by Daniel Defoe
they would either draw Lots for who and who should go with me, orleave it in my absolute Choice to pick and cull my Men: They had for someTime agreed to the first; and forty Blanks were made for those to whose Lotit should come to draw a Blank to go in the Sloop; but then it was said,this might neither be a fair nor an effectual Choice; for Example, if theneedful Number of Officers, and of particular Occupations, should nothappen to be lotted out, the Sloop might be oblig'd to go out to Seawithout a Surgeon, or without a Carpenter, or without a Cook, and the like:So, upon second Thoughts, it was left to me to name my Men; so I chose meout forty stout Fellows, and among them several who were trusty bold Men,fit for any thing.
Being thus Mann'd, the Sloop rigg'd, and having clear'd her Bottom, andlaid in Provisions enough for a long Voyage, we set Sail the 3d of_January_ 1694, for the _Cape of Good Hope_. We very honestly left ourMoney, as I said, behind us, only that we had about the Value of 2000 Poundin Pieces of Eight allow'd us on Board for any Exigence that might happenat Sea.
We made no Stop at the _Cape_, or at St. _Helena_, tho' we pass'd in Sightof it, but stood over to the _Caribbee_ Islands directly, and made theIsland of _Tobago_ the 18th of _February_, where we took in fresh Water,which we stood in great Need of, as you may judge by the Length of theVoyage. We sought no Purchase, for I had fully convinc'd our Men, that ourBusiness was not to appear, as we were used to be, upon the Cruise, but asTraders; and to that End I propos'd to go away to the Bay of _Campeachy_,and load Logwood, under the Pretence of selling of which we might go anywhere.
It is true, I had another Design here, which was to recover the Money whichmy Comrade and I had bury'd there; and having the Man on Board with me towhom I had communicated my Design, we found an Opportunity to come at ourMoney with Privacy enough, having so conceal'd it, as that it would havelain there to the general Conflagration, if we had not come for it ourselves.
My next Resolution was to go for _England_, only that I had too many Men,and did not know what to do with them: I told them we could never pretendto go with a Sloop loaden with Logwood to any Place, with 40 Men on Board,but we should be discover'd; but if they would resolve to put 15 or 16 Menon Shore as private Seamen, the rest might do well enough; and if theythought it hard to be set on Shore, I was content to be one, only that Ithought it was very reasonable that whoever went on Shore should have someMoney given them, and that all should agree to rendezvous in _England_, andso make the best of our Way thither, and there perhaps we might get a goodShip to go fetch off our Comrades and our Money. With this Resolution,sixteen of our Men had three hundred Pieces of Eight a Man given them, andthey went off thus; the Sloop stood away North, thro' the Gulph of_Florida_, keeping under the Shore of _Carolina_ and _Virginia_; so our Mendropp'd off as if they had deserted the Ship; three of the sixteen run awaythere, five more went off at Virginia, three at _New York_, three at _RoadIsland_, and myself and one more at _New England_; and so the Sloop wentaway for _England_ with the rest. I got all my Money on Shore with me, andconceal'd it as well as I could; some I got Bills for, some I boughtMolosses with, and turn'd the rest into Gold; and dressing myself not as acommon Sailor, but as a Master of a Ketch, which I had lost in the Bay of_Campeachy_, I got Passage on Board one Captain _Guillame_, a _New England_Captain, whose Owner was one Mr. _Johnson_ a Merchant, living at _Hackney_,near _London_.
Being at _London_, it was but a very few Months before several of us metagain, as I have said we agreed to do. And being true to our first Designof going back to our Comrades, we had several close Conferences about theManner and Figure in which we should make the Attempt, and we had some verygreat Difficulties appear'd in our Way: First, to have fitted up a smallVessel, it would be of no Service to us, but be the same Thing as the Sloopwe came in; and if we pretended to a great Ship, our Money would not holdout; so we were quite at a Stand in our Councils what to do, or what Courseto take, till at length our Money still wasting, we grew less able toexecute any Thing we should project.
This made us all desperate; when as desperate Distempers call for desperateCures, I started a Proposal which pleas'd them all, and this was, that Iwould endeavour among my Acquaintance, and with what Money I had left,(which was still sixteen or seventeen hundred Pound) to get the Command ofa good Ship, bearing a quarter Part, or thereabout, myself; and so havinggat into the Ship, and got a Freight, the rest of our Gang should all enteron Board as Seamen, and whatever Voyage we went, or wheresoever we werebound, we would run away with the Ship and all the Goods, and so go to ourFriends as we had promis'd.
I made several Attempts of this Kind, and once bought a very good Ship,call'd, _The Griffin_, of one _Snelgrove_ a Shipwright, and engag'd thePersons concern'd to hold a Share in her and fit her out, on a Voyage for_Leghorn_ and _Venice_; when it was very probable the Cargo, to be shipp'don Board casually by the Merchant, would be very rich; but Providence, andthe good Fortune of the Owner prevented this Bargain, for without anyObjection against me, or Discovery of my Design in the least, he told meafterwards his Wife had an ugly Dream or two about the Ship; once, that itwas set on Fire by Lightning, and he had lost all he had in it; anotherTime, that the Men had mutiny'd and conspir'd to kill him; and that hisWife was so averse to his being concern'd in it, that it had always been anunlucky Ship, and that therefore his Mind was chang'd; that he would sellthe whole Ship, if I would, but he would not hold any Part of it himself.
Tho' I was very much disappointed at this, yet I put a very good Face uponit, and told him, I was very glad to hear him tell me the Particulars ofhis Dissatisfaction; for if there was any Thing in Dreams, and his Wife'sDream had any Signification at all, it seem'd to concern me (more than him)who was to go the Voyage, and command the Ship; and whether the Ship was tobe burnt, or the Men to mutiny, tho' Part of the Loss might be his, who wasto stay on Shore, all the Danger was to be mine, who was to be at Sea inher; and then, as he had said, she had been an unlucky Ship to him, it wasvery likely she would be so to me; and therefore I thank'd him for theDiscovery, and told him I would not meddle with her.
The Man was uneasy, and began to waver in his Resolution, and had it notbeen for the continu'd Importunities of his Wife, I believe would have comeon again; for People generally encline to a Thing that is rejected, whenthey would reject the same Thing when profer'd: But I knew it was not myBusiness to let myself be blow'd upon, so I kept to my Resolution, andwholly declin'd that Affair, on Pretence of its having got an ill Name foran unlucky Ship; and that Name stuck so to her, that the Owners could neversell her, and, as I have been inform'd since, were oblig'd to break her upat last.
It was a great while I spent with hunting after a Ship, but was every Waydisappointed, till Money grew short, and the Number of my Men lessen'dapace, and at last we were reduc'd to seven, when an Opportunity happen'din my Way to go Chief-Mate on Board a stout Ship bound from _London_ to. . . . . .
[_N. B. In Things so modern, it is no Way convenient to write to youparticular Circumstances and Names of Persons, Ships, or Places, becausethose Things being in themselves criminal, may be call'd up in Question ina judicial Way; and therefore I warn the Reader to observe, that not onlyall the Names are omitted, but even the Scene of Action in this criminalPart, is not laid exactly as Things were acted; least I should give Justicea Clew to unravel my Story by, which no Body will blame me for avoiding._]
It is enough to tell the Reader, that being put out to Sea, and being forConveniency of Wind and Weather come to an Anchor on the Coast of _Spain_,my seven Companions having resolv'd upon our Measures, and having broughtthree more of the Men to confederate with us, we took up Arms in the middleof the Night, secur'd the Captain, the Gunner, and the Carpenter, and afterthat, all the rest of the Men, and declar'd our Intention: The Captain andnine Men refus'd to come into our projected Roguery, (for we gave themtheir Choice to go with us, or go on Shore) so we put them on Shore verycivilly, gave the Master his Books, and every Thing he could carry withhim; and all the rest of the Men agreed to go along with us.
As I had resolv'd, before I went on Board, upon what I purpos'd to do, so Ihad laid out all the Money I had left in such Things as I knew I shouldwant, and had caus'd one of my Men to pretend he was going to ------ tobuild or buy a Ship there, and that he wanted Freight for a great deal ofCordage, Anchors, eight Guns, Powder and Ball, with about 20 Tun of Leadand other bulky Goods, which were all put on Board as Merchandize.
We had not abundance of Bail Goods on Board, which I was glad of; not thatI made any Conscience or Scruple of carrying them away, if the Ship hadbeen full of them; but we had no Market for them: Our first Business was toget a larger Store of Provision on Board than we had, our Voyage beinglong; and having acquainted the Men with our Design, and promis'd the newMen a Share of the
