Marlinspike Hall Marlinspike Hall Marlinspike Hall ( ) is Captain Haddock's country house and family estate in "The Adventures of Tintin", the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The original French name of the hall, "Moulinsart", is derived from Sart-Moulin, a village near Braine-l'Alleud in Walloon Brabant, Belgium. In an allusion to the Haddock family's maritime history, the hall's English name refers to the marlinspike, a tool used in seamanship to splice ropes. The Belgian corporation managing Hergé's work (principally "Tintin") is also called Moulinsart S.A. Marlinspike Hall first appears in "The Secret of the Unicorn" as the home of the story's
Captain Haddock the Picaros", when Professor Calculus 'cures' him of his taste for alcohol. In the adventure "Secret of the Unicorn" (and continuing in "Red Rackham's Treasure") he and Tintin travel to find a pirate's treasure captured by his ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock (François de Hadoque in French). With newfound wealth and regaining his ancestral home Marlinspike Hall, Captain Haddock becomes a socialite; riding a horse, wearing a monocle, and sitting in a theatre box seat ("The Seven Crystal Balls"). He then evolves to become genuinely heroic, volunteering to sacrifice his life to save Tintin's own in the pivotal "Tintin in Tibet".