In Robert Louis Stevenson's classic 1883 adventure novel Treasure Island, a gruff old pirate named Billy Bones arrives at the Admiral Benbow Inn, toting a chest full of secrets and singing a portion of his favorite sea song:
Fifteen men on the dead man's chest
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Bones learned the old drinking song while sailing the seas with the notorious pirate Captain Flint, but in reality, it wasn't an old song at all. Stevenson wrote Bones' oft-repeated refrain specifically for Treasure Island. In an 1884 letter to literary critic Sidney Colvin, he recalled being inspired to write the story, along with its famous song, after spotting an island called Dead Man's Chest in Charles Kingsley's 1871 book At Last: A Christmas In The West Indies.
While Stevenson never divulged the meaning of the lyrics, he was possibly inspired by an 18th-century folktale involving Edward Teach, better known as the infamous English pirate Blackbeard. One variation alleges the fearsome marauder stranded 15 mutinous sailors on Dead Man's Chest (or Dead Chest Island) in the British Virgin Islands with a saber and a bottle of rum, expecting them to slay each other over the cask of alcohol.
This is also known as "Fifteen Men (Bottle Of Rum)," "Fifteen Men On The Dead Man's Chest" and "Yo, Ho, Ho (And a Bottle of Rum)." An extended version is titled "Derelict."
In the book, the young protagonist Jim Hawkins assumes "dead man's chest" refers to Bones' sea chest. Instead, it serves as a grim warning of what's to come on a dangerous quest to find Captain Flint's hidden treasure.
Kentucky-born writer Young Ewing Allison expanded Stevenson's verse into a poem called "Derelict," which was first published in the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1891. Allison had Treasure Island on his mind while he was working with composer Henry Waller on the opera The Ogallallas, and the pair shared their admiration for Bones' haunting chant. There are different reports of what happened next: Waller asked Allison to complete the verse so he could set it to music or Waller had already written the music and Allison was inspired to write the words. Either way, Allison wrote the initial three stanzas, conjuring a shipwreck on the island of Dead Man's Chest, where the crew brutally slaughtered each other over a trove of riches onboard.
During rehearsals for The Ogallallas, the show's star Eugene Cowles regularly sang the tune with a deep bass vocal that enthralled onlookers. While the poem made the paper as "Derelict," the song was published the same year as "A Piratical Ballad."
Allison continued to work on the song over the next six years, adding three more verses that detail the aftermath of the massacre and the discovery of a murdered woman on the ship. The complete piece was published in the Chicago magazine Rubric in 1901. That same year, Waller was tasked to write the music for a Broadway adaptation of Treasure Island and included the ballad, adopting the "Derelict" title.
In the 2006 movie, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin R. McNally) sings Stevenson's original refrain as a nod to the film's title. The song shows up in lots of other pirate-related media, including the 1954 movie Return To Treasure Island and the 1959 tv series The Adventures Of Long John Silver. In a 1980 episode of The Muppet Show, Black Jackson (Glenda Jackson) and her band of pirates transform the Muppet Theatre into a ship and take the Muppets captive. During a final battle at sea, the cast sings "Dead Man's Chest" as part of a medley of sea shanties.
It was also used in these TV shows:
The Naked Archaeologist ("Chasing The Temple Booty" - 2008)
Relic Hunter ("Treasure Island" - 2001)
Lexx ("Wake The Dead" - 1999)
Gunsmoke ("Captain Sligo" - 1971)
And these movies:
Two Smart People (1946)
The Great Profile (1940)
Folk singer Ed McCurdy recorded the extended version as "Yo Ho Ho" on his 1956 album Blood Booze 'N Bones. In 1959, the Roger Wagner Chorale recorded a version with Harve Presnell as the vocalist. The pirate-themed vocal group The Jolly Rogers recorded "The Derelict" in 1993, and the steampunk act Abney Park recorded it for their 2009 album, Aether Shanties.
