Chapter 17: Visit of Mutineers

by Daniel Defoe

　　In a little time, however, no more canoes appearing, the fear oftheir coming wore off; and I began to take my former thoughts of avoyage to the main into consideration; being likewise assured byFriday's father that I might depend upon good usage from theirnation, on his account, if I would go. But my thoughts were alittle suspended when I had a serious discourse with the Spaniard,and when I understood that there were sixteen more of hiscountrymen and Portuguese, who having been cast away and made theirescape to that side, lived there at peace, indeed, with thesavages, but were very sore put to it for necessaries, and, indeed,for life. I asked him all the particulars of their voyage, andfound they were a Spanish ship, bound from the Rio de la Plata tothe Havanna, being directed to leave their loading there, which waschiefly hides and silver, and to bring back what European goodsthey could meet with there; that they had five Portuguese seamen onboard, whom they took out of another wreck; that five of their ownmen were drowned when first the ship was lost, and that theseescaped through infinite dangers and hazards, and arrived, almoststarved, on the cannibal coast, where they expected to have beendevoured every moment. He told me they had some arms with them,but they were perfectly useless, for that they had neither powdernor ball, the washing of the sea having spoiled all their powderbut a little, which they used at their first landing to providethemselves with some food.I asked him what he thought would become of them there, and if theyhad formed any design of making their escape. He said they hadmany consultations about it; but that having neither vessel nortools to build one, nor provisions of any kind, their councilsalways ended in tears and despair. I asked him how he thought theywould receive a proposal from me, which might tend towards anescape; and whether, if they were all here, it might not be done.I told him with freedom, I feared mostly their treachery and ill-usage of me, if I put my life in their hands; for that gratitudewas no inherent virtue in the nature of man, nor did men alwayssquare their dealings by the obligations they had received so muchas they did by the advantages they expected. I told him it wouldbe very hard that I should be made the instrument of theirdeliverance, and that they should afterwards make me their prisonerin New Spain, where an Englishman was certain to be made asacrifice, what necessity or what accident soever brought himthither; and that I had rather be delivered up to the savages, andbe devoured alive, than fall into the merciless claws of thepriests, and be carried into the Inquisition. I added that,otherwise, I was persuaded, if they were all here, we might, withso many hands, build a barque large enough to carry us all away,either to the Brazils southward, or to the islands or Spanish coastnorthward; but that if, in requital, they should, when I had putweapons into their hands, carry me by force among their own people,I might be ill-used for my kindness to them, and make my case worsethan it was before.He answered, with a great deal of candour and ingenuousness, thattheir condition was so miserable, and that they were so sensible ofit, that he believed they would abhor the thought of using any manunkindly that should contribute to their deliverance; and that, ifI pleased, he would go to them with the old man, and discourse withthem about it, and return again and bring me their answer; that hewould make conditions with them upon their solemn oath, that theyshould be absolutely under my direction as their commander andcaptain; and they should swear upon the holy sacraments and gospelto be true to me, and go to such Christian country as I shouldagree to, and no other; and to be directed wholly and absolutely bymy orders till they were landed safely in such country as Iintended, and that he would bring a contract from them, under theirhands, for that purpose. Then he told me he would first swear tome himself that he would never stir from me as long as he livedtill I gave him orders; and that he would take my side to the lastdrop of his blood, if there should happen the least breach of faithamong his countrymen. He told me they were all of them very civil,honest men, and they were under the greatest distress imaginable,having neither weapons nor clothes, nor any food, but at the mercyand discretion of the savages; out of all hopes of ever returningto their own country; and that he was sure, if I would undertaketheir relief, they would live and die by me.Upon these assurances, I resolved to venture to relieve them, ifpossible, and to send the old savage and this Spaniard over to themto treat. But when we had got all things in readiness to go, theSpaniard himself started an objection, which had so much prudencein it on one hand, and so much sincerity on the other hand, that Icould not but be very well satisfied in it; and, by his advice, putoff the deliverance of his comrades for at least half a year. Thecase was thus: he had been with us now about a month, during whichtime I had let him see in what manner I had provided, with theassistance of Providence, for my support; and he saw evidently whatstock of corn and rice I had laid up; which, though it was morethan sufficient for myself, yet it was not sufficient, without goodhusbandry, for my family, now it was increased to four; but muchless would it be sufficient if his countrymen, who were, as hesaid, sixteen, still alive, should come over; and least of allwould it be sufficient to victual our vessel, if we should buildone, for a voyage to any of the Christian colonies of America; sohe told me he thought it would be more advisable to let him and theother two dig and cultivate some more land, as much as I couldspare seed to sow, and that we should wait another harvest, that wemight have a supply of corn for his countrymen, when they shouldcome; for want might be a temptation to them to disagree, or not tothink themselves delivered, otherwise than out of one difficultyinto another. "You know," says he, "the children of Israel, thoughthey rejoiced at first for their being delivered out of Egypt, yetrebelled even against God Himself, that delivered them, when theycame to want bread in the wilderness."His caution was so seasonable, and his advice so good, that I couldnot but be very well pleased with his proposal, as well as I wassatisfied with his fidelity; so we fell to digging, all four of us,as well as the wooden tools we were furnished with permitted; andin about a month's time, by the end of which it was seed-time, wehad got as much land cured and trimmed up as we sowed two-and-twenty bushels of barley on, and sixteen jars of rice, which was,in short, all the seed we had to spare: indeed, we left ourselvesbarely sufficient, for our own food for the six months that we hadto expect our crop; that is to say reckoning from the time we setour seed aside for sowing; for it is not to be supposed it is sixmonths in the ground in that country.Having now society enough, and our numbers being sufficient to putus out of fear of the savages, if they had come, unless theirnumber had been very great, we went freely all over the island,whenever we found occasion; and as we had our escape or deliveranceupon our thoughts, it was impossible, at least for me, to have themeans of it out of mine. For this purpose I marked out severaltrees, which I thought fit for our work, and I set Friday and hisfather to cut them down; and then I caused the Spaniard, to whom Iimparted my thoughts on that affair, to oversee and direct theirwork. I showed them with what indefatigable pains I had hewed alarge tree into single planks, and I caused them to do the like,till they made about a dozen large planks, of good oak, near twofeet broad, thirty-five feet long, and from two inches to fourinches thick: what prodigious labour it took up any one mayimagine.At the same time I contrived to increase my little flock of tamegoats as much as I could; and for this purpose I made Friday andthe Spaniard go out one day, and myself with Friday the next day(for we took our turns), and by this means we got about twentyyoung kids to breed up with the rest; for whenever we shot the dam,we saved the kids, and added them to our flock. But above all, theseason for curing the grapes coming on, I caused such a prodigiousquantity to be hung up in the sun, that, I believe, had we been atAlicant, where the raisins of the sun are cured, we could havefilled sixty or eighty barrels; and these, with our bread, formed agreat part of our food - very good living too, I assure you, forthey are exceedingly nourishing.It was now harvest, and our crop in good order: it was not the mostplentiful increase I had seen in the island, but, however, it wasenough to answer our end; for from twenty-two bushels of barley webrought in and thrashed out above two hundred and twenty bushels;and the like in proportion of the rice; which was store enough forour food to the next harvest, though all the sixteen Spaniards hadbeen on shore with me; or, if we had been ready for a voyage, itwould very plentifully have victualled our ship to have carried usto any part of the world; that is to say, any part of America.When we had thus housed and secured our magazine of corn, we fellto work to make more wicker-ware, viz. great baskets, in which wekept it; and the Spaniard was very handy and dexterous at thispart, and often blamed me that I did not make some things fordefence of this kind of work; but I saw no need of it.And now, having a full supply of food for all the guests Iexpected, I gave the Spaniard leave to go over to the main, to seewhat he could do with those he had left behind him there. I gavehim a strict charge not to bring any man who would not first swearin the presence of himself and the old savage that he would in noway injure, fight with, or attack the person he should find in theisland, who was so kind as to send for them in order to theirdeliverance; but that they would stand by him and defend himagainst all such attempts, and wherever they went would be entirelyunder and subjected to his command; and that this should be put inwriting, and signed in their hands. How they were to have donethis, when I knew they had neither pen nor ink, was a questionwhich we never asked. Under these instructions, the Spaniard andthe old savage, the father of Friday, went away in one of thecanoes which they might be said to have come in, or rather werebrought in, when they came as prisoners to be devoured by thesavages. I gave each of them a musket, with a firelock on it, andabout eight charges of powder and ball, charging them to be verygood husbands of both, and not to use either of them but uponurgent occasions.This was a cheerful work, being the first measures used by me inview of my deliverance for now twenty-seven years and some days. Igave them provisions of bread and of dried grapes, sufficient forthemselves for many days, and sufficient for all the Spaniards -for about eight days' time; and wishing them a good voyage, I sawthem go, agreeing with them about a signal they should hang out attheir return, by which I should know them again when they cameback, at a distance, before they came on shore. They went awaywith a fair gale on the day that the moon was at full, by myaccount in the month of October; but as for an exact reckoning ofdays, after I had once lost it I could never recover it again; norhad I kept even the number of years so punctually as to be sure Iwas right; though, as it proved when I afterwards examined myaccount, I found I had kept a true reckoning of years.It was no less than eight days I had waited for them, when astrange and unforeseen accident intervened, of which the like hasnot, perhaps, been heard of in history. I was fast asleep in myhutch one morning, when my man Friday came running in to me, andcalled aloud, "Master, master, they are come, they are come!" Ijumped up, and regardless of danger I went, as soon as I could getmy clothes on, through my little grove, which, by the way, was bythis time grown to be a very thick wood; I say, regardless ofdanger I went without my arms, which was not my custom to do; but Iwas surprised when, turning my eyes to the sea, I presently saw aboat at about a league and a half distance, standing in for theshore, with a shoulder-of-mutton sail, as they call it, and thewind blowing pretty fair to bring them in: also I observed,presently, that they did not come from that side which the shorelay on, but from the southernmost end of the island. Upon this Icalled Friday in, and bade him lie close, for these were not thepeople we looked for, and that we might not know yet whether theywere friends or enemies. In the next place I went in to fetch myperspective glass to see what I could make of them; and havingtaken the ladder out, I climbed up to the top of the hill, as Iused to do when I was apprehensive of anything, and to take my viewthe plainer without being discovered. I had scarce set my footupon the hill when my eye plainly discovered a ship lying atanchor, at about two leagues and a half distance from me, SSE., butnot above a league and a half from the shore. By my observation itappeared plainly to be an English ship, and the boat appeared to bean English long-boat.I cannot express the confusion I was in, though the joy of seeing aship, and one that I had reason to believe was manned by my owncountrymen, and consequently friends, was such as I cannotdescribe; but yet I had some secret doubts hung about me - I cannottell from whence they came - bidding me keep upon my guard. In thefirst place, it occurred to me to consider what business an Englishship could have in that part of the world, since it was not the wayto or from any part of the world where the English had any traffic;and I knew there had been no storms to drive them in there indistress; and that if they were really English it was most probablethat they were here upon no good design; and that I had bettercontinue as I was than fall into the hands of thieves andmurderers.Let no man despise the secret hints and notices of danger whichsometimes are given him when he may think there is no possibilityof its being real. That such hints and notices are given us Ibelieve few that have made any observation of things can deny; thatthey are certain discoveries of an invisible world, and a converseof spirits, we cannot doubt; and if the tendency of them seems tobe to warn us of danger, why should we not suppose they are fromsome friendly agent (whether supreme, or inferior and subordinate,is not the question), and that they are given for our good?The present question abundantly confirms me in the justice of thisreasoning; for had I not been made cautious by this secretadmonition, come it from whence it will, I had been doneinevitably, and in a far worse condition than before, as you willsee presently. I had not kept myself long in this posture till Isaw the boat draw near the shore, as if they looked for a creek tothrust in at, for the convenience of landing; however, as they didnot come quite far enough, they did not see the little inlet whereI formerly landed my rafts, but ran their boat on shore upon thebeach, at about half a mile from me, which was very happy for me;for otherwise they would have landed just at my door, as I may say,and would soon have beaten me out of my castle, and perhaps haveplundered me of all I had. When they were on shore I was fullysatisfied they were Englishmen, at least most of them; one or two Ithought were Dutch, but it did not prove so; there were in alleleven men, whereof three of them I found were unarmed and, as Ithought, bound; and when the first four or five of them were jumpedon shore, they took those three out of the boat as prisoners: oneof the three I could perceive using the most passionate gestures ofentreaty, affliction, and despair, even to a kind of extravagance;the other two, I could perceive, lifted up their hands sometimes,and appeared concerned indeed, but not to such a degree as thefirst. I was perfectly confounded at the sight, and knew not whatthe meaning of it should be. Friday called out to me in English,as well as he could, "O master! you see English mans eat prisoneras well as savage mans." "Why, Friday," says I, "do you think theyare going to eat them, then?" "Yes," says Friday, "they will eatthem." "No no," says I, "Friday; I am afraid they will murderthem, indeed; but you may be sure they will not eat them."All this while I had no thought of what the matter really was, butstood trembling with the horror of the sight, expecting everymoment when the three prisoners should be killed; nay, once I sawone of the villains lift up his arm with a great cutlass, as theseamen call it, or sword, to strike one of the poor men; and Iexpected to see him fall every moment; at which all the blood in mybody seemed to run chill in my veins. I wished heartily now forthe Spaniard, and the savage that had gone with him, or that I hadany way to have come undiscovered within shot of them, that I mighthave secured the three men, for I saw no firearms they had amongthem; but it fell out to my mind another way. After I had observedthe outrageous usage of the three men by the insolent seamen, Iobserved the fellows run scattering about the island, as if theywanted to see the country. I observed that the three other men hadliberty to go also where they pleased; but they sat down all threeupon the ground, very pensive, and looked like men in despair.This put me in mind of the first time when I came on shore, andbegan to look about me; how I gave myself over for lost; how wildlyI looked round me; what dreadful apprehensions I had; and how Ilodged in the tree all night for fear of being devoured by wildbeasts. As I knew nothing that night of the supply I was toreceive by the providential driving of the ship nearer the land bythe storms and tide, by which I have since been so long nourishedand supported; so these three poor desolate men knew nothing howcertain of deliverance and supply they were, how near it was tothem, and how effectually and really they were in a condition ofsafety, at the same time that they thought themselves lost andtheir case desperate. So little do we see before us in the world,and so much reason have we to depend cheerfully upon the greatMaker of the world, that He does not leave His creatures soabsolutely destitute, but that in the worst circumstances they havealways something to be thankful for, and sometimes are nearerdeliverance than they imagine; nay, are even brought to theirdeliverance by the means by which they seem to be brought to theirdestruction.It was just at high-water when these people came on shore; andwhile they rambled about to see what kind of a place they were in,they had carelessly stayed till the tide was spent, and the waterwas ebbed considerably away, leaving their boat aground. They hadleft two men in the boat, who, as I found afterwards, having drunka little too much brandy, fell asleep; however, one of them wakinga little sooner than the other and finding the boat too fastaground for him to stir it, hallooed out for the rest, who werestraggling about: upon which they all soon came to the boat: but itwas past all their strength to launch her, the boat being veryheavy, and the shore on that side being a soft oozy sand, almostlike a quicksand. In this condition, like true seamen, who are,perhaps, the least of all mankind given to forethought, they gaveit over, and away they strolled about the country again; and Iheard one of them say aloud to another, calling them off from theboat, "Why, let her alone, Jack, can't you? she'll float nexttide;" by which I was fully confirmed in the main inquiry of whatcountrymen they were. All this while I kept myself very close, notonce daring to stir out of my castle any farther than to my placeof observation near the top of the hill: and very glad I was tothink how well it was fortified. I knew it was no less than tenhours before the boat could float again, and by that time it wouldbe dark, and I might be at more liberty to see their motions, andto hear their discourse, if they had any. In the meantime I fittedmyself up for a battle as before, though with more caution, knowingI had to do with another kind of enemy than I had at first. Iordered Friday also, whom I had made an excellent marksman with hisgun, to load himself with arms. I took myself two fowling-pieces,and I gave him three muskets. My figure, indeed, was very fierce;I had my formidable goat-skin coat on, with the great cap I havementioned, a naked sword by my side, two pistols in my belt, and agun upon each shoulder.It was my design, as I said above, not to have made any attempttill it was dark; but about two o'clock, being the heat of the day,I found that they were all gone straggling into the woods, and, asI thought, laid down to sleep. The three poor distressed men, tooanxious for their condition to get any sleep, had, however, satdown under the shelter of a great tree, at about a quarter of amile from me, and, as I thought, out of sight of any of the rest.Upon this I resolved to discover myself to them, and learnsomething of their condition; immediately I marched as above, myman Friday at a good distance behind me, as formidable for his armsas I, but not making quite so staring a spectre-like figure as Idid. I came as near them undiscovered as I could, and then, beforeany of them saw me, I called aloud to them in Spanish, "What areye, gentlemen?" They started up at the noise, but were ten timesmore confounded when they saw me, and the uncouth figure that Imade. They made no answer at all, but I thought I perceived themjust going to fly from me, when I spoke to them in English."Gentlemen," said I, "do not be surprised at me; perhaps you mayhave a friend near when you did not expect it." "He must be sentdirectly from heaven then," said one of them very gravely to me,and pulling off his hat at the same time to me; "for our conditionis past the help of man." "All help is from heaven, sir," said I,"but can you put a stranger in the way to help you? for you seem tobe in some great distress. I saw you when you landed; and when youseemed to make application to the brutes that came with you, I sawone of them lift up his sword to kill you."The poor man, with tears running down his face, and trembling,looking like one astonished, returned, "Am I talking to God or man?Is it a real man or an angel?" "Be in no fear about that, sir,"said I; "if God had sent an angel to relieve you, he would havecome better clothed, and armed after another manner than you seeme; pray lay aside your fears; I am a man, an Englishman, anddisposed to assist you; you see I have one servant only; we havearms and ammunition; tell us freely, can we serve you? What isyour case?" "Our case, sir," said he, "is too long to tell youwhile our murderers are so near us; but, in short, sir, I wascommander of that ship - my men have mutinied against me; they havebeen hardly prevailed on not to murder me, and, at last, have setme on shore in this desolate place, with these two men with me -one my mate, the other a passenger - where we expected to perish,believing the place to be uninhabited, and know not yet what tothink of it." "Where are these brutes, your enemies?" said I; "doyou know where they are gone? There they lie, sir," said he,pointing to a thicket of trees; "my heart trembles for fear theyhave seen us and heard you speak; if they have, they will certainlymurder us all." "Have they any firearms?" said I. He answered,"They had only two pieces, one of which they left in the boat.""Well, then," said I, "leave the rest to me; I see they are allasleep; it is an easy thing to kill them all; but shall we rathertake them prisoners?" He told me there were two desperate villainsamong them that it was scarce safe to show any mercy to; but ifthey were secured, he believed all the rest would return to theirduty. I asked him which they were. He told me he could not atthat distance distinguish them, but he would obey my orders inanything I would direct. "Well," says I, "let us retreat out oftheir view or hearing, lest they awake, and we will resolvefurther." So they willingly went back with me, till the woodscovered us from them."Look you, sir," said I, "if I venture upon your deliverance, areyou willing to make two conditions with me?" He anticipated myproposals by telling me that both he and the ship, if recovered,should be wholly directed and commanded by me in everything; and ifthe ship was not recovered, he would live and die with me in whatpart of the world soever I would send him; and the two other mensaid the same. "Well," says I, "my conditions are but two; first,that while you stay in this island with me, you will not pretend toany authority here; and if I put arms in your hands, you will, uponall occasions, give them up to me, and do no prejudice to me ormine upon this island, and in the meantime be governed by myorders; secondly, that if the ship is or may be recovered, you willcarry me and my man to England passage free."He gave me all the assurances that the invention or faith of mancould devise that he would comply with these most reasonabledemands, and besides would owe his life to me, and acknowledge itupon all occasions as long as he lived. "Well, then," said I,"here are three muskets for you, with powder and ball; tell me nextwhat you think is proper to be done." He showed all thetestimonies of his gratitude that he was able, but offered to bewholly guided by me. I told him I thought it was very hardventuring anything; but the best method I could think of was tofire on them at once as they lay, and if any were not killed at thefirst volley, and offered to submit, we might save them, and so putit wholly upon God's providence to direct the shot. He said, verymodestly, that he was loath to kill them if he could help it; butthat those two were incorrigible villains, and had been the authorsof all the mutiny in the ship, and if they escaped, we should beundone still, for they would go on board and bring the whole ship'scompany, and destroy us all. "Well, then," says I, "necessitylegitimates my advice, for it is the only way to save our lives."However, seeing him still cautious of shedding blood, I told himthey should go themselves, and manage as they found convenient.In the middle of this discourse we heard some of them awake, andsoon after we saw two of them on their feet. I asked him if eitherof them were the heads of the mutiny? He said, "No." "Well,then," said I, "you may let them escape; and Providence seems tohave awakened them on purpose to save themselves. Now," says I,"if the rest escape you, it is your fault." Animated with this, hetook the musket I had given him in his hand, and a pistol in hisbelt, and his two comrades with him, with each a piece in his hand;the two men who were with him going first made some noise, at whichone of the seamen who was awake turned about, and seeing themcoming, cried out to the rest; but was too late then, for themoment he cried out they fired - I mean the two men, the captainwisely reserving his own piece. They had so well aimed their shotat the men they knew, that one of them was killed on the spot, andthe other very much wounded; but not being dead, he started up onhis feet, and called eagerly for help to the other; but the captainstepping to him, told him it was too late to cry for help, heshould call upon God to forgive his villainy, and with that wordknocked him down with the stock of his musket, so that he neverspoke more; there were three more in the company, and one of themwas slightly wounded. By this time I was come; and when they sawtheir danger, and that it was in vain to resist, they begged formercy. The captain told them he would spare their lives if theywould give him an assurance of their abhorrence of the treacherythey had been guilty of, and would swear to be faithful to him inrecovering the ship, and afterwards in carrying her back toJamaica, from whence they came. They gave him all theprotestations of their sincerity that could be desired; and he waswilling to believe them, and spare their lives, which I was notagainst, only that I obliged him to keep them bound hand and footwhile they were on the island.While this was doing, I sent Friday with the captain's mate to theboat with orders to secure her, and bring away the oars and sails,which they did; and by-and-by three straggling men, that were(happily for them) parted from the rest, came back upon hearing theguns fired; and seeing the captain, who was before their prisoner,now their conqueror, they submitted to be bound also; and so ourvictory was complete.It now remained that the captain and I should inquire into oneanother's circumstances. I began first, and told him my wholehistory, which he heard with an attention even to amazement - andparticularly at the wonderful manner of my being furnished withprovisions and ammunition; and, indeed, as my story is a wholecollection of wonders, it affected him deeply. But when hereflected from thence upon himself, and how I seemed to have beenpreserved there on purpose to save his life, the tears ran down hisface, and he could not speak a word more. After this communicationwas at an end, I carried him and his two men into my apartment,leading them in just where I came out, viz. at the top of thehouse, where I refreshed them with such provisions as I had, andshowed them all the contrivances I had made during my long, longinhabiting that place.All I showed them, all I said to them, was perfectly amazing; butabove all, the captain admired my fortification, and how perfectlyI had concealed my retreat with a grove of trees, which having beennow planted nearly twenty years, and the trees growing much fasterthan in England, was become a little wood, so thick that it wasimpassable in any part of it but at that one side where I hadreserved my little winding passage into it. I told him this was mycastle and my residence, but that I had a seat in the country, asmost princes have, whither I could retreat upon occasion, and Iwould show him that too another time; but at present our businesswas to consider how to recover the ship. He agreed with me as tothat, but told me he was perfectly at a loss what measures to take,for that there were still six-and-twenty hands on board, who,having entered into a cursed conspiracy, by which they had allforfeited their lives to the law, would be hardened in it now bydesperation, and would carry it on, knowing that if they weresubdued they would be brought to the gallows as soon as they cameto England, or to any of the English colonies, and that, therefore,there would be no attacking them with so small a number as we were.I mused for some time on what he had said, and found it was a veryrational conclusion, and that therefore something was to beresolved on speedily, as well to draw the men on board into somesnare for their surprise as to prevent their landing upon us, anddestroying us. Upon this, it presently occurred to me that in alittle while the ship's crew, wondering what was become of theircomrades and of the boat, would certainly come on shore in theirother boat to look for them, and that then, perhaps, they mightcome armed, and be too strong for us: this he allowed to berational. Upon this, I told him the first thing we had to do wasto stave the boat which lay upon the beach, so that they might notcarry her of, and taking everything out of her, leave her so faruseless as not to be fit to swim. Accordingly, we went on board,took the arms which were left on board out of her, and whateverelse we found there - which was a bottle of brandy, and another ofrum, a few biscuit-cakes, a horn of powder, and a great lump ofsugar in a piece of canvas (the sugar was five or six pounds): allwhich was very welcome to me, especially the brandy and sugar, ofwhich I had had none left for many years.When we had carried all these things on shore (the oars, mast,sail, and rudder of the boat were carried away before), we knockeda great hole in her bottom, that if they had come strong enough tomaster us, yet they could not carry off the boat. Indeed, it wasnot much in my thoughts that we could be able to recover the ship;but my view was, that if they went away without the boat, I did notmuch question to make her again fit to carry as to the LeewardIslands, and call upon our friends the Spaniards in my way, for Ihad them still in my thoughts.