He travelled with Robert Louis Stevenson and his stories of life as an island trader became the inspiration for the character of Tommy Hadden in The Wrecker (1892).

[6] Part of this property was later sold and it was from this sale that John Carr made sufficient money to provide Jack with his allowance.

As a trader working for a trading company, he bought copra (dried coconut flesh), and sharks fin and sea cucumbers, for sale into Asia, as well as selling islanders tobacco and other European goods.

[20] Jack Buckland also receives a dedication in Island Nights' Entertainments (also known as South Sea Tales) a collection of short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1893.

A character referred to as ‘young Buncombe’ and inspired by Jack Buckland makes a brief appearance in chapter 2 of The Beach of Falesá.

"While The Wrecker was not a commercial or critical success, in adopting Jack Buckland as a character, Stevenson describes a specific era of European engagement with the Pacific.

"[23] Sixty-five years after the publication of The Wrecker, a television series episode of Maverick (1957) starring James Garner and Jack Kelly was produced, featuring Errol Flynn-lookalike Patric Knowles as the character based upon Buckland.

The letters of Robert Louis Stevenson of January 1894 also record that Jack Buckland, and his "avaga" ('married one' in the Niutaoan language) Meri Matavaka of the Luaseuta family of Niutao,[24] visited Vailima, Samoa for three weeks.

[25] During his time at Vailima Jack Buckland is mentioned as flirting with Addie (Adelaide),[26] the daughter of Henry Ide, American Chief Justice in Samoa.

[28] Robert Louis Stevenson draws directly from the life of Jack Buckland in describing Tom Hadden in The Wrecker as being "heir to a considerable property, which a prophetic father had placed in the hands of rigorous trustees."

A sanitised version of the death of Jack Buckland published by Simpson (1913) describes him as being blown to pieces by an explosion on Suwarrow Island.

He was a beautiful creature, terribly annoying at times, but with something childlike and appealing--I think he was close to what the Scotch call a natural--that made one forgive pranks in him that which would be unforgivable in others.