CHAPTER XIII--WRECK OF A SPANISH SHIP
I was now in the twenty-third year of my residence in this island, andwas so naturalised to the place and the manner of living, that, could Ibut have enjoyed the certainty that no savages would come to the place todisturb me, I could have been content to have capitulated for spendingthe rest of my time there, even to the last moment, till I had laid medown and died, like the old goat in the cave. I had also arrived to somelittle diversions and amusements, which made the time pass a great dealmore pleasantly with me than it did before--first, I had taught my Poll,as I noted before, to speak; and he did it so familiarly, and talked soarticulately and plain, that it was very pleasant to me; and he livedwith me no less than six-and-twenty years. How long he might have livedafterwards I know not, though I know they have a notion in the Brazilsthat they live a hundred years. My dog was a pleasant and lovingcompanion to me for no less than sixteen years of my time, and then diedof mere old age. As for my cats, they multiplied, as I have observed, tothat degree that I was obliged to shoot several of them at first, to keepthem from devouring me and all I had; but at length, when the two oldones I brought with me were gone, and after some time continually drivingthem from me, and letting them have no provision with me, they all ranwild into the woods, except two or three favourites, which I kept tame,and whose young, when they had any, I always drowned; and these were partof my family. Besides these I always kept two or three household kidsabout me, whom I taught to feed out of my hand; and I had two moreparrots, which talked pretty well, and would all call "Robin Crusoe," butnone like my first; nor, indeed, did I take the pains with any of themthat I had done with him. I had also several tame sea-fowls, whose nameI knew not, that I caught upon the shore, and cut their wings; and thelittle stakes which I had planted before my castle-wall being now grownup to a good thick grove, these fowls all lived among these low trees,and bred there, which was very agreeable to me; so that, as I said above,I began to be very well contented with the life I led, if I could havebeen secured from the dread of the savages. But it was otherwisedirected; and it may not be amiss for all people who shall meet with mystory to make this just observation from it: How frequently, in thecourse of our lives, the evil which in itself we seek most to shun, andwhich, when we are fallen into, is the most dreadful to us, is oftentimesthe very means or door of our deliverance, by which alone we can beraised again from the affliction we are fallen into. I could give manyexamples of this in the course of my unaccountable life; but in nothingwas it more particularly remarkable than in the circumstances of my lastyears of solitary residence in this island.
It was now the month of December, as I said above, in my twenty-thirdyear; and this, being the southern solstice (for winter I cannot callit), was the particular time of my harvest, and required me to be prettymuch abroad in the fields, when, going out early in the morning, evenbefore it was thorough daylight, I was surprised with seeing a light ofsome fire upon the shore, at a distance from me of about two miles,toward that part of the island where I had observed some savages hadbeen, as before, and not on the other side; but, to my great affliction,it was on my side of the island.
I was indeed terribly surprised at the sight, and stopped short within mygrove, not daring to go out, lest I might be surprised; and yet I had nomore peace within, from the apprehensions I had that if these savages, inrambling over the island, should find my corn standing or cut, or any ofmy works or improvements, they would immediately conclude that there werepeople in the place, and would then never rest till they had found meout. In this extremity I went back directly to my castle, pulled up theladder after me, and made all things without look as wild and natural asI could.
Then I prepared myself within, putting myself in a posture of defence. Iloaded all my cannon, as I called them--that is to say, my muskets, whichwere mounted upon my new fortification--and all my pistols, and resolvedto defend myself to the last gasp--not forgetting seriously to commendmyself to the Divine protection, and earnestly to pray to God to deliverme out of the hands of the barbarians. I continued in this posture abouttwo hours, and began to be impatient for intelligence abroad, for I hadno spies to send out. After sitting a while longer, and musing what Ishould do in this case, I was not able to bear sitting in ignorancelonger; so setting up my ladder to the side of the hill, where there wasa flat place, as I observed before, and then pulling the ladder after me,I set it up again and mounted the top of the hill, and pulling out myperspective glass, which I had taken on purpose, I laid me down flat onmy belly on the ground, and began to look for the place. I presentlyfound there were no less than nine naked savages sitting round a smallfire they had made, not to warm them, for they had no need of that, theweather being extremely hot, but, as I supposed, to dress some of theirbarbarous diet of human flesh which they had brought with them, whetheralive or dead I could not tell.
They had two canoes with them, which they had hauled up upon the shore;and as it was then ebb of tide, they seemed to me to wait for the returnof the flood to go away again. It is not easy to imagine what confusionthis sight put me into, especially seeing them come on my side of theisland, and so near to me; but when I considered their coming must bealways with the current of the ebb, I began afterwards to be more sedatein my mind, being satisfied that I might go abroad with safety all thetime of the flood of tide, if they were not on shore before; and havingmade this observation, I went abroad about my harvest work with the morecomposure.
As I expected, so it proved; for as soon as the tide made to the westwardI saw them all take boat and row (or paddle as we call it) away. Ishould have observed, that for an hour or more before they went off theywere dancing, and I could easily discern their postures and gestures bymy glass. I could not perceive, by my nicest observation, but that theywere stark naked, and had not the least covering upon them; but whetherthey were men or women I could not distinguish.
As soon as I saw them shipped and gone, I took two guns upon myshoulders, and two pistols in my girdle, and my great sword by my sidewithout a scabbard, and with all the speed I was able to make went awayto the hill where I had discovered the first appearance of all; and assoon as I get thither, which was not in less than two hours (for I couldnot go quickly, being so loaded with arms as I was), I perceived therehad been three canoes more of the savages at that place; and looking outfarther, I saw they were all at sea together, making over for the main.This was a dreadful sight to me, especially as, going down to the shore,I could see the marks of horror which the dismal work they had been abouthad left behind it--viz. the blood, the bones, and part of the flesh ofhuman bodies eaten and devoured by those wretches with merriment andsport. I was so filled with indignation at the sight, that I now beganto premeditate the destruction of the next that I saw there, let them bewhom or how many soever. It seemed evident to me that the visits whichthey made thus to this island were not very frequent, for it was abovefifteen months before any more of them came on shore there again--that isto say, I neither saw them nor any footsteps or signals of them in allthat time; for as to the rainy seasons, then they are sure not to comeabroad, at least not so far. Yet all this while I lived uncomfortably,by reason of the constant apprehensions of their coming upon me bysurprise: from whence I observe, that the expectation of evil is morebitter than the suffering, especially if there is no room to shake offthat expectation or those apprehensions.
During all this time I was in a murdering humour, and spent most of myhours, which should have been better employed, in contriving how tocircumvent and fall upon them the very next time I should seethem--especially if they should be divided, as they were the last time,into two parties; nor did I consider at all that if I killed oneparty--suppose ten or a dozen--I was still the next day, or week, ormonth, to kill another, and so another, even _ad infinitum_, till Ishould be, at length, no less a murderer than they were in beingman-eaters--and perhaps much more so. I spent my days now in greatperplexity and anxiety of mind, expecting that I should on
e day or otherfall, into the hands of these merciless creatures; and if I did at anytime venture abroad, it was not without looking around me with thegreatest care and caution imaginable. And now I found, to my greatcomfort, how happy it was that I had provided a tame flock or herd ofgoats, for I durst not upon any account fire my gun, especially near thatside of the island where they usually came, lest I should alarm thesavages; and if they had fled from me now, I was sure to have them comeagain with perhaps two or three hundred canoes with them in a few days,and then I knew what to expect. However, I wore out a year and threemonths more before I ever saw any more of the savages, and then I foundthem again, as I shall soon observe. It is true they might have beenthere once or twice; but either they made no stay, or at least I did notsee them; but in the month of May, as near as I could calculate, and inmy four-and-twentieth year, I had a very strange encounter with them; ofwhich in its place.
The perturbation of my mind during this fifteen or sixteen months'interval was very great; I slept unquietly, dreamed always frightfuldreams, and often started out of my sleep in the night. In the day greattroubles overwhelmed my mind; and in the night I dreamed often of killingthe savages and of the reasons why I might justify doing it.
But to waive all this for a while. It was in the middle of May, on thesixteenth day, I think, as well as my poor wooden calendar would reckon,for I marked all upon the post still; I say, it was on the sixteenth ofMay that it blew a very great storm of wind all day, with a great deal oflightning and thunder, and; a very foul night it was after it. I knewnot what was the particular occasion of it, but as I was reading in theBible, and taken up with very serious thoughts about my presentcondition, I was surprised with the noise of a gun, as I thought, firedat sea. This was, to be sure, a surprise quite of a different naturefrom any I had met with before; for the notions this put into my thoughtswere quite of another kind. I started up in the greatest hasteimaginable; and, in a trice, clapped my ladder to the middle place of therock, and pulled it after me; and mounting it the second time, got to thetop of the hill the very moment that a flash of fire bid me listen for asecond gun, which, accordingly, in about half a minute I heard; and bythe sound, knew that it was from that part of the sea where I was drivendown the current in my boat. I immediately considered that this must besome ship in distress, and that they had some comrade, or some other shipin company, and fired these for signals of distress, and to obtain help.I had the presence of mind at that minute to think, that though I couldnot help them, it might be that they might help me; so I brought togetherall the dry wood I could get at hand, and making a good handsome pile, Iset it on fire upon the hill. The wood was dry, and blazed freely; and,though the wind blew very hard, yet it burned fairly out; so that I wascertain, if there was any such thing as a ship, they must needs see it.And no doubt they did; for as soon as ever my fire blazed up, I heardanother gun, and after that several others, all from the same quarter. Iplied my fire all night long, till daybreak: and when it was broad day,and the air cleared up, I saw something at a great distance at sea, fulleast of the island, whether a sail or a hull I could not distinguish--no,not with my glass: the distance was so great, and the weather stillsomething hazy also; at least, it was so out at sea.
I looked frequently at it all that day, and soon perceived that it didnot move; so I presently concluded that it was a ship at anchor; andbeing eager, you may be sure, to be satisfied, I took my gun in my hand,and ran towards the south side of the island to the rocks where I hadformerly been carried away by the current; and getting up there, theweather by this time being perfectly clear, I could plainly see, to mygreat sorrow, the wreck of a ship, cast away in the night upon thoseconcealed rocks which I found when I was out in my boat; and which rocks,as they checked the violence of the stream, and made a kind ofcounter-stream, or eddy, were the occasion of my recovering from the mostdesperate, hopeless condition that ever I had been in in all my life.Thus, what is one man's safety is another man's destruction; for it seemsthese men, whoever they were, being out of their knowledge, and the rocksbeing wholly under water, had been driven upon them in the night, thewind blowing hard at ENE. Had they seen the island, as I mustnecessarily suppose they did not, they must, as I thought, haveendeavoured to have saved themselves on shore by the help of their boat;but their firing off guns for help, especially when they saw, as Iimagined, my fire, filled me with many thoughts. First, I imagined thatupon seeing my light they might have put themselves into their boat, andendeavoured to make the shore: but that the sea running very high, theymight have been cast away. Other times I imagined that they might havelost their boat before, as might be the case many ways; particularly bythe breaking of the sea upon their ship, which many times obliged men tostave, or take in pieces, their boat, and sometimes to throw it overboardwith their own hands. Other times I imagined they had some other ship orships in company, who, upon the signals of distress they made, had takenthem up, and carried them off. Other times I fancied they were all goneoff to sea in their boat, and being hurried away by the current that Ihad been formerly in, were carried out into the great ocean, where therewas nothing but misery and perishing: and that, perhaps, they might bythis time think of starving, and of being in a condition to eat oneanother.
As all these were but conjectures at best, so, in the condition I was in,I could do no more than look on upon the misery of the poor men, and pitythem; which had still this good effect upon my side, that it gave me moreand more cause to give thanks to God, who had so happily and comfortablyprovided for me in my desolate condition; and that of two ships'companies, who were now cast away upon this part of the world, not onelife should be spared but mine. I learned here again to observe, that itis very rare that the providence of God casts us into any condition solow, or any misery so great, but we may see something or other to bethankful for, and may see others in worse circumstances than our own.Such certainly was the case of these men, of whom I could not so much assee room to suppose any were saved; nothing could make it rational somuch as to wish or expect that they did not all perish there, except thepossibility only of their being taken up by another ship in company; andthis was but mere possibility indeed, for I saw not the least sign orappearance of any such thing. I cannot explain, by any possible energyof words, what a strange longing I felt in my soul upon this sight,breaking out sometimes thus: "Oh that there had been but one or two, nay,or but one soul saved out of this ship, to have escaped to me, that Imight but have had one companion, one fellow-creature, to have spoken tome and to have conversed with!" In all the time of my solitary life Inever felt so earnest, so strong a desire after the society of myfellow-creatures, or so deep a regret at the want of it.
There are some secret springs in the affections which, when they are seta-going by some object in view, or, though not in view, yet renderedpresent to the mind by the power of imagination, that motion carries outthe soul, by its impetuosity, to such violent, eager embracings of theobject, that the absence of it is insupportable. Such were these earnestwishings that but one man had been saved. I believe I repeated thewords, "Oh that it had been but one!" a thousand times; and my desireswere so moved by it, that when I spoke the words my hands would clinchtogether, and my fingers would press the palms of my hands, so that if Ihad had any soft thing in my hand I should have crushed it involuntarily;and the teeth in my head would strike together, and set against oneanother so strong, that for some time I could not part them again. Letthe naturalists explain these things, and the reason and manner of them.All I can do is to describe the fact, which was even surprising to mewhen I found it, though I knew not from whence it proceeded; it wasdoubtless the effect of ardent wishes, and of strong ideas formed in mymind, realising the comfort which the conversation of one of myfellow-Christians would have been to me. But it was not to be; eithertheir fate or mine, or both, forbade it; for, till the last year of mybeing on this island, I never knew whether any were saved out of thatship or no; and had only the affliction, some days aft
er, to see thecorpse of a drowned boy come on shore at the end of the island which wasnext the shipwreck. He had no clothes on but a seaman's waistcoat, apair of open-kneed linen drawers, and a blue linen shirt; but nothing todirect me so much as to guess what nation he was of. He had nothing inhis pockets but two pieces of eight and a tobacco pipe--the last was tome of ten times more value than the first.
It was now calm, and I had a great mind to venture out in my boat to thiswreck, not doubting but I might find something on board that might beuseful to me. But that did not altogether press me so much as thepossibility that there might be yet some living creature on board, whoselife I might not only save, but might, by saving that life, comfort myown to the last degree; and this thought clung so to my heart that Icould not be quiet night or day, but I must venture out in my boat onboard this wreck; and committing the rest to God's providence, I thoughtthe impression was so strong upon my mind that it could not beresisted--that it must come from some invisible direction, and that Ishould be wanting to myself if I did not go.
Under the power of this impression, I hastened back to my castle,prepared everything for my voyage, took a quantity of bread, a great potof fresh water, a compass to steer by, a bottle of rum (for I had still agreat deal of that left), and a basket of raisins; and thus, loadingmyself with everything necessary. I went down to my boat, got the waterout of her, got her afloat, loaded all my cargo in her, and then wenthome again for more. My second cargo was a great bag of rice, theumbrella to set up over my head for a shade, another large pot of water,and about two dozen of small loaves, or barley cakes, more than before,with a bottle of goat's milk and a cheese; all which with great labourand sweat I carried to my boat; and praying to God to direct my voyage, Iput out, and rowing or paddling the canoe along the shore, came at lastto the utmost point of the island on the north-east side. And now I wasto launch out into the ocean, and either to venture or not to venture. Ilooked on the rapid currents which ran constantly on both sides of theisland at a distance, and which were very terrible to me from theremembrance of the hazard I had been in before, and my heart began tofail me; for I foresaw that if I was driven into either of thosecurrents, I should be carried a great way out to sea, and perhaps out ofmy reach or sight of the island again; and that then, as my boat was butsmall, if any little gale of wind should rise, I should be inevitablylost.
These thoughts so oppressed my mind that I began to give over myenterprise; and having hauled my boat into a little creek on the shore, Istepped out, and sat down upon a rising bit of ground, very pensive andanxious, between fear and desire, about my voyage; when, as I was musing,I could perceive that the tide was turned, and the flood come on; uponwhich my going was impracticable for so many hours. Upon this, presentlyit occurred to me that I should go up to the highest piece of ground Icould find, and observe, if I could, how the sets of the tide or currentslay when the flood came in, that I might judge whether, if I was drivenone way out, I might not expect to be driven another way home, with thesame rapidity of the currents. This thought was no sooner in my headthan I cast my eye upon a little hill which sufficiently overlooked thesea both ways, and from whence I had a clear view of the currents or setsof the tide, and which way I was to guide myself in my return. Here Ifound, that as the current of ebb set out close by the south point of theisland, so the current of the flood set in close by the shore of thenorth side; and that I had nothing to do but to keep to the north side ofthe island in my return, and I should do well enough.
Encouraged by this observation, I resolved the next morning to set outwith the first of the tide; and reposing myself for the night in mycanoe, under the watch-coat I mentioned, I launched out. I first made alittle out to sea, full north, till I began to feel the benefit of thecurrent, which set eastward, and which carried me at a great rate; andyet did not so hurry me as the current on the south side had done before,so as to take from me all government of the boat; but having a strongsteerage with my paddle, I went at a great rate directly for the wreck,and in less than two hours I came up to it. It was a dismal sight tolook at; the ship, which by its building was Spanish, stuck fast, jammedin between two rocks. All the stern and quarter of her were beaten topieces by the sea; and as her forecastle, which stuck in the rocks, hadrun on with great violence, her mainmast and foremast were brought by theboard--that is to say, broken short off; but her bowsprit was sound, andthe head and bow appeared firm. When I came close to her, a dog appearedupon her, who, seeing me coming, yelped and cried; and as soon as Icalled him, jumped into the sea to come to me. I took him into the boat,but found him almost dead with hunger and thirst. I gave him a cake ofmy bread, and he devoured it like a ravenous wolf that had been starvinga fortnight in the snow; I then gave the poor creature some fresh water,with which, if I would have let him, he would have burst himself. Afterthis I went on board; but the first sight I met with was two men drownedin the cook-room, or forecastle of the ship, with their arms fast aboutone another. I concluded, as is indeed probable, that when the shipstruck, it being in a storm, the sea broke so high and so continuallyover her, that the men were not able to bear it, and were strangled withthe constant rushing in of the water, as much as if they had been underwater. Besides the dog, there was nothing left in the ship that hadlife; nor any goods, that I could see, but what were spoiled by thewater. There were some casks of liquor, whether wine or brandy I knewnot, which lay lower in the hold, and which, the water being ebbed out, Icould see; but they were too big to meddle with. I saw several chests,which I believe belonged to some of the seamen; and I got two of theminto the boat, without examining what was in them. Had the stern of theship been fixed, and the forepart broken off, I am persuaded I might havemade a good voyage; for by what I found in those two chests I had room tosuppose the ship had a great deal of wealth on board; and, if I may guessfrom the course she steered, she must have been bound from Buenos Ayres,or the Rio de la Plata, in the south part of America, beyond the Brazilsto the Havannah, in the Gulf of Mexico, and so perhaps to Spain. Shehad, no doubt, a great treasure in her, but of no use, at that time, toanybody; and what became of the crew I then knew not.
I found, besides these chests, a little cask full of liquor, of abouttwenty gallons, which I got into my boat with much difficulty. Therewere several muskets in the cabin, and a great powder-horn, with aboutfour pounds of powder in it; as for the muskets, I had no occasion forthem, so I left them, but took the powder-horn. I took a fire-shovel andtongs, which I wanted extremely, as also two little brass kettles, acopper pot to make chocolate, and a gridiron; and with this cargo, andthe dog, I came away, the tide beginning to make home again--and the sameevening, about an hour within night, I reached the island again, wearyand fatigued to the last degree. I reposed that night in the boat and inthe morning I resolved to harbour what I had got in my new cave, and notcarry it home to my castle. After refreshing myself, I got all my cargoon shore, and began to examine the particulars. The cask of liquor Ifound to be a kind of rum, but not such as we had at the Brazils; and, ina word, not at all good; but when I came to open the chests, I foundseveral things of great use to me--for example, I found in one a finecase of bottles, of an extraordinary kind, and filled with cordialwaters, fine and very good; the bottles held about three pints each, andwere tipped with silver. I found two pots of very good succades, orsweetmeats, so fastened also on the top that the salt-water had not hurtthem; and two more of the same, which the water had spoiled. I foundsome very good shirts, which were very welcome to me; and about a dozenand a half of white linen handkerchiefs and coloured neckcloths; theformer were also very welcome, being exceedingly refreshing to wipe myface in a hot day. Besides this, when I came to the till in the chest, Ifound there three great bags of pieces of eight, which held about elevenhundred pieces in all; and in one of them, wrapped up in a paper, sixdoubloons of gold, and some small bars or wedges of gold; I suppose theymight all weigh near a pound. In the other chest were some clothes, butof little value; but, b
y the circumstances, it must have belonged to thegunner's mate; though there was no powder in it, except two pounds offine glazed powder, in three flasks, kept, I suppose, for charging theirfowling-pieces on occasion. Upon the whole, I got very little by thisvoyage that was of any use to me; for, as to the money, I had no mannerof occasion for it; it was to me as the dirt under my feet, and I wouldhave given it all for three or four pair of English shoes and stockings,which were things I greatly wanted, but had had none on my feet for manyyears. I had, indeed, got two pair of shoes now, which I took off thefeet of two drowned men whom I saw in the wreck, and I found two pairmore in one of the chests, which were very welcome to me; but they werenot like our English shoes, either for ease or service, being rather whatwe call pumps than shoes. I found in this seaman's chest about fiftypieces of eight, in rials, but no gold: I supposed this belonged to apoorer man than the other, which seemed to belong to some officer. Well,however, I lugged this money home to my cave, and laid it up, as I haddone that before which I had brought from our own ship; but it was agreat pity, as I said, that the other part of this ship had not come tomy share: for I am satisfied I might have loaded my canoe several timesover with money; and, thought I, if I ever escape to England, it mightlie here safe enough till I come again and fetch it.