Sailor John

"Treachery! Mutiny! I won't stand for it! I'll have you in the dry-dock, Skiff, and take away your sail!"

- Sailor John, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure

Sailor John is Skiff's former owner, and a pirate obsessed with finding treasure.

Bio
After Thomas discovered the Pirate Ship, Sailor John converted his sailboat, Skiff, to run on rails, in order to search for the pirate treasure. He met Thomas as he was searching around the area the ship had been found at, and he began to help him try to find the treasure. Each morning, he would return to the sea until the next evening to avoid being caught by the police. However, when they could not find the treasure, Sailor John immediately turned against Thomas, believing he had found the treasure first. Upon finding out that Sir Topham Hatt had the treasure and was planning on giving it to the museum, Sailor John blew up his office at Knapford late at night and stole the treasure chest, as well as rigging up the pirate ship as an escape vehicle, causing Thomas to chase after him. As they approached Arlesburgh Junction, Thomas told Mike, Rex, and Bert to stop Sailor John. They pushed a train of ballast hoppers off the chute, which then landed on the track in front of him. The pirate ship immediately crushed most of the hoppers, but one was caught under it, which caused it to lose momentum. A loose rope then got caught by Ryan, who was nearby, on his buffer. When Ryan ran into a siding, the rope was too short to keep the ship moving, and it derailed. The next morning, Thomas was still chasing Skiff. John attempted to destroy Thomas with a stick of dynamite, but Skiff saved him by nearly derailing at a bend, causing Sailor John to lose his aim. Thomas eventually fell into the sea at the harbour, and Sailor John escaped. He was finally defeated after Skiff deliberately capsized, causing him to lose the treasure chest when it sank to the bottom of the sea. He was found by the police using an upside-down Skiff as a raft and was promptly arrested.

Persona
Kicked out of the navy, Sailor John retired to the Island of Sodor and became obsessed with the idea of finding the lost treasure. He can be quite a charmer appearing both funny and likeable, but underneath his apparently friendly exterior lurks a ruthless schemer with no true friends apart from Skiff (his sailboat) and loyalty to none but himself. He is smart, energetic and practical, capable of elaborate planning and feats of engineering, such as adapting Skiff for the rails or commandeering the pirate ship and rigging it up as an escape vehicle.

Television Series
Specials:
 * Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure

Voice Actors

 * John Hurt (UK/US)
 * Kōichi Sakaguchi (Japan)
 * Fred Meijer (The Netherlands)
 * Óscar Gómez (Latin America)

Trivia

 * Sailor John is the first human antagonist in the series, excluding P. T. Boomer as he did not make it to the final cut of Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
 * Sailor John refers to himself as "Pirate John" in the Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure book after he steals the treasure, but not in the actual movie. However, he does say "You've got the wrong pirate!", indicating he still thinks of himself as a pirate.
 * Sailor John is the first antagonist in a special since Diesel 10 in Thomas and the Magic Railroad to not reform at the film's conclusion.

Quotes
Thomas encounters Sailor John at the Coastal Cliffs, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure
 * Sailor John: Where's my treasure?!
 * Thomas: The Fat Controller has it. He's giving it to the museum.
 * Sailor John: Museum?! What museum! I haven't been searching all this time to see that treasure end up in a museum! It's for me!
 * Skiff: But you always said we were going to give it to the museum!
 * Sailor John: (Stamps on Skiff's deck, growling) Get my treasure back, Thomas!
 * Thomas: No, Sailor John! That treasure didn't belong to you and it didn't belong to the pirates! It was stolen! So it's going to the museum, and that's the end of it. (Chuffing forwards)
 * Sailor John: I will not be pushed aside! Hold firm, Skiff! (Shunted into a siding) Ahh!
 * Skiff: Sorry, Thomas!
 * Sailor John: (Jumping on Skiff's deck) I WANT MY TREASURE!

Merchandise

 * Wooden Railway