Israel Hands

Israel Hands,also known asBasilica Hands,was an 18th-centurypiratebest known for being second in command toEdward Teach(c. 1680 – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard. His name serves as the basis for the name of the villainous sidekick inRobert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novelTreasure Island.

Israel Hands
Born	Israel Hand c. 1701
Died	unknown, possibly 1724 possiblyLondon
Piratical career
Nickname	Basilica Hands
Rank	Captain
Base of operations	Atlantic West Indies

Biography

Hands' first historical mention was in 1718, whenBlackbeardgave him command ofDavid Herriot's shipAdventureafter Herriot was captured by Teach in March 1718.During the winter of 1717–1718, Blackbeard harassed shipping to and from the port ofVera Cruz,Mexico and traversing theBay of Honduras.On 4 or 5 April 1718, atTurneffe Atoll,Blackbeard captured the ten-gun log-cutting sloopAdventureand forced captain Herriot to join him. Also on board was Edward Robinson, the ship's gunner, who would later be involved in theBattle of Cape Fear River.Blackbeard made Israel Hands captain of theAdventureand began sailing forNorth Carolina.In June 1718, Teach ran his flagship, theQueen Anne's Revenge,aground at Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. He requested assistance from Hands with theAdventurein an effort tokedgetheQueen Anne's Revengeoff the bar. However, theAdventurealso grounded and was abandoned. Teach, Hands andStede Bonnettook approximately half the pirates, marooning the rest, and set sail forOcracoke.

Captain Charles Johnsonwrote that Hands was shot in the knee when Teach fired at another of his crew, missing him but striking Hands. Hands asked Teach for his reasons, whereupon Teach remarked that, "if he did not now and then kill one of them, they would forget who he was."

On 22 November 1718 Teach was killed by troops dispatched from Virginia and led byRoyal NavylieutenantRobert Maynard.At the time Hands was inBath,North Carolina, recuperating from his permanently disabling pistol wound. However, he was unable to escape the roundup of pirates in Bath that followed Blackbeard's death. Following his capture, he and fifteen others were taken toWilliamsburg,Virginia, to stand trial.In exchange for apardon,Hands testified against corruptNorth Carolinaofficials with whom Teach had consorted.

The minutes of the North Carolina Governor's Council for 27 May 1719, state:

Hesikia Hands[,] master of Capt Thaches Sloop Adventure[,] seems to sweare possitively in his Depossition that the sd [said] Thache went from Ocacoch Inlet at his returne into this Country from his last voyage with a present to the sd [said] Tobias Knights house [,] when by the same deposition [Hands] acknowledgth that to be out of the reach of his knoledge[,] he being all the time at the sd [said] Inlet which lyes at above thirty leagues distance from [Knight's] house and further the [said] Tobias Knight doth pray your Honours to observe that the aforsd Hesikias Hands was... for some time before the giving of the [said] Evidence kept in prison under the Terrors of Death a most severe prosecution....

What happened to Hands after this is not known for certain. However, in Captain Charles Johnson's 1724A General History of the Pyrates,Hands is said to have died impoverished in London.It's also been suggested that Hands changed his name to "Israel Hynde" and joinedBartholomew Roberts' Crew. Johnson writes that Hynde, 30, from Bristol, was hanged onApril 3–20, 1722,atCape Coast Castle.

In popular culture

Hands' and O'Brian's drunken fight on theHispanola

One More Step, Mr. HandsbyN.C. Wyeth,1911, forTreasure IslandbyRobert Louis Stevenson.

Israel Hands appears as a character inRobert Louis Stevenson's novelTreasure Islandand media based on it, in which he is theHispaniola's coxswain and one ofLong John Silver's pirates. He is described as the lateCaptain Flint's gunner and no mention is made of Blackbeard. Hands engages in a prolonged battle withJim Hawkinsbefore being shot by the boy.

Hands features in the children's adventure bookKintana and the Captain's Curseby Susan Brownrigg.

Hands appears very briefly in the 2013 video gameAssassin's Creed IV: Black Flag,showing a crate of medicine needed for the population of Nassau to Blackbeard, leading him to hold hostages at Charleston.

Portrayals in film and television

• Mark Noble in the 2006 documentaryBlackbeard: Terror at Sea.Hands serves as the narrator.
• Anthony Greenin the 2006 television movieBlackbeard.In this version, Hands dies during the battle against Lt. Robert Maynard.
• Irish actorDavid Wilmotportrays Hands in the fourth season ofStarz'sTreasure Islandprequel seriesBlack Sails.
• Con O'Neillportrays a fictionalized version of Hands in the 2022 romantic comedy seriesOur Flag Means Death,in which he is referred to by the moniker "Izzy".

Based onTreasure Island

• Joseph Singletonin the1920 silent version.
• Douglass Dumbrillein the1934 version.
• Geoffrey Keenin the1950 versionandRod Taylorin its 1954 sequel film,Long John Silver.Though believed to have been killed in the first film, a return expedition to Treasure Island finds Israel Hands alive.
• Aldo Sambrellin the1972 version.
• Patrick Troughtonin the1977 version.
• Gennadi Yukhtinin the1982 film.
• Jean-François Stéveninin the1985 version.
• Michael Halsey in the1990 version.
• Dermot Keaney in the1999 version.
• InDisney's 2002 animated movieTreasure Planet,Hands appears as a giant four-armed pirate voiced byMike McShane.He is a minor character, while another pirate named Scroop (voiced byMichael Wincott) fills the role of directly threatening Jim. Hands and several others fall to their death after Dr. Doppler intentionally breaks the platform they are standing on. While Scroop is later kicked into space by Jim when B.E.N. disables the ship's artificial gravity.
• Geoff Bellin the2012 version.

External links

• When Blackbeard Scourged the Seas,History.org
• National Register of Historic Places,National Park Service
• Scientists Show Relics From Ship Fit For Pirate, Possibly Blackbeard,Chicago Tribune