Captain Singleton

by Daniel Defoe

Admiral keeping a-head, made the open Sea fair to the West, clear of the whole

  Island; upon which he brought to, and we sent the Sloop to stand in round the

  farthest Point North, and coast along the Shore, and see for a Harbour to put

  into, which they did, and soon brought us an Account, that there was a deep Bay,

  with a very good Road, and several little Islands under which they found good

  Riding, in 10 to 17 Fathom Water, and accordingly there we put in.

  However, we afterwards found Occasion to remove our Station, as you shall hear

  presently. We had now nothing to do, but go on Shore, and acquaint our selves a

  little with the Natives, take in fresh Water, and some fresh Provisions, and

  then to Sea again. We found the People very easy to deal with, and some Cattel

  they had; but it being at the Extremity of the Island, they had not such

  Quantities of Cattel here. However, for the present, we resolved to appoint this

  for our Place of Rendezvous, and go and look out. This was about the latter End

  of April.

  Accordingly we put to Sea, and cruised away to the Northward, for the Arabian

  Coast: It was a long Run; but as the Winds generally blow Trade from the South,

  and S. S. E. from May to September, we had good Weather, and in about twenty

  Days we made the Island of Saccatia, lying South from the Arabian Coast, and E.

  S. E. from the Mouth of the Gulph of Mocha, or the Red Sea.

  Here we took in Water, and stood off and on upon the Arabian Shore. We had not

  cruised here above three Days, or thereabouts, but I spy'd a Sail, and gave her

  Chase; but when we came up with her, never was such a poor Prize chased by

  Pyrates that look'd for Booty; for we found nothing in her, but poor, half-naked

  Turks going a Pilgrimage to Mecca, to the Tomb of their Prophet Mahomet ; the

  Jonk that carry'd them had no one thing worth taking away, but a little Rice,

  and some Coffee, which was all the poor Wretches had for their Subsistence; so

  we let them go, for indeed we knew not what to do with them.

  The same Evening we chased another Jonk with two Masts, and in something better

  Plight to look at than the former. When we came on board, we found them upon the

  same Errand, but only that they were People of some better Fashion than the

  other; and here we got some Plunder, some Turkish Stores, a few Diamonds in the

  Ear-drops of five or six Persons, some fine Persian Carpets, of which they made

  their Saffra's to lye upon, and some Money; so we let them go also.

  We continued here eleven Days longer, and saw nothing but now and then a

  Fishing-Boat; but the twelfth Day of our Cruise, we spy'd a Ship: Indeed I

  thought at first it had been an English Ship, but it appeared to be an European

  freighted for a Voyage from Goa, on the Coast of Malabar, to the Red Sea, and

  was very rich. We chased her, and took her, without any Fight, tho' they had

  some Guns on board too, but not many. We found her Manned with Portuguese

  Seamen, but under the Direction of five Merchant Turks, who had hired her on the

  Coast of Malabar, of some Portugal Merchants, and had loaden her with Pepper,

  Salt-petre, some Spices, and the rest of the Loading was chiefly Callicoes and

  wrought Silks, some of them very rich.

  We took her, and carried her to Saccatia, but we really knew not what to do with

  her, for the same Reasons as before; for all their Goods were of little or no

  Value to us. After some Days we found Means to let one of the Turkish Merchants

  know, that if he would ransom the Ship, we would take a Sum of Money, and let

  them go. He told me, if I would let one of them go on Shore for the Money, they

  would do it: So we adjusted the Value of the Cargo at 30000 Ducats. Upon this

  Agreement we allowed the Sloop to carry him on Shore at Dofar in Arabia, where a

  rich Merchant laid down the Money for them, and came off with our Sloop; and on

  Payment of the Money, we very fairly and honestly let them go.

  Some Days after this, we took an Arabian Jonk going from the Gulph of Persia to

  Mocha, with a good Quantity of Pearl on board; we gutted him of the Pearl,

  which, it seems, was belonging to some Merchants at Mocha, and let him go, for

  there was nothing else worth our taking.

  We continued cruising up and down here, till we began to find our Provisions

  grow low, when Captain Wilmot our Admiral told us, 'twas time to think of going

  back to the Rendezvous, and the rest of the Men said the same, being a little

  weary of beating about for above three Months together, and meeting with little

  or nothing compar'd to our great Expectations. But I was very loath to part with

  the Red Sea at so cheap a Rate, and press'd them to tarry a little longer, which

  at my Instance we did; but three Days afterwards, to our great Misfortune,

  understood, that by Landing the Turkish Merchants at Dofar, we had alarmed the

  Coast as far as the Gulph of Persia, so that no Vessel would stir that Way, and

  consequently nothing was to be expected on that Side.

  I was greatly mortify'd at this News, and could no longer withstand the

  Importunities of the Men, to return to Madagascar. However, as the Winds

  continued still to blow at S. S. E. to E. by S. we were obliged to stand away

  towards the Coast of Africa, and the Cape Guarde Foy, the Winds being more

  variable under the Shore, than in the open Sea.

  Here we chopp'd upon a Booty which we did not look for, and which made Amends

  for all our Waiting; for the very same Hour that we made Land, we spy'd a large

  Vessel sailing along the Shore, to the Southward. The Ship was of Bengal,

  belonging to the Great Mogul's Country, but had on board a Dutch Pilot, whose

  Name, if I remember right, was Vanderdiest, and several European Seamen, whereof

  three were English. She was in no Condition to resist us; the rest of her Seamen

  were Indians of the Mogul's Subjects, some Malabars, and some others. There were

  five Indian Merchants on board, and some Armenian: It seems they had been at

  Mocha with Spices, Silks, Diamonds, Pearls, Callicoe, &c. such Goods as the

  Country afforded, and had little on board now but Money in Pieces of Eight,

  which, by the Way, was just what we wanted; and the three English Seamen came

  along with us, and the Dutch Pilot would have done so too; but the two Armenian

  Merchants entreated us not to take him; for that he being their Pilot, there was

  none of the Men knew how to guide the Ship: So, at their Request, we refused

  him; but we made them promise he should not be used ill for being willing to go

  with us.

  We got near 200000 Pieces of Eight in this Vessel; and if they said true, there

  was a Jew of Goa who intended to have embark'd with them, who had 200000 Pieces

  of Eight with him, all his own; but his good Fortune springing out of his ill

  Fortune, hinder'd him, for he fell sick at Mocha, and could not be ready to

  travel, which was the Saving of his Money.

  There was none with me at the Taking this Prize, but the Sloop; for Captain

  Wilmot's Ship proving leaky, he went away for the Rendezvous before us, and

  arrived there the Middle of December; but not liking the Port, he left a great

  Cross on Shore, with Directions wri
tten on a Plate of Lead fixt to it, for us to

  come after him to the great Bay of Mangahelly, where he found a very good

  Harbour; but we learnt a Piece of News here, that kept us from him a great

  while, which the Admiral took Offence at; but we stopt his Mouth with his Share

  of 200000 Pieces of Eight to him and his Ship's Crew. But the Story which

  interrupted our coming to him was this. Between Mangahelly and another Point

  called Cape St. Sebastian, there came on Shore in the Night, an European Ship;

  and whether by Stress of Weather, or Want of a Pilot, I know not, but the Ship

  stranded, and could not be got off.

  We lay in the Cove, or Harbour, where, as I have said, our Rendezvous was

  appointed, and had not yet been on Shore, so we had not seen the Directions our

  Admiral had left for us.

  Our Friend William, of whom I have said nothing a great while, had a great Mind

  one Day to go on Shore, and importuned me to let him have a little Troop to go

  with him, for Safety, that they might see the Country. I was mightily against it

  for many Reasons; but particularly I told him, he knew the Natives were but

  Savages, and they were very treacherous, and I desired him that he would not go;

  and had he gone on much farther, I believe I should have downright refused him,

  and commanded him not to go.

  But in order to perswade me to let him go, he told me, he would give me an

  Account of the Reason why he was so importunate. He told me, the last Night he

  had a Dream, which was so forcible, and made such an Impression upon his Mind,

  that he could not be quiet till he had made the Proposal to me to go, and if I

  refused him, then he thought his Dream was significant, and if not, then his

  Dream was at an End.

  His Dream was, he said, that he went on Shore with 30 Men, of which the

  Cockswain he said was one, upon the Island, and that they found a Mine of Gold,

  and enrich'd them all; but this was not the main thing he said, but that the

  same Morning he had dreamt so, the Cockswain came to him just then, and told

  him, that he dreamt he went on Shore on the Island of Madagascar, and that some

  Men came to him and told him, they would shew him where he should get a Prize

  would make them all rich.

  These two things put together began to weigh with me a little, tho' I was never

  inclined to give any Heed to Dreams; but William's Importunity turn'd me

  effectually, for I always put a great deal of Stress upon his Judgment: So that

  in short, I gave them Leave to go; but I charged them not to go far off from the

  Sea Coast, that if they were forced down to the Sea-Side upon any Occasion, we

  might perhaps see them, and fetch them off with our Boats.

  They went away early in the Morning, one and thirty Men of them in Number, very

  well arm'd, and very stout Fellows; they travell'd all the Day, and at Night

  made us a Signal that all was well, from the Top of a Hill, which we had agreed

  on, by making a great Fire.

  Next Day they march'd down the Hill on the other Side, inclining towards the

  Sea-Side, as they had promised, and saw a very pleasant Valley before them with

  a River in the Middle of it, which a little farther below them seemed to be big

  enough to bear small Ships: They marched a-pace towards this River, and were

  surprized with the Noise of a Piece going off, which by the Sound could not be

  far off; they listened long, but could hear no more, so they went on to the

  River Side, which was a very fine fresh Stream, but widened a-pace, and they

  kept on by the Banks of it, till almost at once it opened or widened into a good

  large Creek, or Harbour, about five Miles from the Sea; and that which was still

  more surprizing, as they marched forward, they plainly saw in the Mouth of the

  Harbour, or Creek, the Wreck of a Ship.

  The Tide was up, as we call it, that did not appear very much above the Water,

  but as they made downwards, they found it grew bigger, and bigger, and the Tide

  soon after ebbing out, they found it lay dry upon the Sands, and appeared to be

  the Wreck of a considerable Vessel, larger than could be expected in that

  Country.

  After some time, William taking out his Glass to look at it more nearly, was

  surprized with hearing a Musquet Shot whistle by him, and immediately after

  that, he heard the Gun, and saw the Smoke from the other Side; upon which our

  Men immediately fired three Musquets to discover, if possible, what or who they

  were. Upon the Noise of these Guns, Abundance of Men came running down to the

  Shore, from among some Trees, and our Men could easily perceive that they were

  Europeans, tho' they knew not of what Nation: However, our Men halloo'd to them,

  as loud as they could, and by and by they got a long Pole, and set it up, and

  hung a white Shirt upon it for a Flag of Truce. They on the other Side saw it,

  by the help of their Glasses too, and quickly after, our Men see a Boat launch

  off from the Shore, as they thought, but it was from another Creek it seems, and

  immediately they came rowing over the Creek to our Men, carrying also a white

  Flag as a Token of Truce.

  It is not easy to describe the Surprize of Joy and Satisfaction that appeared on

  both Sides, to see not only white Men, but English Men, in a Place so remote;

  but what then must it be, when they came to know one another, and to find that

  they were not only Country Men, but Comrades, and that this was the very Ship

  that Captain Wilmot, our Admiral, commanded, and whose Company we had lost in

  the Storm at Tobago, after making an Agreement to Rendezvous at Madagascar ?

  They had, it seems, got Intelligence of us, when they came to the South Part of

  the Island, and had been a roving as far as the Gulph of Bengal, when they met

  Captain Avery, with whom they joined, took several rich Prizes, and amongst the

  rest, one Ship with the great Mogul's Daughter, and an immense Treasure in Money

  and Jewels, and from thence they came about the Coast of Coromandel, and

  afterwards that of Malabar, into the Gulph of Persia, where they also took some

  Prize, and then designed for the South Part of Madagascar; but the Winds blowing

  hard at S. E. and S. E. by E. they came to the Northward of the Isle, and being

  after that separated by a furious Tempest from the N. W. they were forced into

  the Mouth of that Creek, where they lost their Ship. And they told us also, that

  they heard that Captain Avery himself had lost his Ship also, not far off.

  When they had thus acquainted one another with their Fortunes, the poor

  over-joyed Men were in Haste to go back to communicate their Joy to their

  Comrades; and leaving some of their Men with ours, the rest went back; and

  William was so earnest to see them, that he and two more went back with them,

  and there he came to their little Camp where they lived. There were about a

  hundred and sixty Men of them in all; they had got their Guns on Shore, and some

  Ammunition, but a good deal of their Powder was spoil'd. However they had raised

  a fair Platform, and mounted twelve Pieces of Cannon upon it, which was a

  sufficient Defence to them on that Side of the Sea; and just at the End of the
/>   Platform they had made a Launch, and a little Yard, and were all hard at Work

  building another little Ship, as I may call it, to go to Sea in, but they put a

  Stop to this Work upon the News they had of our being come in.

  When our Men went into their Hutts, it was surprizing indeed to see the vast

  Stock of Wealth they had got, in Gold, and Silver, and Jewels, which however

  they told was a Trifle to what Captain Avery, had wherever he was gone.

  It was five Days we had waited for our Men, and no News of them, and indeed, I

  gave them over for lost; but was surprized, after five Days waiting, to see a

  Ship's Boat come rowing towards us along Shore; what to make of it, I could not

  tell, but was at last better satisfied, when our Men told me they heard them

  halloo, and saw them wave their Caps to us.

  In a little time they came quite up to us, and I saw Friend William stand up in

  the Boat and make Signs to us; so they came on Board: But when I saw there was

  but fifteen of our one and thirty Men, I asked him what was become of their

  Fellows? O! says William, they are all very well, and my Dream is fully made

  good, and the Cockswain's too.

  This made me very impatient to know how the Case stood; so he told us the whole

  Story, which indeed surprized us all. The next Day we weighed, and stood away

  Southerly to join Captain Wilmot and his Ship at Mangahelly, where we found him,

  as I said, a little chagrin at our Stay; but we pacified him afterwards with

  telling him the History of William's Dream, and the Consequence of it.

  In the mean time, the Camp of our Comrades was so near Mangahelly, that our

  Admiral, and I, Friend William, and some of the Men, resolved to take the Sloop,

  and go and see them, and fetch them all, and their Goods, Bag and Baggage, on

  board our Ship, which accordingly we did; and found their Camp, their

  Fortifications, the Battery of Guns they had erected, their Treasure, and all

  the Men, just as William had related it; so after some Stay, we took all the Men

  into the Sloop, and brought them away with us.

  It was some time before we knew what was become of Captain Avery ; but after

  about a Month, by the Direction of the Men who had lost their Ship, we sent the

  Sloop to cruise along the Shore, to find out, if possible, where they were, and

  in about a Week's Cruise our Men found them; and particularly, that they had

  lost their Ship, as well as our Men had lost theirs, and that they were every

  Way in as bad a Condition as ours.

  It was about ten Days before the Sloop returned, and Captain Avery with them;

  and this was the whole Force that, as I remember, Captain Avery ever had with

  him; for now we joined all our Companies together, and it stood thus: We had two

  Ships and a Sloop, in which, we had three Hundred and twenty Men, but much too

  few to Man them as they ought to be, the great Portuguese Ship requiring of her

  self near 400 Men to Man her compleatly: As for our lost, but now found Comrade,

  her Compliment of Men was 180, or there abouts, and Captain Avery had about

  three Hundred Men with him, whereof, he had ten Carpenters with him, most of

  which were taken aboard the Prize they had taken; so that, in a Word, all the

  Force Avery had at Madagascar in the Year 1699, or thereabouts, amounted to our

  three Ships, for his own was lost, as you have heard, and never had any more

  than about twelve Hundred Men in all.

  It was about a Month after this, that all our Crews got together, and as Avery

  was unshipt, we all agreed to bring our own Company into the Portuguese Man of

  War and the Sloop, and give Captain Avery the Spanish Frigate, with all the

  Tackles, and Furniture Guns, and Ammunition for his Crew by themselves; for

  which they being full of Wealth, agreed to give us Forty Thousand Pieces of

  Eight.

  It was next considered, what Course we should take: Captain Avery, to give him