commander was just by, with his fifty men. Upon the captain coming
to me, I told him my project for seizing the ship, which he liked
wonderfully well, and resolved to put it in execution the next
morning. But, in order to execute it with more art, and to be
secure of success, I told him we must divide the prisoners, and
that he should go and take Atkins, and two more of the worst of
them, and send them pinioned to the cave where the others lay.
This was committed to Friday and the two other men who came on
shore with the captain. They conveyed them to the cave as to a
prison: and it was, indeed, a dismal place, especially to men in
their condition. The others I ordered to my bower, as I called
it, of which I have given a full description; and as it was fenced
in, and they pinioned, the place was secure enough, considering
they were upon their behavior.
To these in the morning I sent the captain, who was to enter into
a parley with them; in a word, to try them, and tell me whether he
thought they might be trusted or not to go on board and surprise
the ship. He talked to them of the injury done him, of the
condition they were brought to, and that, though the governor had
given them quarter for their lives as to the present action, yet
that if they were sent to England they would all be hanged in
chains; but that if they would join in so just an attempt as to
recover the ship, he would have the governor's engagement for
their pardon.
Any one may guess how readily such a proposal would be accepted by
men in their condition; they fell down on their knees to the
captain, and promised, with the deepest imprecations, that they
would be faithful to him to the last drop, and that they should
owe their lives to him, and would go with him all over the world;
that they would own him as a father to them as long as they lived.
"Well," says the captain, "I must go and tell the governor what
you say, and see what I can do to bring him to consent to it."
So he brought me an account of the temper he found them in and
that he verily believed they would be faithful. However, that we
might be very secure, I told him he should go back again and
choose out those five, and tell them that they might see he did
not want men, that he would take out those five to be his
assistants, and that the governor would keep the other two, and
the three that were sent prisoners to the castle (my cave), as
hostages for the fidelity of those five; and that if they proved
unfaithful in the execution, the five hostages should be hanged in
chains alive on the shore. This looked severe, and convinced them
that the governor was in earnest; however, they had no way left
them but accept it, and it was now the business of the prisoners,
as much as of the captain, to persuade the other five to do their
duty.
Our strength was now thus ordered for the expedition: first, the
captain, his mate, and passenger; second, the two prisoners of the
first gang, to whom, having their character from the captain, I
had given their liberty, and trusted them with arms; third, the
other two that I had kept till now in my bower, pinioned, but on
the captain's motion had now released; fourth, these five released
at last; so that there were twelve in all, besides five we kept
prisoners in the cave for hostages.
I asked the captain if he were willing to venture with these hands
on board the ship; but as for me and my man Friday, I did not
think it was proper for us to stir, having seven men left behind;
and it was employment enough for us to keep them asunder, and
supply them with victuals. As to the five in the cave, I resolved
to keep them fast, but Friday went in twice a day to them, to
supply them with necessaries; and I made the other two carry
provisions to a certain distance, where Friday was to take them.
When I showed myself to the two hostages it was with the captain,
who told them I was the person the governor had ordered to look
after them, and that it was the governor's pleasure they should
not stir anywhere but at my direction; that if they did, they
would be fetched into the castle, and be laid in irons: so that,
as we never suffered them to see me as governor, I now appeared as
another person, and spoke of the governor, the garrison, the
castle, and the like, upon all occasions.
The captain now had no difficulty before him, but to furnish his
two boats, stop the breach of one, and man them. He made his
passenger captain of one, with four of the men; and himself, his
mate, and five more went in the other; and they contrived their
business very well, for they came up to the ship about midnight.
As soon as they came within call of the ship, he made Robinson
hail them, and tell them they had brought off the men and the
boat, but that it was a long time before they had found them, and
the like, holding them in a chat till they came to the ship's
side; when the captain and the mate entering first, with their
arms, immediately knocked down the second mate and carpenter with
the butt-end of their muskets, being very faithfully seconded by
their men; they secured all the rest that were upon the main and
quarter decks, and began to fasten the hatches, to keep them down
that were below; when the other boat and their men, entering at
the forechains, secured the forecastle of the ship, and the
scuttle which went down into the cook-room, making three men they
found there prisoners.
When this was done, and all safe upon deck, the captain ordered
the mate, with three men, to break into the round-house, where the
new rebel captain lay, who, having taken the alarm, had got up,
and with two men and a boy had got fire-arms in their hands; and
when the mate, with a crow, split open the door, the new captain
and his men fired boldly among them, and wounded the mate with a
musket-ball, which broke his arm, and wounded two more of the men,
but killed nobody. The mate, calling for help, rushed, however,
into the round-house, wounded as he was, and, with his pistol,
shot the new captain through the head, the bullet entering at his
mouth, and came out again behind one of his ears, so that he never
spoke a word more; upon which the rest yielded, and the ship was
taken effectually, without any more lives lost.
As soon as the ship was thus secured, the captain ordered guns to
be fired, which was the signal agreed upon with me to give me
notice of his success, which, you may be sure, I was very glad to
hear, having sat watching upon the shore for it till near two
o'clock in the morning. Having thus heard the signal plainly, I
laid me down; and, it having been a day of great fatigue to me, I
slept sound, till I was surprised with the noise of a gun; and
presently starting up, I heard a man call me by the name of
"Governor! Governor!" and presently I knew the captain's voice;
when, climbing up to the top of the hill, there he stood, and,
pointing to the ship, he embraced me in his arms.
"My dear friend and deliverer," says he, "there's your ship; for
she is all yours, and so are we, and all that belong to her."
I cast my eyes to the ship, and there she rode, within little more
than half a mile of the shore; for they had weighed her anchor as
soon as they were masters of her, and, the weather being fair, had
brought her to an anchor just against the mouth of the little
creek; and, the tide being up, the captain had brought the pinnace
in near the place where I had first landed my rafts, and so landed
just at my door. I was at first ready to sink down with the
surprise; for I saw my deliverance indeed visibly put into my
hands, all things easy, and a large ship just ready to carry me
away whither I pleased to go. At first, for some time, I was not
able to answer him one word; but as he had taken me in his arms, I
held fast by him, or I should have fallen to the ground. He
perceived the surprise, and immediately pulled a bottle out of his
pocket and gave me a dram of cordial, which he had brought on
purpose for me. After I had drunk it, I sat down upon the ground;
and, though it brought me to myself, yet it was a good while
before I could speak a word to him. All this time the poor man was
in as great an ecstasy as I, only not under any surprise as I was,
and he said a thousand kind and tender things to me, to compose
and bring me to myself; but such was the flood of joy in my breast
that it put all my spirits into confusion: at last it broke out
into tears, and in a little while after I recovered my speech; I
then took my turn, and embraced him as my deliverer, and we
rejoiced together. I told him I looked upon him as a man sent
from Heaven to deliver me, and that the whole transaction seemed
to be a chain of wonders; that such things as these were the
testimonies we had of a secret hand of Providence governing the
world, and an evidence that the eye of an infinite Power could
search into the remotest corner of the world, and send help to the
miserable whenever He pleased. I forgot not to lift up my heart
in thankfulness to Heaven; and what heart could forbear to bless
Him who had not only in a miraculous manner provided for me in
such a wilderness, and in such a desolate condition, but from whom
every deliverance must always be acknowledged to proceed.
When we had talked a while, the captain told me he had brought me
some little refreshment, such as the ship afforded, and such as
the wretches that had been so long his masters had not plundered
him of. Upon this, he called aloud to the boat, and bade his men
bring the things ashore that were for the governor; and, indeed,
it was a present as if I had been one that was not to be carried
away with them, but as if I had been to dwell upon the island
still. First, he had brought me a case of bottles full of
excellent cordial waters, six large bottles of Madeira wine (the
bottles held two quarts each), two pounds of excellent good
tobacco, twelve good pieces of the ship's beef, and six pieces of
pork, with a bag of peas, and about a hundred-weight of biscuit;
he also brought me a box of sugar, a box of flour, a bag full of
lemons, and two bottles of lime-juice, and abundance of other
things. But besides these, and what was a thousand times more
useful to me, he brought me six new clean shirts, six very good
neckcloths, two pair of gloves, one pair of shoes, a hat, and one
pair of stockings, with a very good suit of clothes of his own,
which had been worn but very little: in a word, he clothed me from
head to foot. It was a very kind and agreeable present, as any one
may imagine, to one in my circumstances, but never was anything in
the world of that kind so unpleasant, awkward, and uneasy as it
was to me to wear such clothes at first.
After these ceremonies were past, and after all his good things
were brought into my little apartment, we began to consult what
was to be done with the prisoners we had; for it was worth
considering whether we might venture to take them with us or no,
especially two of them, whom he knew to be incorrigible and
refractory to the last degree; and the captain said he knew they
were such rogues that there was no obliging them, and if he did
carry them away, it must be in irons, as malefactors, to be
delivered over to justice at the first English colony he could
come to; and I found that the captain himself was very anxious
about it. Upon this, I told him that, if he desired it, I would
undertake to bring the two men he spoke of to make it their own
request that he should leave them upon the island.
"I should be very glad of that," says the captain, "with all my
heart."
"Well," says I, "I will send for them up and talk with them for
you."
So I caused Friday and the two hostages--for they were now
discharged, their comrades having performed their promise--I say,
I caused them to go to the cave, and bring up the five men,
pinioned as they were, to the bower, and keep them there till I
came. After some time, I came thither dressed in my new habit; and
now I was called governor again. Being all met, and the captain
with me, I caused the men to be brought before me, and I told them
I had a full account of their villanous behavior to the captain,
and how they had run away with the ship, and were preparing to
commit further robberies, but that Providence had ensnared them in
their own ways, and that they were fallen into the pit which they
had dug for others. I let them know that by my direction the ship
had been seized; that she lay now in the road; and they might see
by and by that their new captain had received the reward of his
villany, and that they would see him hanging at the yard-arm;
that, as to them, I wanted to know what they had to say why I
should not execute them as pirates taken in the fact, as by my
commission they could not doubt but I had authority so to do.
One of them answered in the name of the rest, that they had
nothing to say but this, that when they were taken the captain
promised them their lives, and they humbly implored my mercy. But
I told them I knew not what mercy to show them; for as for myself,
I had resolved to quit the island with all my men, and had taken
passage with the captain to go to England; and as for the captain,
he could not carry them to England other than as prisoners in
irons, to be tried for mutiny and running away with the ship; the
consequence of which, they must needs know, would be the gallows;
so that I could not tell what was best for them, unless they had a
mind to take their fate in the island. If they desired that, as I
had liberty to leave the island, I had some inclination to give
them their lives, if they thought they could shift on shore. They
seemed very thankful for it, and said they would much rather
venture to stay there than be carried to England to be hanged. So
I left it on that issue.
However, the captain seemed to make some difficulty of it, as if
he durst not leave them there. Upon this I seemed a little angry
with the captain, and told him that they were my prisoners, not
his; and that seeing I had offered them so much favor, I would be
as good as my word; and that if he did not think fit to consent to
it I would set them at liberty, as I found them, and if he did not
like it he might take them again if he could catch them. Upon this
they appeared very thankful, and I accordingly set them at
liberty, and bade them retire into the woods, to the place whence
they came, and I would leave them some fire-arms, some ammunition,
and some directions how they should live very well if they thought
fit. Upon this I prepared to go on board the ship; but told the
captain I would stay that night to prepare my things, and desired
him to go on board in the meantime, and keep all right in the
ship, and send the boat on shore next day for me; ordering him, at
all events, to cause the new captain, who was killed, to be hanged
at the yard-arm, that these men might see him.
When the captain was gone, I sent for the men up to me to my
apartment, and entered seriously into discourse with them on their
circumstances. I told them I thought they had made a right choice;
that if the captain had carried them away they would certainly be
hanged. I showed them the new captain hanging at the yard-arm of
the ship, and told them they had nothing less to expect.
When they bad all declared their willingness to stay, I then told
them I would let them into the story of my living there, and put
them into the way of making it easy to them. Accordingly, I gave
them the whole history of the place, and of my coming to it;
showed them my fortifications, the way I made my bread, planted my
corn, cured my grapes; and, in a word, all that was necessary to
make them easy. I told them the story also of the seventeen
Spaniards that were to be expected, for whom I left a letter, and
made them promise to treat them in common with themselves. Here it
may be noted that the captain, who had ink on board, was greatly
surprised that I never hit upon a way of making ink of charcoal
and water, or of something else, as I had done things much more
difficult.
I left them my fire-arms; viz., five muskets, three fowling-
pieces, and three swords. I had above a barrel and a half of
powder left; for after the first year or two I used but little,
and wasted none. I gave them a description of the way I managed
the goats, and directions to milk and fatten them, and to make
both butter and cheese. In a word, I gave them every part of my
own story; and told them I should prevail with the captain to
leave them two barrels of gunpowder more, and some garden-seeds,
which I told them I would have been very glad of. Also, I gave
them the bag of peas which the captain had brought me to eat, and
bade them be sure to sow and increase them.
Having done all this I left them the next day and went on board
the ship. We prepared immediately to sail, but did not weigh that
night. The next morning early, two of the five men came swimming
to the ship's side, and, making the most lamentable complaint of
the other three, begged to be taken into the ship for God's sake,
for they should be murdered, and begged the captain to take them
on board, though he hanged them immediately. Upon this the captain
pretended to have no power without me; but after some difficulty,
and after their solemn promises of amendment, they were taken on
board, and were, some time after, soundly whipped and pickled;
after which they proved very honest and quiet fellows.
Some time after this, the boat was ordered on shore, the tide
being up, with the things promised to the men; to which the
captain, at my intercession, caused their chests and clothes to be
added, which they took, and were very thankful for. I also
encouraged them, by telling them that if it lay in my power to
send any vessel to take them in, I would not forget them.
When I took leave of this island, I carried on board, for relics,
the great goat-skin cap I had made, my umbrella, and one of my
parrots; also, I forgot not to take the money I formerly
mentioned, which had lain by me so long useless that it was
grown rusty or tarnished, and could hardly pass for silver till it
had been a little rubbed and handled, as also the money I found in
the wreck of the Spanish ship. And thus I left the island, the
19th of December, as I found by the ship's account, in the year
1686, after I had been upon it eight-and-twenty years, two months,
and nineteen days; being delivered from this second captivity the
same day of the month that I first made my escape in the long-boat
from among the Moors of Sallee. In this vessel, after a long
voyage, I arrived in England the 11th of June, in the year 1687,
having been thirty-five years absent.
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
When the romance of Lemuel Gulliver appeared in 1727 it was
immediately seized upon by an eager public. The first edition was
gone in a week and was selling at an advanced price before the
second edition could be printed. Many a reader at once got out his
map to try and locate the Island of Lilliput, and the captain of a
ship told Lord Scarborough that he knew Gulliver very well--had
met him several times. Gulliver's Travels was written by
Jonathan Swift, the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, one
of the most original of writers, whose work was notably brilliant
in the field of politics. From early youth he suffered from some
disease of the body that made him cross and irritable, but he was
much honored by the poor people of Ireland as their friend and
champion. Daniel Defoe, who was about the same age as Swift, and
lived at the same time, said Swift was a walking index of all
books. It is interesting to note that two of the world's wonderful
books, Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels, appeared when their
authors were sixty years of age, and within three years of each
other.
GULLIVER IS SHIPWRECKED AND SWIMS FOR HIS LIFE
By Jonathan Swift
My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the third
of five sons. He sent me to Emmanuel College in Cambridge, at
fourteen years old, where I resided three years, and applied
myself close to my studies; but the charge of maintaining me
(although I had a very scanty allowance) being too great for a
narrow fortune, I was bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an
eminent surgeon in London, with whom I continued four years; and
my father now and then sending me small sums of money, I laid them
out in learning navigation, and other parts of the mathematics,
useful to those who intend to travel, as I always believed it
would be some time or other my fortune to do. When I left Mr.
Bates, I went down to my father; where, by the assistance of him
and my uncle John, and some other relations, I got forty pounds,
and a promise of thirty pounds a year to maintain me at Leyden;
there I studied physic two years and seven months, knowing it
would be useful in long voyages. Soon after my return from Leyden,
I was recommended by my good master, Mr. Bates, to be surgeon to
the _Swallow,_ Captain Abraham Pannell, commander; with whom
I continued three years and a half, making a voyage or two into
the Levant, and some other parts. When I came back, I resolved to
settle in London, to which Mr. Bates, my master, encouraged me,
and by him I was recommended to several patients. I took part of a
small house in the Old Jewry; and being advised to alter my
condition, I married Miss Mary Burton, second daughter to Mr.
Edmund Burton, hosier, in Newgate Street, with whom I received
four hundred pounds for a portion.
But, my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I having
few friends, my business began to fail; for my conscience would
not suffer me to imitate the bad practice of too many among my
brethren. Having therefore consulted with my wife, and some of my
acquaintance, I determined to go again to sea. I was surgeon
successively in two ships, and made several voyages for six years
to the East and West Indies, by which I got some addition to my
fortune. My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors,
ancient and modern, being always provided with a good number of
books; and when I was ashore, in observing the manners and
dispositions of the people, as well as learning their language,
wherein I had a great facility by the strength of my memory.
The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew weary
of the sea, and intended to stay at home with my wife and family.
I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to
Wapping, hoping to get business among the sailors; but it would
not turn to account. After three years' expectation that things
would mend, I accepted an advantageous offer from Captain William
Prichard, master of the _Antelope_, who was making a voyage
to the South Sea. We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our
voyage at first was very prosperous.