The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner, Volume 1

by Daniel Defoe

before me, but that of perishing with hunger, orbeing devoured by wild beasts: and that which was particularlyafflicting to me was, that I had no weapon, either to hunt and kill anycreature for my sustenance, or to defend myself against any othercreature that might desire to kill me for theirs. In a word, I hadnothing about me but a knife, a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobacco in abox. This was all my provision; and this threw me into such terribleagonies of mind, that, for a while, I ran about like a madman. Nightcoming upon me, I began, with a heavy heart, to consider what would bemy lot if there were any ravenous beasts in that country, seeing atnight they always come abroad for their prey.

  All the remedy that offered to my thoughts; at that time, was, to get upinto a thick bushy tree, like a fir, but thorny--which grew near me, andwhere I resolved to sit all night--and consider the next day what deathI should die, for as yet I saw no prospect of life. I walked about afurlong from the shore, to see if I could find any fresh water to drink,which I did, to my great joy; and having drank, and put a littletobacco into my mouth to prevent hunger, I went to the tree, and gettingup into it, endeavoured to place myself so, as that if I should fallasleep, I might not fall; and having cut me a short stick, like atruncheon, for my defence, I took up my lodging; and having beenexcessively fatigued, I fell fast asleep, and slept as comfortably as, Ibelieve, few could have done in my condition; and found myself the mostrefreshed with it that I think I ever was on such an occasion.

  When I waked it was broad day, the weather clear, and the storm abated,so that the sea did not rage and swell as before; but that whichsurprised me most was, that the ship was lifted off in the night fromthe sand where she lay, by the swelling of the tide, and was driven upalmost as far as the rock which I at first mentioned, where I had beenso bruised by the wave dashing me against it. This being within about amile from the shore where I was, and the ship seeming to stand uprightstill, I wished myself on board, that at least I might save somenecessary things for my use.

  When I came down from my apartment in the tree, I looked about me again,and the first thing I found was the boat; which lay, as the wind and thesea had tossed her up, upon the land, about two miles on my right hand.I walked as far as I could upon the shore to have got to her; but founda neck, or inlet, of water between me and the boat, which was about halfa mile broad; so I came back for the present, being more intent upongetting at the ship, where I hoped to find something for my presentsubsistence.

  A little after noon, I found the sea very calm, and the tide ebbed sofar out, that I could come within a quarter of a mile of the ship: andhere I found a fresh renewing of my grief; for I saw evidently, that ifwe had kept on board, we had been all safe; that is to say, we had allgot safe on shore, and I had not been so miserable as to be leftentirely destitute of all comfort and company, as I now was. This forcedtears from my eyes again; but as there was little relief in that, Iresolved, if possible, to get to the ship; so I pulled off my clothes,for the weather was hot to extremity, and took the water; but when Icame to the ship, my difficulty was still greater to know how to get onboard; for as she lay aground, and high out of the water, there wasnothing within my reach to lay hold of. I swam round her twice, and thesecond time I spied a small piece of a rope, which I wondered I did notsee at first, hang down by the fore-chains so low, as that with greatdifficulty, I got hold of it, and by the help of that rope got into theforecastle of the ship. Here I found that the ship was bulged, and had agreat deal of water in her hold; but that she lay so on the side of abank of hard sand, or rather earth, that her stern lay lifted up uponthe bank, and her head low, almost to the water. By this means all herquarter was free, and all that was in that part was dry; for you may besure my first work was to search and to see what was spoiled and whatwas free: and, first, I found that all the ship's provisions were dryand untouched by the water; and, being very well disposed to eat, I wentto the bread-room, and filled my pockets with biscuit, and eat it as Iwent about other things, for I had no time to lose. I also found somerum in the great cabin, of which I took a large dram, and which I hadindeed need enough of, to spirit me for what was before me. Now I wantednothing but a boat, to furnish myself with many things which I foresawwould be very necessary to me.

  It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be had, andthis extremity roused my application: we had several spare yards, andtwo or three large spars of wood, and a spare top-mast or two in theship; I resolved to fall to work with these, and flung as many overboardas I could manage for their weight, tying every one with a rope, thatthey might not drive away. When this was done, I went down the ship'sside, and pulling them to me, I tied four of them fast together at bothends, as well as I could, in the form of a raft, and laying two or threeshort pieces of plank upon them, crossways, I found I could walk upon itvery well, but that it was not able to bear any great weight, the piecesbeing too light: so I went to work, and with the carpenter's saw I cut aspare top-mast into three lengths, and added them to my raft, with agreat deal of labour and pains. But the hope of furnishing myself withnecessaries, encouraged me to go beyond what I should have been able tohave done upon another occasion.

  My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight. My nextcare was what to load it with, and how to preserve what I laid upon itfrom the surf of the sea; but I was not long considering this. I firstlaid all the planks or boards upon it that I could get, and havingconsidered well what I most wanted, I got three of the seamen's chests,which I had broken open and emptied, and lowered them down upon my raft;these I filled with provisions, viz. bread, rice, three Dutch cheeses,five pieces of dried goats' flesh, (which we lived much upon,) and alittle remainder of European corn, which had been laid by for some fowlswhich we had brought to sea with us, but the fowls were killed. Therehad been some barley and wheat together, but, to my greatdisappointment, I found afterwards that the rats had eaten or spoiled itall. As for liquors, I found several cases of bottles belonging to ourskipper, in which were some cordial waters; and, in all, about five orsix gallons of rack. These I stowed by themselves, there being no needto put them into the chests, nor any room for them. While I was doingthis, I found the tide began to flow, though very calm; and I had themortification to see my coat, shirt, and waistcoat, which I had left onshore, upon the sand, swim away; as for my breeches, which were onlylinen, and open-knee'd, I swam on board in them, and my stockings.However, this put me upon rummaging for clothes, of which I foundenough, but took no more than I wanted for present use, for I had otherthings which my eye was more upon; as, first, tools to work with onshore and it was after long searching that I found the carpenter'schest, which was indeed a very useful prize to me, and much morevaluable than a ship-lading of gold would have been at that time. I gotit down to my raft, even whole as it was, without losing time to lookinto it, for I knew in general what it contained.

  My next care was for some ammunition and arms. There were two very goodfowling-pieces in the great cabin, and two pistols; these I securedfirst, with some powder-horns and a small bag of shot, and two old rustyswords. I knew there were three barrels of powder in the ship, but knewnot where our gunner had stowed them; but with much search I found them,two of them dry and good, the third had taken water. Those two I got tomy raft, with the arms. And now I thought myself pretty well freighted,and began to think how I should get to shore with them, having neithersail, oar, nor rudder; and the least cap-full of wind would have oversetall my navigation.

  I had three encouragements: 1st, A smooth, calm sea: 2dly, The tiderising, and setting in to the shore: 3dly, What little wind there was,blew me towards the land. And thus, having found two or three brokenoars belonging to the boat, and besides the tools which were in thechest, I found two saws, an axe, and a hammer; and with this cargo I putto sea. For a mile, or thereabouts, my raft went very well, only that Ifound it drive a little distant from the place where I had landedbefore; by which I perceived that there was some indraft of the water,and consequently I hoped to find some creek or river there, wh
ich Imight make use of as a port to get to land with my cargo.

  As I imagined, so it was: there appeared before me a little opening ofthe land, and I found a strong current of the tide set into it; so Iguided my raft, as well as I could, to get into the middle of thestream. But here I had like to have suffered a second shipwreck, which,if I had, I think verily would have broken my heart; for knowing nothingof the coast, my raft ran aground at one end of it upon a shoal, and notbeing aground at the other end, it wanted but a little that all my cargohad slipped off towards that end that was afloat, and so fallen into thewater. I did my utmost, by setting my back against the chests, to keepthem in their places, but could not thrust off the raft with all mystrength; neither durst I stir from the posture I was in, but holding upthe chests with all my might, I stood in that manner near half an hour,in which time the rising of the water brought me a little more upon alevel; and a little after,