got older, he became more critical of the political far right, with the eighth Tintin adventure, King Ottokar's Sceptre
King Ottokar's Sceptre
King Ottokar's Sceptre is the eighth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring the young reporter Tintin. It was first serialized as a black-and-white comic strip in Le Petit Vingtième on 4 August...
(1939), involving Tintin battling the forces of fictional fascist state Borduria
Borduria
Borduria is a fictional country in the comic strip series The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé. It is located in the Balkans and has a rivalry with the fictional neighbouring country of Syldavia. Borduria is depicted in King Ottokar's Sceptre and The Calculus Affair, and is referred to in Tintin and...
, whose leader, named Müsstler, was a combination of Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
. He continued this anti-German sentiment in his subsequent work, Land of Black Gold
Land of Black Gold
Land of Black Gold is the fifteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero....
, in which the main antagonist, Dr Müller, is a German intent on sabotaging the oil supply in the British Mandate of Palestine.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out across Europe, and although Hergé initially considered fleeing into a self-imposed exile, he ultimately decided to stay in his occupied homeland. To ensure their own dominance, the Nazi authorities closed down Le XXe Siècle, leaving Hergé unemployed and his story Land of Black Gold unfinished. In search of employment, he was given a job as an illustrator by Raymond de Becker
Raymond de Becker
Raymond De Becker was a Belgian journalist and writer who was born in Brussels. He edited the Belgian papers Independence and Avant-Garde...
, an executive of the popular newspaper Le Soir
Le Soir
Le Soir is a Berliner Format Belgian newspaper. Le Soir was founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel. It is the most popular Francophone newspaper in Belgium, and considered a newspaper of record.-Editorial stance:...
(The Evening), which was allowed to continue publication under German management. On 17 October 1940 he was made editor of the paper's children's supplement, Le Soir Jeunesse, in which he set about producing new Tintin adventures, The Crab with the Golden Claws
The Crab with the Golden Claws
The Crab with the Golden Claws is the ninth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero...
(1941) and then The Shooting Star
The Shooting Star
The Shooting Star is the tenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip books that were written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero....
(1942). In this new, more repressive political climate, Hergé could no longer explore political themes in his Adventures of Tintin lest he be arrested by the Nazi secret police, the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
. As Tintinologist Harry Thompson
Harry Thompson
Harry William Thompson was an English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer....
noted, Tintin's role as a reporter came to an end, to be replaced by his new role as an explorer, something which was not a politically sensitive topic.
With the culmination of The Shooting Star, Hergé began work on a new Tintin adventure, which would spread through the two volume-length story The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure. Revolving around the "ultra-romantic theme" of the treasure hunt, Tintinologist Benoit Peeters
Benoît Peeters
Benoît Peeters is a comics writer, novelist, and critic. He has lived in Belgium since 1978.His best-known work is Les Cités Obscures, an imaginary world which mingles a Borgesian metaphysical surrealism with the detailed architectural vistas of the series' artist, François Schuiten...
would later describe it as "an act of sheer escapism from the rigours of occupation". His decision to write a story that would span the length of two books was something which he had tried before, with the Tintin in the East story arch that was found in both Cigars of the Pharaoh
Cigars of the Pharaoh
Cigars of the Pharaoh is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero...
(1934) and The Blue Lotus
The Blue Lotus
The Blue Lotus , first published in 1936, is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Hergé featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. It is a sequel to Cigars of the Pharaoh, with Tintin continuing his struggle against a major gang of drug...
(1936). He considered it to be sufficiently successful that he repeated it over the next four books, The Seven Crystal Balls
The Seven Crystal Balls
The Seven Crystal Balls is the thirteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero....
(1948), Prisoners of the Sun
Prisoners of the Sun
Prisoners of the Sun is the fourteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. It is a continuation of The Seven Crystal Balls, and is one of very few Tintin...
(1949), Destination Moon
Destination Moon
Destination Moon can refer to the following:* Destination Moon , a 1950 science fiction film* "Destination Moon" , a story by Robert Heinlein adapted from his screenplay for the above...
(1953) and Explorers on the Moon
Explorers on the Moon
Explorers on the Moon, published in 1954, is the seventeenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. Its original French title is On a marché sur la Lune...
(1954).
Publication
The story was originally published as a daily strip in the newspaper Le Soir between 19 February and 23 September 1943 under the title "Aventures Extraordinaires de Tintin et Milou" (French for "Extraordinary Adventures of Tintin and Snowy"). It was published in book form in 1944 and translated into English in 1959.By the time Red Rackham's Treasure had finished appearing in Le Soir, Tintin's next adventure, The Seven Crystal Balls
The Seven Crystal Balls
The Seven Crystal Balls is the thirteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero....
, was not yet ready for publication. Crime writer Paul Kinnet came up with a storyline which starred the Thompsons and had them investigate the disappearance of their farmer friend, on whose farm they can be seen working in much the same way as they did on the Sirius.
Inspirations
The Sirius, which had appeared before in The Shooting StarThe Shooting Star
The Shooting Star is the tenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip books that were written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero....
, was named after the SS Sirius
SS Sirius (1837)
The Sirius was a side-wheel wooden-hulled steamship built in 1837 for the London-Cork route operated by the St George Steam Packet Company. The next year, she opened transatlantic steam passenger service when she was chartered for two voyages by the British and American Steam Navigation Company...
, the first ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
solely under steam power, but was based on another ship called the John-o.88.
Differences between newspaper strip and comic book
In order to fit into the 62-pages required by the book publishers, certain scenes of the original strip were edited out and some panels were cropped or made bigger.The speech bubbles and the fonts were made smaller and there were some changes in the text which, in some cases, toned down the aggression of the characters: in the original strip, when confronting the so-called descendants of Red Rackham, Haddock announces that he fancies killing them all in combat and, once they have fled, Tintin expresses satisfaction. In the book Haddock's words are changed to his claiming to feel the boiling blood of his ancestor, Sir Francis, and Tintin makes no comment on his methods.
In the newspaper strip, the sailor caps worn by the Thompsons displayed the name "Redoutable" (French for "Ruthless"). These were taken out in the book version.
Scenes from the strip that did not appear in the book edition included:
- the shopkeeper warning Haddock that breaking the mirror is a bad omen and that he should give up his plans (in the book edition Haddock himself believes it to be a bad omen, while the shopkeeper merely demands to be paid for the broken mirror);
- in the port scene, Snowy's tail is hit by Haddock's match after the Captain's finger catches fire. Haddock then turns to Thompson and makes his statement that he is afraid of nothing and that they sail at dawn;
- Haddock, examining one of the steel plates in the hold, comments that it wasn't a bomb after all when a sudden bang can be heard behind them. However it's just the door closing suddenly;
- when digging at the foot of the cross, Thompson finds what he thinks is the treasure, a silver button, only for Haddock to tell him that it's just a button from Sir Francis' clothing and calling him a "freshwater sailor";
- before dragging Calculus off to see Haddock about the Marlinspike parchment, Tintin calls the Captain who mutter: "Calculus?... that phenomenon can go westwards", a reference to the professor's insistence that the treasure is westwards, as per his pendulum.
Scenes that were drawn for the book edition included:
- Haddock being helped to his feet by Thompson and Tintin after going through Calculus' clothes-brushing machine;
- Tintin commenting on the irony of finding the treasure in Marlinspike Hall "right under our very noses" after going halfway across the world to find it.
Some of the panels were redrawn for the book edition in order to cover half-a-page rather than a small panel. These included:
- the scene where Tintin, in his diving-gear, first approaches the Unicorn;
- the scene in the Maritime Gallery at Marlinspike, redrawn to include Snowy chewing a bone, an anchor and the three models of the Unicorn on a glass panel with a book and some of the parchments (the original panel only had a single model on a wooden case).
Translation differences
A joke in the book involves Thomson and Thompson re-doing Captain Haddock's navigational calculations, but their ignorance causes them to place the ship in a fanciful location far from its real one. In the original French version, Captain Haddock mockingly explains that they place them in St. Peter's BasilicaSt. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. The Methuen English translation alters this to Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
; America's Golden Press translation alters it to St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
When making their way back to the ship with the idol of Sir Francis, Haddock, his hand trailing in the water, recites the opening lines of "The Galley of Count Arnaldos" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
. In the original French, he quotes from Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.-Career:...
's "Le Lac" ("The Lake").
Belvision animation, 1957
In 1957, the animation company Belvision produced a string of colour adaptations based upon Hergé's original comics, adapting eight of the Adventures into a series of daily five-minute episodes. Red Rackham's Treasure was the eighth such story to be adapted, being directed by Ray Goossens and written by Michel Greg, himself a well known comic book writer and illustrator who in later years would become editor-in-chief of the Journal De Tintin.Ellipse/Nelvana animation, 1991
In 1991, a second animated series based upon The Adventures of Tintin was produced, this time as a collaboration between the French studio EllipseEllipse
In geometry, an ellipse is a plane curve that results from the intersection of a cone by a plane in a way that produces a closed curve. Circles are special cases of ellipses, obtained when the cutting plane is orthogonal to the cone's axis...
and the Canadian animation company Nelvana
Nelvana
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian entertainment company founded in 1971 known for its work in children's animation. It was named by founders Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith after a Canadian comic book superheroine created by Adrian Dingle in the 1940s...
. Adapting 21 of the stories into a series of episodes, each 42 minutes long, Red Rackham's Treasure was the tenth story to be produced into the series, with the story spanning two episodes. Directed by Stéphane Bernasconi, the series has been praised for being "generally faithful", with compositions having been actually directly taken from the panels in the original comic book.
Analysis
In his analysis of the Adventures of Tintin, the academic Jean-Marie Apostolidès characterised the Secret of the Unicorn-Red Rackham's Treasure arc as being about the characters going on a "treasure hunt that turns out to be at the same time a search for their roots."Influence
The shark-shaped submarine on the book's cover was the inspiration for "TroyTroy (submarine)
Troy is a 14-foot-long submarine designed to look as much as possible like a Great White Shark, to watch Great White Sharks underwater without disturbing them, since before this it was difficult to observe them without attracting them to food. It has one crew, who lies on his belly inside it. It is...
," the real-life shark-shaped submersible
Submersible
A submersible is a small vehicle designed to operate underwater. The term submersible is often used to differentiate from other underwater vehicles known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully autonomous craft, capable of renewing its own power and breathing air, whereas a submersible is...
constructed by aquatic film-maker and oceanographic explorer Fabien Cousteau
Fabien Cousteau
Fabien Cousteau is a French aquatic filmmaker and oceanographic explorer. He is son of Jean-Michel Cousteau and grandson of the noted oceanographic explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Born in Paris, he grew up in both France and the United States, and frequently accompanied his grandfather and father...
, the grandson of Jacques Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water...
.
In the movie Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 American drama film adapted by Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman, and directed by Benton. The film tells the story of a married couple's divorce and its impact on everyone involved, including the couple's young son...
, Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
's character reads this book to his son.
External links
- Red Rackham's Treasure at Tintinologist.org