Dead Man's Chest facts for kids

"Dead Man's Chest" is a famous fictional sea song. It is also known as Fifteen Men On The Dead Man's Chest. This song first appeared in Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island in 1883.

Later, a poet named Young E. Allison expanded it into a longer poem. He called it "Derelict." This poem was published in a newspaper in 1891. Since then, the song has been used in many movies, TV shows, and other creative works.

Where the Song Came From

Robert Louis Stevenson found the name "Dead Man's Chest" in a book. The book listed names of islands in the British Virgin Islands. One of these was Dead Chest Island. This island is near Peter Island.

Stevenson said that this name was the "seed" for his novel Treasure Island. It means that seeing those three words gave him the idea for the whole story.

In Treasure Island, Stevenson only wrote the chorus of the song. He left the rest for readers to imagine. The chorus goes like this:

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest—
...Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Trouble and the devil took care of the rest—
...Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

There was another line in the book, near the end:

But one man of her crew alive,
What put to sea with seventy-five.

Stevenson did not say if this line was part of "Dead Man's Chest." But these words helped the story move forward.

Fake Stories About the Song

Over time, some people printed other versions of the poem. They claimed these versions were old folk songs. But they were actually new parts added to Stevenson's original song.

One version appeared in a newspaper. It was called "Stevenson's Sailor Song." The writer said they heard old sailors singing it in Chicago. When asked where they learned it, the sailors supposedly said, "We never learned it nowhere, we allers knowed it." This story was a joke, but some people believed it.

Another version was called "Billy Bones's Fancy." It was said to be put together from old pieces. But it was just an updated version of the newspaper story. Stevenson's stepson, Osbourne, said that "Fifteen-Men" was completely Stevenson's idea. Stevenson himself said the book by Kingsley was the "seed" for his invention.

The Song in Movies and More

"Dead Man's Chest" has been very popular in movies and other art for over a hundred years.

• In 1901, music was added to the poem "Derelict." This was for a Broadway play of Treasure Island.
• In the 1954 movie Return to Treasure Island, the song was sung at the start. It was also played as background music.
• The 1959 TV show The Adventures of Long John Silver used an instrumental version. It was the theme song for every episode.
• In 1967, writers for Walt Disney were inspired by "Derelict." They created the song "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)." This song plays in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Disneyland.
• Astrid Lindgren used Stevenson's lines in a different way. This was for the 1969 Pippi Longstocking TV series.
• Alan Moore made a play on the song in his 1986 graphic novel Watchmen. One chapter is called "One man on fifteen dead men's chests."
• In 1993, a pirate singing group called The Jolly Rogers recorded a version. It was released again in 1997 on their CD "Pirate Gold."
• The steampunk band Abney Park also recorded a version called "The Derelict."
• In the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Joshamee Gibbs sings the original version from Treasure Island.

Different Languages

In German, the song is sometimes called "17 Mann auf des toten Manns Kiste." This means "17 men on the dead man's chest." Sometimes it's "13 Mann," meaning "13 men." These numbers are used in Michael Ende's Jim Knopf stories.

In the Hungarian translation of Treasure Island, it's "seven (men) on a dead man's chest." These different numbers helped the song rhyme and sound right in other languages.

Many authors have written new stories that happen before or after Treasure Island. One example is R. F. Delderfield's The Adventures of Ben Gunn.