Sir Francis Haddock

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Sir Francis Haddock is a fictional character created by the French cartoonist Hergé and appearing in The Adventures of Tintin within the comic book The Secret of the Unicorn, first published in 1943. The original French name of the character was le chevalier François de Hadoque.

[edit] Character history

Sir Francis is an ancestor of the main character Captain Haddock. He is a sailor and a knight serving under the king, and was awarded by the king with the ownership of Marlinspike Hall in 1695. Sir Francis was also the commander of three-masted armed navy vessel The Unicorn.

In 1698 The Unicorn, sailing under the command of Sir Francis, was seized by a group of pirates led by Red Rackham. As described in the story The Secret of the Unicorn, the crew of The Unicorn lost the battle against the pirates. During the battle Sir Francois and Red Rackham were engaged is a duel that ended when a pulley knocked Sir Francois unconsciousness.

When regaining his consciousness Sir Francis found out that the battle was over and found himself tied to the main mast, and also that his vessel was under the Red Rackham's rule. The pirates were busy carrying the treasure from the sinking pirate vessel on board The Unicorn, which was rapidly sinking after being damaged in the battle.

The pirates sailed The Unicorn to a tropical island, and after they had consumed large amounts of liquor stored onboard The Unicorn Sir Francis managed to free himself. Before leaving the ship, however, he set fire to the ship's gunpowder storage. Upon leaving the gunpowder storage he encountered Red Rackham and engaged in a duel with the pirate leader, fortunately killing him. Sir Francis managed to escape to the shore with a rowboat before the explosion destroyed The Unicorn, killing all pirates onboard.

After three years on the island he was rescued by a passing vessel and returned to Marlinspike Hall. During his retirement he built three scale models of The Unicorn. In each model inside the hollow main mast he placed a piece of paper describing the coordinates of the island and the wreck of The Unicorn. These models create the basis for two Tintin albums, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure.