How about a statue of Long John Silver, and not Blackbeard?

INOTICED the recent article in the Bristol Post about the proposed statue of Blackbeard for Bristol city centre.

I wondered whether the City of Bristol might consider a statue of a fictitious famous literary character associated with the city instead?

For instance, there is a famous statue of Sherlock Holmes in Marylebone London. There is a statue of Hans Christan Anderson’s little mermaid in Copenhagen Harbour. There is a statue of the characters from the story the musicians of Bremen in Bremen, Germany. There is a statue of Robin Hood in Nottingham.

I propose a statue of Long John Silver from the book Treasure Island for Bristol. Long John ran a dockside tavern called The Spyglass in the story and he was married to a Black lady (who doesn’t appear in the story). He was also disabled having lost his leg during a fight between his pirate shop and the Royal Navy.

The character is a likeable rogue known the world over and I am sure that a good statue of him could become a wonderful tourist attraction. It might be possible to sell souvenir postcards and bottles of ‘Long John Silver Rum’ from nearby shops and by doing so, Bristol could put some business Jamaica’s way by contracting out a rum producer over there to supply the stuff.

I agree that Blackbeard is a very striking character, but he was an actual real pirate and a despicable human being and Bristol might run the risk of being accused of glorifying a criminal by commemorating him, whereas Long John Silver (a fictitious character and although a rogue) had some redeeming qualities.

I just thought this might be worth considering.

Allan Wilkie Bristol