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• 1 media/First-edition-of-Daniel-c_30_f_6_fp_tp-2.jpg 2019-05-27T02:29:55-07:00 Island Inspirations 34 plain 2019-10-13T14:29:31-07:00 Even for those who have not read Robinson Crusoe, most are aware of the central premise of the novel that has been so prolifically adapted in popular culture—man shipwrecked alone upon a deserted island. Central to the castaway narrative genre is the ostensibly deserted island onto which the survivor washes up. Some of these islands that appear in castaway narratives are purely fictional, but many are inspired by real-world uninhabited islands. 
  
  The island depicted in Robinson Crusoe is fictionally located in the Caribbean. Prior to describing the shipwreck, Crusoe relays:

  I was positively against that; and looking over the charts of the sea-coast of America with him, we concluded there was no inhabited country for us to have recourse to till we came within the circle of the Caribbee Islands, and therefore resolved to stand away for Barbadoes; which, by keeping off at sea, to avoid the indraft of the Bay or Gulf of Mexico, we might easily perform, as we hoped, in about fifteen days’ sail; whereas we could not possibly make our voyage to the coast of Africa without some assistance both to our ship and to ourselves.

  With this design we changed our course, and steered away N.W. by W., in order to reach some of our English islands, where I hoped for relief.  But our voyage was otherwise determined; for, being in the latitude of twelve degrees eighteen minutes, a second storm came upon us, which carried us away with the same impetuosity westward, and drove us so out of the way of all human commerce, that, had all our lives been saved as to the sea, we were rather in danger of being devoured by savages than ever returning to our own country.

  In this distress, the wind still blowing very hard, one of our men early in the morning cried out, “Land!” and we had no sooner run out of the cabin to look out, in hopes of seeing whereabouts in the world we were, than the ship struck upon a sand, and in a moment her motion being so stopped, the sea broke over her in such a manner that we expected we should all have perished immediately; and we were immediately driven into our close quarters, to shelter us from the very foam and spray of the sea.

  It is not easy for any one who has not been in the like condition to describe or conceive the consternation of men in such circumstances.  We knew nothing where we were, or upon what land it was we were driven—whether an island or the main, whether inhabited or not inhabited.  As the rage of the wind was still great, though rather less than at first, we could not so much as hope to have the ship hold many minutes without breaking into pieces, unless the winds, by a kind of miracle, should turn immediately about.  In a word, we sat looking upon one another, and expecting death every moment, and every man, accordingly, preparing for another world; for there was little or nothing more for us to do in this.  That which was our present comfort, and all the comfort we had, was that, contrary to our expectation, the ship did not break yet, and that the master said the wind began to abate.

  Now, though we thought that the wind did a little abate, yet the ship having thus struck upon the sand, and sticking too fast for us to expect her getting off, we were in a dreadful condition indeed, and had nothing to do but to think of saving our lives as well as we could.  We had a boat at our stern just before the storm, but she was first staved by dashing against the ship’s rudder, and in the next place she broke away, and either sunk or was driven off to sea; so there was no hope from her.  We had another boat on board, but how to get her off into the sea was a doubtful thing.  However, there was no time to debate, for we fancied that the ship would break in pieces every minute, and some told us she was actually broken already.

  In this distress the mate of our vessel laid hold of the boat, and with the help of the rest of the men got her slung over the ship’s side; and getting all into her, let go, and committed ourselves, being eleven in number, to God’s mercy and the wild sea; for though the storm was abated considerably, yet the sea ran dreadfully high upon the shore, and might be well called den wild zee, as the Dutch call the sea in a storm.

  And now our case was very dismal indeed; for we all saw plainly that the sea went so high that the boat could not live, and that we should be inevitably drowned.  As to making sail, we had none, nor if we had could we have done anything with it; so we worked at the oar towards the land, though with heavy hearts, like men going to execution; for we all knew that when the boat came near the shore she would be dashed in a thousand pieces by the breach of the sea.  However, we committed our souls to God in the most earnest manner; and the wind driving us towards the shore, we hastened our destruction with our own hands, pulling as well as we could towards land.

  What the shore was, whether rock or sand, whether steep or shoal, we knew not.  The only hope that could rationally give us the least shadow of expectation was, if we might find some bay or gulf, or the mouth of some river, where by great chance we might have run our boat in, or got under the lee of the land, and perhaps made smooth water.  But there was nothing like this appeared; but as we made nearer and nearer the shore, the land looked more frightful than the sea.

  After we had rowed, or rather driven about a league and a half, as we reckoned it, a raging wave, mountain-like, came rolling astern of us, and plainly bade us expect the coup de grâce.  It took us with such a fury, that it overset the boat at once; and separating us as well from the boat as from one another, gave us no time to say, “O God!” for we were all swallowed up in a moment.

  Nothing can describe the confusion of thought which I felt when I sank into the water; for though I swam very well, yet I could not deliver myself from the waves so as to draw breath, till that wave having driven me, or rather carried me, a vast way on towards the shore, and having spent itself, went back, and left me upon the land almost dry, but half dead with the water I took in.  I had so much presence of mind, as well as breath left, that seeing myself nearer the mainland than I expected, I got upon my feet, and endeavoured to make on towards the land as fast as I could before another wave should return and take me up again; but I soon found it was impossible to avoid it; for I saw the sea come after me as high as a great hill, and as furious as an enemy, which I had no means or strength to contend with: my business was to hold my breath, and raise myself upon the water if I could; and so, by swimming, to preserve my breathing, and pilot myself towards the shore, if possible, my greatest concern now being that the sea, as it would carry me a great way towards the shore when it came on, might not carry me back again with it when it gave back towards the sea.

  The wave that came upon me again buried me at once twenty or thirty feet deep in its own body, and I could feel myself carried with a mighty force and swiftness towards the shore—a very great way; but I held my breath, and assisted myself to swim still forward with all my might.  I was ready to burst with holding my breath, when, as I felt myself rising up, so, to my immediate relief, I found my head and hands shoot out above the surface of the water; and though it was not two seconds of time that I could keep myself so, yet it relieved me greatly, gave me breath, and new courage.  I was covered again with water a good while, but not so long but I held it out; and finding the water had spent itself, and began to return, I struck forward against the return of the waves, and felt ground again with my feet.  I stood still a few moments to recover breath, and till the waters went from me, and then took to my heels and ran with what strength I had further towards the shore.  But neither would this deliver me from the fury of the sea, which came pouring in after me again; and twice more I was lifted up by the waves and carried forward as before, the shore being very flat.

  The last time of these two had well-nigh been fatal to me, for the sea having hurried me along as before, landed me, or rather dashed me, against a piece of rock, and that with such force, that it left me senseless, and indeed helpless, as to my own deliverance; for the blow taking my side and breast, beat the breath as it were quite out of my body; and had it returned again immediately, I must have been strangled in the water; but I recovered a little before the return of the waves, and seeing I should be covered again with the water, I resolved to hold fast by a piece of the rock, and so to hold my breath, if possible, till the wave went back.  Now, as the waves were not so high as at first, being nearer land, I held my hold till the wave abated, and then fetched another run, which brought me so near the shore that the next wave, though it went over me, yet did not so swallow me up as to carry me away; and the next run I took, I got to the mainland, where, to my great comfort, I clambered up the cliffs of the shore and sat me down upon the grass, free from danger and quite out of the reach of the water.

  I was now landed and safe on shore, and began to look up and thank God that my life was saved, in a case wherein there was some minutes before scarce any room to hope.  I believe it is impossible to express, to the life, what the ecstasies and transports of the soul are, when it is so saved, as I may say, out of the very grave: and I do not wonder now at the custom, when a malefactor, who has the halter about his neck, is tied up, and just going to be turned off, and has a reprieve brought to him—I say, I do not wonder that they bring a surgeon with it, to let him blood that very moment they tell him of it, that the surprise may not drive the animal spirits from the heart and overwhelm him.

  “For sudden joys, like griefs, confound at first.”

  I walked about on the shore lifting up my hands, and my whole being, as I may say, wrapped up in a contemplation of my deliverance; making a thousand gestures and motions, which I cannot describe; reflecting upon all my comrades that were drowned, and that there should not be one soul saved but myself; for, as for them, I never saw them afterwards, or any sign of them, except three of their hats, one cap, and two shoes that were not fellows.

  I cast my eye to the stranded vessel, when, the breach and froth of the sea being so big, I could hardly see it, it lay so far of; and considered, Lord! how was it possible I could get on shore?

  After I had solaced my mind with the comfortable part of my condition, I began to look round me, to see what kind of place I was in, and what was next to be done; and I soon found my comforts abate, and that, in a word, I had a dreadful deliverance; for I was wet, had no clothes to shift me, nor anything either to eat or drink to comfort me; neither did I see any prospect before me but that of perishing with hunger or being devoured by wild beasts; and that which was particularly afflicting to me was, that I had no weapon, either to hunt and kill any creature for my sustenance, or to defend myself against any other creature that might desire to kill me for theirs.  In a word, I had nothing about me but a knife, a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobacco in a box.  This was all my provisions; and this threw me into such terrible agonies of mind, that for a while I ran about like a madman.  Night coming upon me, I began with a heavy heart to consider what would be my lot if there were any ravenous beasts in that country, as at night they always come abroad for their prey.

  The reader does not get much more information about the exact whereabouts of the island, and the indeterminacy of the island's location in Robinson Crusoe is an important lacuna in the text, discussed in greater detail on the "Map of Robinson Crusoe's Voyage" page. 
  
  Eighteenth-century maps that depict the Orinoco River and the surrounding region in which Crusoe travels prior to being shipwrecked include Jesuit priest Jose Gumilla's map of the Orinoco River originally published in "El Orinoco Ilustrado" in 1741, titled, "Mapa De La Provincia Y Missiones De La Compañia De IHS Del Nuevo Reyno De Granada," and translated as "Map of the Provinces and Missions of the Society of Jesus in the Kingdom of New Granada." 
  
  

  Some sources suggest that Daniel Defoe's inspiration for Robinson Crusoe is based on the story of real-life Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk, who was stranded for four years on the island of Más a Tierra, since renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966. The island is one of three volcanic islands that comprise the Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile. The other two islands are called Alejandro Selkirk Island (formerly "Más Afuera") and Santa Clara Island. 

  British Commodore George Anson circumnavigated the globe from 1740-1744, and his travels brought him to the Juan Fernández Islands. Some of the engravings in his A voyage round the world, in the years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV depict what is now known as Robinson Crusoe Island, including engravings of Anson's tent pitched on the island. 

  Also in 1719, Daniel Defoe published a sequel to Robinson Crusoe titled, The life and strange surprizing adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, mariner : who lived eight and twenty years, all alone in an un-inhabited island on the coast of America, near the mouth of the great river of Oroonoque : having been cast on shore by shipwreck, wherein all the men perished but himself : with an account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by pyrates / written by himself.  The text's frontispiece includes a map of the world onto which Crusoe's voyages are overlaid.