Captain Singleton Read online

As soon as the Captain heard of it, he called for the Gunner's Mate, the Chief

  Gunner being at that time sick in his Cabbin, and ordered to fire at them; but,

  to his great Mortification, the Gunner's Mate was one of the Number, and was

  gone with them; and indeed it was by his Means they got so many Arms, and so

  much Ammunition. When the Captain found how it was, and that there was no Help

  for it, he began to be a little appeased, made light of it, and called up the

  Men, spoke kindly to them, and told them he was very well satisfied in the

  Fidelity and Ability of those that were now left; and that he would give to

  them, for their Encouragement, to be divided among them, the Wages which was due

  to the Men that were gone; and that it was a great Satisfaction to him that the

  Ship was freed from such a mutinous Rabble, who had not the least Reason for

  their Discontent.

  The Men seemed very well satisfied, and particularly the Promise of the Wages of

  those that were gone, went a great way with them. After this the Letter which

  was left by the Men was given to the Captain, by his Boy, with whom, it seems,

  the Men had left it. The Letter was much to the same Purpose of what they had

  said to the Mate, and which he declined to say for them; only that at the End of

  their Letter they told the Captain, that as they had no dishonest Design, so

  they had taken nothing away with them which was not their own, except some Arms

  and Ammunition, such as were absolutely necessary to them, as well for their

  Defence against the Savages, as to kill Fowls or Beasts for their Food, that

  they might not perish; and as there were considerable Sums due to them for

  Wages, they hoped he would allow the Arms and Ammunition upon their Accounts.

  They told him, that as to the Ship's Long-Boat which they had taken to bring

  them on Shore, they knew it was necessary to him, and they were very willing to

  restore it to him; and if he pleased to send for it, it should be very honestly

  delivered to his Men, and not the least Injury offered to any of those who came

  for it, nor the least Perswasion or Invitation made use of to any of them to

  stay with them; and at the Bottom of the Letter they very humbly besought him,

  that for their Defence, and for the Safety of their Lives he would be pleased to

  send them a Barrel of Powder, and some Ammunition, and give them Leave to keep

  the Mast and Sail of the Boat, that if it was possible for them to make

  themselves a Boat of any kind, they might shift off to Sea to save themselves in

  such Part of the World as their Fate should direct them to.

  Upon this the Captain, who had won much upon the rest of his Men by what he had

  said to them, and was very easy as to the General Peace; (for it was very true,

  that the most mutinous of the Men were gone) came out to the Quarter-Deck, and

  calling the Men together, let them know the Substance of the Letter; and told

  the Men, that however they had not deserved such Civility from him, yet he was

  not willing to expose them more than they were willing to expose themselves, he

  was inclined to send them some Ammunition; and as they had desired but one

  Barrel of Powder, he would send them two Barrels, and Shot, or Lead, and Moulds

  to make Shot in proportion: and, to let them see that he was civiller to them

  than they deserved, he ordered a Cask of Arrack, and a great Bag of Bread to be

  sent them for Subsistence, till they should be able to furnish themselves.

  The rest of the Men applauded the Captain's Generosity, and every one of them

  sent us some thing or other; and about three in the Afternoon the Pinnace came

  on Shore, and brought us all these things, which we were very glad of, and

  returned the Long-Boat accordingly; and as to the Men that came with the

  Pinnace, as the Captain had singled out such Men as he knew would not come over

  to us, so they had positive Orders not to bring any one of us on board again,

  upon Pain of Death; and indeed both were so true to our Points, that we neither

  asked them to stay, nor they us to go.

  We were now a good Troop, being in all 27 Men, very well armed and provided with

  every thing but Victuals; we had two Carpenters among us, a Gunner, and, which

  was worth all the rest, a Surgeon or Doctor, that is to say, he was an Assistant

  to a Surgeon at Goa, and was entertained as Supernumerary with us: The

  Carpenters had brought all their Tools, the Doctor all his Instruments and

  Medicines, and indeed we had a great deal of Baggage, that is to say, in the

  whole, for some of us had little more than the Clothes on our Backs, of whom I

  was one; but I had one thing which none of them had viz. I had the 22 Moydores

  of Gold, which I stole at the Brasils, and two Pieces of Eight. The two Peices

  of Eight I shewed, and one Moydore, but no more; and none of them ever suspected

  that I had any more Money in the World, having been known to be only a poor Boy

  taken up in Charity, as you have heard, and used like a Slave, and in the worst

  Manner of a Slave, by my cruel Master the Pilot.

  It will be easy to imagine we four, that were left at first, were joyful, nay,

  even surprized with Joy, at the coming of the rest, tho' at first we were

  frighted, and thought they came to fetch us back to hang us; but they took ways

  quickly to satisfy us that they were in the same Condition with us, only with

  this additional Circumstance, that theirs was voluntarily, and ours by Force.

  The first Piece of News they told us after the short History of their coming

  away, was, that our Companion was on board, but how he got thither we could not

  imagine; for he had given us the Slip, and we never imagined he could swim so

  well as to venture off to the Ship, which lay at so great a Distance; nay, we

  did not so much as know that he could swim at all, and not thinking any thing of

  what really happen'd, we thought that he must have wandered into the Woods, and

  was devoured, or was fallen into the Hands of the Natives and was murthered; and

  these Thoughts filled us with Fears enough, and of several kinds, about its

  being some time or other our Lot to fall into their Hands also.

  But hearing how he had with much Difficulty been received on board the Ship

  again, and pardon'd, we were much better satisfied than before.

  Being now, as I have said, a considerable Number of us, and in Condition to

  defend our selves, the first thing we did was to give every one his Hand, that

  we would not separate from one another upon any Occasion whatsoever, but that we

  would live and die together; that we would kill no Food, but that we would

  distribute it in publick; and that we would be in all things guided by the

  Majority, and not insist upon our own Resolutions in any thing, if the Majority

  were against it; that we would appoint a Captain among us to be our Governour or

  Leader during Pleasure; that while he was in Office, we would obey him without

  Reserve, on Pain of Death; and that every one should take Turn, but the Captain

  was not to act in any particular thing without Advice of the rest, and by the

  Majority.

  Having established these Rules, we resolved to enter into some Measures for our

  F
ood, and for conversing with the Inhabitants or Natives of the Island, for our

  Supply; as for Food, they were at first very useful to us, but we soon grew

  weary of them, being an ignorant, ravenous, brutish sort of People, even worse

  than the Natives of any other Country that we had seen; and we soon found that

  the principal Part of our Subsistance was to be had by our Guns, shooting of

  Deer and other Creatures, and Fowls of all other Sorts, of which there is

  Abundance.

  We found the Natives did not disturb or concern themselves much about us; nor

  did they enquire, or perhaps know whether we stay'd among them or not, much less

  that our Ship was gone quite away, and had cast us off, as was our Case; for the

  next Morning after we had sent back the Long-Boat, the Ship stood away to the

  South-East, and in four Hours time was out of our Sight.

  The next Day two of us went out into the Country one Way, and two another, to

  see what kind of a Land we were in; and we soon found the Country was very

  pleasant and fruitful, and a convenient Place enough to live in; but as before,

  inhabited by a Parcel of Creatures scarce human, or capable of being made

  sociable on any Account whatsoever.

  We found the Place full of Cattle and Provisions; but whether we might venture

  to take them where we could find them, or not, we did not know; and tho' we were

  under a Necessity to get Provisions, yet we were loath to bring down a whole

  Nation of Devils upon us at once, and therefore some of our Company agreed to

  try to speak with some of the Country, if we could, that we might see what

  Course was to be taken with them. Eleven of our Men went of this Errand, well

  armed, and furnished for Defence. They brought Word, that they had seen some of

  the Natives, who appeared very civil to them, but very shy and afraid, seeing

  their Guns; for it was easy to perceive, that the Natives knew what their Guns

  were, and what Use they were of.

  They made Signs to the Natives for some Food, and they went and fetched several

  Herbs and Roots, and some Milk; but it was evident they did not design to give

  it away, but to sell, making Signs to know what our Men would give them.

  Our Men were perplexed at this, for they had nothing to Barter; however, one of

  the Men pulled out a Knife and shewed them, and they were so fond of it, that

  they were ready to go together by the Ears for the Knife: The Seaman seeing

  that, was willing to make a good Market of his Knife, and keeping them

  chaffering about it a good while, some offered him Roots, and others Milk; at

  last one offered him a Goat for it, which he took. Then another of our Men

  shewed them another Knife, but they had nothing good enough for that; whereupon

  one of them made Signs that he would go and fetch something; so our Men stay'd

  three Hours for their Return, when they came back and brought him a small sized,

  thick, short Cow, very fat, and good Meat, and gave him for his Knife.

  This was a good Market, but our Misfortune was we had no Merchandize; for our

  Knives were as needful to us as to them, and but that we were in Distress for

  Food, and must of Necessity have some, these Men would not have parted with

  their Knives.

  However, in a little time more we found that the Woods were full of living

  Creatures which we might kill for our Food, and that without giving Offence to

  them; so that our Men went daily out a Hunting, and never failed to kill

  something or other; for as to the Natives, we had no Goods to Barter; and for

  Money, all the Stock among us would not have subsisted us long; however, we

  called a general Council to see what Money we had, and to bring it all together,

  that it might go as far as possible; and when it came to my Turn, I pulled out a

  Moydore and the two Dollars I spoke of before.

  This Moydore I ventured to shew, that they might not despise me too much for

  adding too little to the Store, and that they might not pretend to search me;

  and they were very civil to me upon the Presumption that I had been so faithful

  to them as not to conceal any thing from them.

  But our Money did us little Service, for the People neither knew the Value or

  the Use of it, nor could they justly rate the Gold in Proportion with the

  Silver; so that all our Money, which was not much when it was all put together,

  would go but a little way with us, that is to say, to buy us Provisions.

  Our next Consideration was to get away from this cursed Place, and whether to

  go; when my Opinion came to be asked, I told them I would leave that all to

  them, and I told them I had rather they would let me go into the Woods to get

  them some Provisions, than consult with me, for I would agree to whatever they

  did; but they would not agree to that, for they would not consent that any of us

  should go into the Woods alone; for tho' we had yet seen no Lions or Tygers in

  the Woods, we were assured there were many in the Island, besides other

  Creatures as dangerous, and, perhaps worse, as we afterwards found by our own

  Experience.

  We had many Adventures in the Woods for our Provisions, and often met with wild

  and terrible Beasts, which we could not call by their Names, but as they were

  like us seeking their Prey, but were themselves good for nothing, so we

  disturbed them as little as possible.

  Our Consultations concerning our Escape from this Place, which as I have said,

  we were now upon, ended in this only, that as we had two Carpenters among us,

  and that they had Tools almost of all Sorts with them, we should try to build us

  a Boat to go off to Sea with, and that then perhaps we might find our way back

  to Goa, or land on some more proper Place to make our Escape. The Counsels of

  this Assembly were not of great Moment, yet as they seem to be introductory of

  many more remarkable Adventures which happened under my Conduct hereabouts many

  Years after, I think this Miniature of my future Enterprizes may not be

  unpleasant to relate.

  To the Building of a Boat I made no Objection, and away they went to work

  immediately; but as they went on, great Difficulties occurred, such as want of

  Saws to cut out Plank; Nails, Bolts, and Spikes, to fasten the Timbers, Hemp,

  Pitch and Tar, to Caulk and Pay her Seams, and the like: At length one of the

  Company proposed, that instead of building a Bark or Sloop, or Shalloup, or

  whatever they would call it, which they found was so difficult, they should

  rather make a large Periagua, or Canoe, which might be done with great Ease.

  It was presently objected, that we could never make a Canoe large enough to pass

  the great Ocean, which we were to go over, to get to the Coast of Malabar, that

  it not only would not bear the Sea, but it would never bear the Burthen; for we

  were not only Twenty seven Men of us, but had a great deal of Luggage with us,

  and must, for our Provision, take in a great deal more.

  I never proposed to speak in their General Consultations before; but finding

  they were at some Loss about what kind of Vessel they should make, and how to

  make it; and what would be fit for our Use, and what not; I told them I found

  they were
at a full Stop in their Counsels of every kind; that it was true we

  could never pretend to go over to Goa, or the Coast of Malabar in a Canoe, which

  tho' we could all get into it, and that it would bear the Sea well enough, yet

  would not hold our Provisions, and especially we could not put fresh Water

  enough into it for the Voyage; and to make such an Adventure would be nothing

  but meer running into certain Destruction, and yet that nevertheless I was for

  making a Canoe.

  They answered, that they understood all I had said before well enough, but what

  I meant by telling them first how dangerous and impossible it was to make our

  Escape in a Canoe, and yet then to advise making a Canoe, that they could not

  understand.

  To this I answer'd, that I conceiv'd our Business was not to attempt our Escape

  in a Canoe, but that as there were other Vessels at Sea besides our Ship, and

  that there were few Nations that lived on the Sea-Shore that were so barbarous,

  but that they went to Sea in some Boats or other, our Business was to cruise

  along the Coast of the Island, which was very long, and to seize upon the first

  we could get that was better than our own, and so from that to another, till

  perhaps we might at last get a good Ship to carry us whither ever we pleased to

  go.

  Excellent Advice, says one of them, admirable Advice, says another. Yes, yes,

  says the third, which was the Gunner, the English Dog has given excellent

  Advice; but it is just the way to bring us all to the Gallows; the Rogue has

  given Devilish Advice, indeed, to go a Thieving, till from a little Vessel we

  come to a great Ship, and so we shall turn downright Pyrates, the End of which

  is to be hanged.

  You may call us Pyrates, says another, if you will, and if we fall into bad

  Hands, we may be used like Pyrates; but I care not for that, I'll be a Pyrate,

  or any thing, nay, I'll be hang'd for a Pyrate, rather than starve here; and

  therefore I think the Advice is very good; and so they cry'd all, Let us have a

  Canoe. The Gunner over-ruled by the rest, submitted; but as we broke up the

  Council, he came to me, takes me by the Hand, and looking into the Palm of my

  Hand, and into my Face too, very gravely, My Lad, says he, thou art born to do a

  World of Mischief; thou hast commenced Pyrate very young, but have a Care of the

  Gallows, young Man; have a Care, I say, for thou wilt be an eminent Thief.

  I laugh'd at him, and told him, I did not know what I might come to hereafter;

  but as our Case was now, I should make no Scruple to take the first Ship I came

  at, to get our Liberty: I only wish'd we could see one, and come at her. Just

  while we were talking, one of our Men that was at the Door of our Hutt, told us,

  that the Carpenter, who, it seems, was upon a Hill at a Distance, cried out, a

  Sail, a Sail.

  We all turn'd out immediately; but tho' it was very clear Weather, we could see

  nothing; but the Carpenter continuing to holloo to us, a Sail, a Sail, away we

  run up the Hill, and there we saw a Ship plainly; but it was at a very great

  Distance, too far for us to make any Signal to her. However, we made a Fire upon

  the Hill, with all the Wood we could get together, and made as much Smoke as

  possible. The Wind was down, and it was almost calm; but as we thought by a

  Perspective Glass which the Gunner had in his Pocket, her Sails were full, and

  she stood away large with the Wind at F. N. E. taking no Notice of our Signal,

  but making for the Cape de bona Speranza; so we had no Comfort from her.

  We went therefore immediately to Work about our intended Canoe, and having

  singled out a very large Tree to our Mind, we fell to Work with her; and having

  three good Axes among us, we got it down, but it was four Days time first, tho'

  we worked very hard too. I do not remember what Wood it was, or exactly what

  Dimensions; but I remember that it was a very large one, and we were as much