The Real People Who Inspired Timeless Fictional Characters

The Man Behind One Of Literature’s Most Iconic Pirates

Photo Credits: F. Hollyer/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Author of the novel Treasure Island, Robert Lewis Stevenson based his pirate character of Long John Silver on one of his best friends William Henley. Henley was a writer as well as an editor and had grown close with Stevenson. Stevenson’s stepson described Henley as a nice man with a big laugh and a bigger beard.

He also was missing a leg from a bout of Tuberculosis when he was younger. After Treasure Island was published, Stevenson finally told Henley that he was the inspiration behind Long John Silver not just because of his physicality, but for his ambition and attitude on life.