{"id":7066224,"date":"2026-09-25T02:27:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T02:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/uncategorized\/damien-dessane-dives-into-secrets-of-herges-red-rackhams-treasure\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T02:27:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T02:27:04","slug":"damien-dessane-dives-into-secrets-of-herges-red-rackhams-treasure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=7066224","title":{"rendered":"Damien Dessane dives into secrets of Herg\u00e9’s “Red Rackham’s Treasure”"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Damien Dessane dives deep into Herg\u00e9\u2019s Tintin adventure Red Rackham\u2019s Treasure, and uncovers some secrets you may have missed\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The strip examples in this feature are used with the permission of Delphine Maubert (Tintinimaginatio) for\u00a0education\/information purposes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Tintin<\/figure>\n

Beneath its seemingly innocent surface, Herg\u00e9\u2019s work exhibits notable complexity. It reflects his mindset: his Catholic Faith, his interest in esotericism and cryptology, and his political outlook bordering on anti-capitalism. In <\/em>Red Rackham\u2019s Treasure<\/em><\/strong>, the pursuit of the treasure is interwoven with Gospel references, emphasising that money should not be an end in itself but serve just purposes, and that the author, through his art, seeks not material wealth but the capacity to engage and inspire his audience. These concealed allusions function, in effect, as Herg\u00e9\u2019s testament, revealing the values and insights he deemed essential to transmit in accordance with his Faith\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Herg\u00e9, German Occupation and \u2018Le Soir Vol\u00e9\u2019<\/h2>\n

Herg\u00e9 (Georges Remi) began drawing in 1926, before he was 20 years old, a scout named Totor, the character who would later inspire Tintin. \u201cThe Adventures of Tintin\u201d were published in a Catholic youth newspaper, Le Petit Vingti\u00e8me<\/em>, until Belgium was invaded by the Nazis in 1940. The Germans shut down the Catholic publication for young readers. After temporarily taking refuge in France, in the Puy-de-D\u00f4me region, Herg\u00e9 returned to Brussels following King Leopold III\u2019s call to \u201cresume work,\u201d which he did by agreeing to provide his drawings to the newspaper Le Soir<\/em>, which then came to be nicknamed \u201cLe Soir vol\u00e9\u201d (\u201cThe Stolen Soir\u201d) because it was under Nazi control<\/p>\n

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During his years at \u201cLe Soir vol\u00e9\u201d, Herg\u00e9 published four albums: The Crab with the Golden Claws<\/a><\/em> (1941), The Shooting Star<\/a><\/em> (1942), and the double album, The Secret of the Unicorn<\/a><\/em> and Red Rackham\u2019s Treasure<\/a><\/em> (1943 \u2013 44)<\/p>\n

After the war, public opinion criticised him for having worked for the Germans, which caused him a long period of depression. However, if we examine these four albums, we notice that two of them depict the seizure of a ship by sinister characters: Allan Thompson for the Karaboudjan and Red Rackham for The Unicorn, just as the Nazis had seized the country and the newspaper he worked for. The other albums clearly evoke the Apocalypse: The Shooting Star<\/em> and, as we will discover, the double albums.<\/p>\n

Moreover, in Herg\u00e9, Franquin, le chevalier et le missionnaire<\/a><\/em>, Philippe Delisle shows that in Tintin\u2019 albums, before World War Two and the rise of Nazism, the \u201cvillains\u201d who were generally Anglo-Saxon, capitalist, and Protestant, are then German or Italian. For example, in The Black Island<\/a> <\/em>(1938), Tintin confronts the German doctor M\u00fcller, and in King Ottokar\u2019s Sceptre<\/a><\/em> (1939), the character of M\u00fcsstler (a combination of Mussolini and Hitler) appears, referencing negatively the Anschluss and the Nazi regime\u2019s actions in Eastern Europe. Herg\u00e9, therefore, was not pro-Nazi, not before the war, nor during the occupation. Opposing openly the German regime would have been very dangerous, especially in a newspaper controlled by the Nazis, yet he managed to express a form of resistance.<\/p>\n

In Herg\u00e9\u2019s work, the \u201cvillain\u201d is never portrayed as Catholic. Villains are consistently depicted as Anglo-Saxon capitalists (Protestant), Greeks (Orthodox, e.g. Papadopoulos), Muslims (e.g., Ben Salaad), or Jews (e.g., Bohlwinkel). In the case of the latter, this should not be interpreted as anti-Semitism, but rather as a critique of capitalism.<\/p>\n

In the Bible, the stories of the Apocalypse are linked to invasions and colonization: the Assyrians in the book of Isaiah, and the Romans in the book of Saint John. Like Saint John, Herg\u00e9 could not openly name the occupiers, so he used graphic, mathematical, and narrative strategies to convey his pious messages and his opposition to the invaders. Herg\u00e9 was not a collaborator; he was, in a sense, a whistleblower.<\/p>\n

Tintin and Cryptology<\/h2>\n

Beneath Herg\u00e9\u2019s \u201cligne claire\u201d style lays a surprisingly complex body of work. His fascination with the paranormal and with C.G. Jung\u2019s analytical psychology is evident throughout the albums. While firmly rooted in his Catholic faith, Herg\u00e9 frequently explores fantastical themes, including black magic and cryptozoology, featuring creatures such as yetis (Tintin in Tibet<\/a><\/em>), unicorns (The Secret of the Unicorn<\/em>), and dragons (The Blue Lotus<\/a><\/em>).<\/p>\n

Authors Bernard Portevin (in Le Monde Inconnu D\u2019Herge<\/a><\/em>) and Jacques Fontaine (in Herg\u00e9 chez les initi\u00e9s<\/a><\/em>) analyse certain albums as works of esoteric initiation. For example, Bernard Portevin demonstrates that, beginning with Cigars of the Pharaoh<\/a> <\/em>in 1934, the Rider-Waite Tarot cards influenced the covers of the albums. A notable example is card number 10, the Wheel of Fortune, reflected in the cover of The Secret of the Unicorn<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Cryptology also plays a significant role in Herg\u00e9\u2019s work. In The Blue Lotus<\/em>, for instance, the \u201cvillains\u201d communicate using a code reminiscent of George Sand\u2019s letters (see pages 1 and 19 of the album). The Crab with the Golden Claws<\/em> alludes to Edgar Allan Poe\u2019s The Gold-Bug<\/a><\/em> (1843), which revolves around a cryptographic puzzle. Herg\u00e9 also drew on classical ciphers: the Gronsfeld cipher, popularised by Jules Verne in La Jangada<\/em> (1881, also known in English as \u201cEight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon\u201d), and its variant, the Beaufort cipher. The latter appears in The Shooting Star<\/em>, where the meteorite is a symbolic replica of Beaufort Island in Antarctica.<\/p>\n

Herg\u00e9\u2019s fascination with secret codes appears in many albums: in The Secret of the Unicorn<\/em>, three parchments must be overlaid to reveal the geographic coordinates of Treasure Island (p. 61); in Prisoners of the Sun<\/a><\/em>, a ship communicates using signal flags (pp. 3 and 5); and in The Red Sea Sharks<\/em>, a sailor employs a heliograph to send messages to another vessel (p. 59). Herg\u00e9 weaves cryptography seamlessly into his adventurous narratives, adding layers of mystery and intellectual engagement for the reader.<\/p>\n

Red Rackham\u2019s Treasure<\/em>, published as a colour album in 1944 and compiling the strips that appeared in the stolen newspaper Le Soir<\/em> (documented in Les coulisses d\u2019une \u0153uvre \u2013 12: Le Tr\u00e9sor de Rackham le Rouge<\/em> by\u00a0Philippe Goddin and \u00a0Dominique Maricq), is a treasure hunt that began in The Secret of the Unicorn<\/em>. Professor Calculus makes his first appearance in this album. According to Benoit Peeters, writing in Herge, fils de tintin<\/a><\/em>, the professor represents the Holy Spirit, completing the Trinity alongside the Father, Captain Haddock, and the Son, Tintin.<\/p>\n

The adventure also explores another trinity: that of the three brothers (the three sons of Haddock\u2019s ancestor, the chevalier-corsair), who, when united, illuminate the Cross of the Eagle symbolising the message of the Gospels. <\/p>\n

This article explains how that message is conveyed through five hidden biblical references within the adventures of Red Rackham\u2019s Treasure\u2026<\/p>\n

Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) of St. John 14:09\u201313<\/h2>\n

The Cross of the Eagle (that of Saint John the Theologian) and the coordinates of the island of Sir Francis Haddock: Latitude N 20\u00b037\u201942, Longitude W 70\u00b052\u201915 (Paris meridian). The position of Tintin\u2019s ship is given precisely by Captain Haddock on page 23, strip C2. By taking the difference between the Paris meridian and the Greenwich meridian (2\u00b020\u201914), we obtain 71\u00b002\u201929 (Greenwich) + 2\u00b020\u201914 = 73\u00b022\u201943 (Paris).<\/p>\n

If we calculate the distance separating Tintin\u2019s ship from the position indicated by the parchments, we get 73\u00b022\u201943 \u2013 70\u00b052\u201915 = 2\u00b030\u201928, which corresponds to 140.913 nautical miles. This distance refers to the Apocalypse of St. John 14:09\u201313:<\/p>\n

Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, \u2018If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.\u2019 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, \u2018Write, \u201cBlessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!\u201d\u2019 \u2018Yes,\u2019 says the Spirit, \u2018so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Interpretation<\/strong>: The three parchments find a symbolic parallel in this passage from Revelation, where the third angel pronounces judgment upon those who worship the beast, while offering the promise of salvation to those who remain steadfast in their fidelity to Christ. Within Herg\u00e9\u2019s narrative, this functions as a moral allegory: material treasure and worldly wealth are ultimately secondary. Their true significance lies not in possession, but in the ethical and spiritual use to which they are put. In this way, Herg\u00e9 transforms the quest for gold into a meditation on stewardship; warning that riches become destructive when pursued as ends in themselves, yet can serve the good when ordered toward higher purposes.<\/p>\n

Gospel according to Matthew 17:24\u201327 (St Peter\u2019s fish)<\/h2>\n

Several references to St Peter are made in the album. Captain Haddock points at the sea with his finger talking about Saint Peter (basilica) (French version: page 23, strip A1; English version: Westminster Abbey). The fish with a round dot on its tail above the treasure chest (page 45, strip C1) is a John Dory (St Peter\u2019s fish, Zeus faber). The shark swallows the treasure chest (page 46, strip A2). Then, dazed by alcohol, the shark knocks itself out (page 47, strip B2), and Thomson and Thompson recover the chest from the shark\u2019s stomach (page 47, strip A2). Captain Haddock, Tintin, Snowy and Professor Calculus sit at a table trying to open the chest:<\/p>\n

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