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!
You may have thought this was all just fiction, but the truth is the Dead Man’s Chest island actually exists! It is a small, uninhabited island located half a mile north east of Deadman's Bay on Peter Island, British Virgin Islands. The island's claim to fame comes from its connection to Robert Louis Stevenson and pirates. In Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Dead Man's Chest is an actual chest that contains the map leading to Treasure Island. The chest is buried on a small island, which Stevenson based on Dead Man's Chest Island. The island is also mentioned in the popular pirate song, "Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest" which became the inspiration for Stevenson's novel.
Pirates were known to frequent Dead Man's Chest Island during the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean. The island provided a secret location for pirates to hide their treasure or to bury their dead. The island's name derives from the numerous skeletal remains and scattered bones that were discovered on the island, believed to be the remains of pirates who perished on the island. The island's mysterious past, including pirate activity and skeletal remains, has only added to its allure and made it a popular destination for those interested in pirate lore and treasure hunting.
Ironically, the island was frequented not only by the pirates but by the policemen as well. It was formerly used as a firing range by the Royal Virgin Islands Police, but following the opening of the nearby hotel on Peter Island the firing range was moved to the island of Tortola.
