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Crusoe, Castaways and Shipwrecks in the Perilous Age of Sail
To mark the 300th anniversary of the publication of Robinson Crusoe , this book looks at some of the stories which inspired Daniel Defoe – stories of bravery, courage, determination and good fortune. It looks at Defoe’s life and the monumental success of his novel – sometimes described as being the first in the English language. It also considers some of the reasons why people found themselves cast away – as a result of being wrecked, by being abandoned as a punishment, marooned by pirates – or even out of deliberate choice. Major hurricanes in the 18th Century causing huge damage to shipping and loss of life are also looked at, along with catastrophes when ships were lost, not as a result of battles, but because of human negligence, sheer stupidity and bad luck.
The book looks at the astonishing tales of survival in the face of adversity – down in the Falklands, in the Caribbean and off the coast of Australia. It examines perhaps the most astonishing story of them all – sixty slaves abandoned on a desolate treeless island in the Indian Ocean and left there for fifteen years. Amazingly, some survived against all odds. It looks at how being cast away brings out the best in some – and in others the very worst, with stories of murder, rape and betrayal.
The book looks at the astonishing tales of survival in the face of adversity – down in the Falklands, in the Caribbean and off the coast of Australia. It examines perhaps the most astonishing story of them all – sixty slaves abandoned on a desolate treeless island in the Indian Ocean and left there for fifteen years. Amazingly, some survived against all odds. It looks at how being cast away brings out the best in some – and in others the very worst, with stories of murder, rape and betrayal.
160 pages, Hardcover
Published June 27, 2019
4 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Mike Rendell
26 books12 followersOnce upon a time, a long while ago, I was a lawyer, Then I came to my senses and packed it up to become a historian - more specifically, to become a historian specializing in Britain in the Georgian Era. I was helped by the fact that my family have kept boxes and boxes of letters, diaries and general ephemera from the 18th Century and I decided to write them up as a "Journal of a Georgian Gentleman" - a social history of the times seen through the eyes of my great great great great grandfather.
I illustrated the book with amazingly intricate paper cut outs made by my ancestor - and followed up my first book with one specifically on 18th Century paper cutting.
Then followed one on Bristol Blue Glass - a gorgeous full-blue tableware made from adding cobalt oxide to the manufacturing process. Other books will follow as time permits, but all will be on one aspect or another of the Georgian period.
I illustrated the book with amazingly intricate paper cut outs made by my ancestor - and followed up my first book with one specifically on 18th Century paper cutting.
Then followed one on Bristol Blue Glass - a gorgeous full-blue tableware made from adding cobalt oxide to the manufacturing process. Other books will follow as time permits, but all will be on one aspect or another of the Georgian period.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 21, 2019
This book’s magnificent cover art has a chart-like island in the center of the page, containing the title. Surrounding this are pictures of some of the shipwrecks mentioned in the text, a compass rose used for navigating, and a trail of bare footprints in the sand. Together these images point to some fun and interesting reading between the covers.
First, there is a brief biography of Daniel Defoe and notes on his literary career. This is followed by a separate history of his novel, Robinson Crusoe, giving information on the many reprints, plays, and movies made since the original story was published in 1719. Its full title is The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.
Although sailors had been marooned before the novel’s publication, no one can say who was the model for Defoe’s Crusoe. Rendell writes of three people who were castaways like Crusoe. But no one’s story is a perfect match.
It is “generally accepted that Defoe was inspired to write Robinson Crusoe after hearing the extraordinary tale of survival of Alexander Selkirk.” (16) Selkirk was marooned in the Juan Fernandez Islands in 1703 for over four years. However, the topography of Selkirk’s island had a much rockier coast than Crusoe’s island with its sandy beaches. But there certainly were plenty of goats.
There is reason to believe that Defoe met and probably spoke with Selkirk and the buccaneer doctor who helped save him, William Dampier. Both men had gone on a privateering voyage to the Southern Ocean (Pacific Ocean) in 1703. But Dampier and Selkirk did not sail on the same vessels. A combination of Selkirk’s cantankerous attitude and his lack of trust in the seaworthiness of his vessel led to his being left alone on an island. Woodes Rogers’ visit to the island in 1709, with Dampier aboard, guaranteed his rescue.
Henry Pitman was shipped to Barbados as an indentured servant in 1685. He joined others desperate to leave their servitude and make their escape. They compiled a detailed list of must-have items to gather before making their move. This “is similar to the list which Defoe has Crusoe prepare when he is thinking of escaping by a small boat.” (26) After fleeing in May 1687, Pitman and the other escapees landed at what is now called Salt Tortuga, the type of island described by Defoe in his novel. The group was luckily joined by an Indian who was very helpful to them, especially in preparing food and tending the fire. This may well have inspired Defoe to add a native to his own creation. Pitman finally returned to England in 1689.
Robert Knox, taken prisoner on Ceylon in 1661, although not alone, experienced some things that made it into Defoe’s Crusoe. An extended autobiography of Knox’s further escapades and travels with the East India Company, including being taken prisoner again, formed the main events in another Defoe novel, The Life, Adventures & Pyracies of the Famous Captain Singleton.
Separately, these three castaways provide the landscape and incidents that Crusoe experiences in Defoe’s story. Together, they help provide the ingredients that are molded into Crusoe’s thoughts, speech, and mannerisms.
Years before Robinson Crusoe was created, there was an intense storm that lasted for days on the British Isles and became known as the Great Storm of 1703. Many ships were wrecked, and many lives were lost on land and sea. Defoe wanted to make a lasting memory of the storm and placed newspaper ads soliciting firsthand accounts of events that had transpired. He received many replies over the succeeding weeks.
At 325-pages, The Storm was the first substantial work of modern journalism. It helped Defoe to become known in scientific and literary societies and to improve his own writing skills as well. (The Storm is available as a free eBook and I thought it was an excellent read.) Rendell devotes a full chapter to this event and Defoe’s book.
A two-page chapter entitled “By Way of Background…” explains some of the perils of sailing in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including few or no charts or maps, no way to find your longitude or accurate location, and small ships sailing on big seas in all kinds of weather.
Some wrecks from early maritime history are also presented in Rendell’s book. The first group of shipwrecked vessels all meet their fate from the reasons above. This includes Admiral Shovell’s fleet that wrecked on the Scilly Islands in 1707, the loss of the original HMS Victory with all hands in 1744, and at least ten Royal Navy warships lost in the Caribbean Sea during hurricanes in 1780 and 1782.
Several warships fell victim to rocks hidden just below the surface. Other vessels were lost due to human error. None was more embarrassing than the tragic loss of the Royal George and the deaths of hundreds of people in her home port in 1782.
HMS Boyne, was also lost in her home port, but this occurred after a fire broke out onboard in 1795. As the heat and flames spread many of the still-loaded 98 guns fired their projectiles throughout the harbor and struck people who had gathered to watch the fire. A similar fate befell the Queen Charlotte while at Livorno in 1800, and Captain Israel Pellew’s HMS Amphion exploded at Plymouth in 1796, killing most of the crew and their families.
In some ways, both Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian were shipwreck survivors after the Bounty mutiny in 1789. Bligh and his loyal men were cast adrift hundreds of miles from land and made a miraculous 3,000-mile voyage to safety. Christian and his followers found an island that was not charted, Pandora, and went there to live. But before any tools or supplies were brought from the ship, she was set ablaze by one of the mutineers. This meant the group was marooned and faced a very tough future.
There were also more castaways during the Age of Sail and some of their stories are recounted here as well. This includes the surviving crew and passengers of the Dutch East Indiaman Batavia, who battled horribly among themselves after their ship ran aground in 1629; and Philip Ashton, a fisherman who was captured by pirates in 1722 and managed his escape, only to be marooned on an island (Roatan) for about sixteen months.
A Dutch sailor named Leendert Hasenbosch kept a journal while marooned on Ascension Island. He perished there, but his journal was found and later published in Dutch and English.
Finally, the story of Charles Barnard and three others marooned in the Falkland Islands during the winter of 1813 is recounted. Of all the castaways mentioned in the book, these are the only ones who dealt with harsh winter conditions. Ironically, Barnard is the only individual marooned due to the actions of others and he was fated to be marooned twice in this manner.
This entertaining book comes with eight pages of colored pictures, a detailed bibliography, and an index. If you’re at all familiar with Robinson Crusoe, this book will interest you by explaining how the fictional Crusoe was created and some of the real-life incidents that appeared in Defoe’s novel. Anyone with an interest in seafaring or the calamities of shipwrecks is sure to enjoy reading this great new book.
First, there is a brief biography of Daniel Defoe and notes on his literary career. This is followed by a separate history of his novel, Robinson Crusoe, giving information on the many reprints, plays, and movies made since the original story was published in 1719. Its full title is The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.
Although sailors had been marooned before the novel’s publication, no one can say who was the model for Defoe’s Crusoe. Rendell writes of three people who were castaways like Crusoe. But no one’s story is a perfect match.
It is “generally accepted that Defoe was inspired to write Robinson Crusoe after hearing the extraordinary tale of survival of Alexander Selkirk.” (16) Selkirk was marooned in the Juan Fernandez Islands in 1703 for over four years. However, the topography of Selkirk’s island had a much rockier coast than Crusoe’s island with its sandy beaches. But there certainly were plenty of goats.
There is reason to believe that Defoe met and probably spoke with Selkirk and the buccaneer doctor who helped save him, William Dampier. Both men had gone on a privateering voyage to the Southern Ocean (Pacific Ocean) in 1703. But Dampier and Selkirk did not sail on the same vessels. A combination of Selkirk’s cantankerous attitude and his lack of trust in the seaworthiness of his vessel led to his being left alone on an island. Woodes Rogers’ visit to the island in 1709, with Dampier aboard, guaranteed his rescue.
Henry Pitman was shipped to Barbados as an indentured servant in 1685. He joined others desperate to leave their servitude and make their escape. They compiled a detailed list of must-have items to gather before making their move. This “is similar to the list which Defoe has Crusoe prepare when he is thinking of escaping by a small boat.” (26) After fleeing in May 1687, Pitman and the other escapees landed at what is now called Salt Tortuga, the type of island described by Defoe in his novel. The group was luckily joined by an Indian who was very helpful to them, especially in preparing food and tending the fire. This may well have inspired Defoe to add a native to his own creation. Pitman finally returned to England in 1689.
Robert Knox, taken prisoner on Ceylon in 1661, although not alone, experienced some things that made it into Defoe’s Crusoe. An extended autobiography of Knox’s further escapades and travels with the East India Company, including being taken prisoner again, formed the main events in another Defoe novel, The Life, Adventures & Pyracies of the Famous Captain Singleton.
Separately, these three castaways provide the landscape and incidents that Crusoe experiences in Defoe’s story. Together, they help provide the ingredients that are molded into Crusoe’s thoughts, speech, and mannerisms.
Years before Robinson Crusoe was created, there was an intense storm that lasted for days on the British Isles and became known as the Great Storm of 1703. Many ships were wrecked, and many lives were lost on land and sea. Defoe wanted to make a lasting memory of the storm and placed newspaper ads soliciting firsthand accounts of events that had transpired. He received many replies over the succeeding weeks.
At 325-pages, The Storm was the first substantial work of modern journalism. It helped Defoe to become known in scientific and literary societies and to improve his own writing skills as well. (The Storm is available as a free eBook and I thought it was an excellent read.) Rendell devotes a full chapter to this event and Defoe’s book.
A two-page chapter entitled “By Way of Background…” explains some of the perils of sailing in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including few or no charts or maps, no way to find your longitude or accurate location, and small ships sailing on big seas in all kinds of weather.
Some wrecks from early maritime history are also presented in Rendell’s book. The first group of shipwrecked vessels all meet their fate from the reasons above. This includes Admiral Shovell’s fleet that wrecked on the Scilly Islands in 1707, the loss of the original HMS Victory with all hands in 1744, and at least ten Royal Navy warships lost in the Caribbean Sea during hurricanes in 1780 and 1782.
Several warships fell victim to rocks hidden just below the surface. Other vessels were lost due to human error. None was more embarrassing than the tragic loss of the Royal George and the deaths of hundreds of people in her home port in 1782.
HMS Boyne, was also lost in her home port, but this occurred after a fire broke out onboard in 1795. As the heat and flames spread many of the still-loaded 98 guns fired their projectiles throughout the harbor and struck people who had gathered to watch the fire. A similar fate befell the Queen Charlotte while at Livorno in 1800, and Captain Israel Pellew’s HMS Amphion exploded at Plymouth in 1796, killing most of the crew and their families.
In some ways, both Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian were shipwreck survivors after the Bounty mutiny in 1789. Bligh and his loyal men were cast adrift hundreds of miles from land and made a miraculous 3,000-mile voyage to safety. Christian and his followers found an island that was not charted, Pandora, and went there to live. But before any tools or supplies were brought from the ship, she was set ablaze by one of the mutineers. This meant the group was marooned and faced a very tough future.
There were also more castaways during the Age of Sail and some of their stories are recounted here as well. This includes the surviving crew and passengers of the Dutch East Indiaman Batavia, who battled horribly among themselves after their ship ran aground in 1629; and Philip Ashton, a fisherman who was captured by pirates in 1722 and managed his escape, only to be marooned on an island (Roatan) for about sixteen months.
A Dutch sailor named Leendert Hasenbosch kept a journal while marooned on Ascension Island. He perished there, but his journal was found and later published in Dutch and English.
Finally, the story of Charles Barnard and three others marooned in the Falkland Islands during the winter of 1813 is recounted. Of all the castaways mentioned in the book, these are the only ones who dealt with harsh winter conditions. Ironically, Barnard is the only individual marooned due to the actions of others and he was fated to be marooned twice in this manner.
This entertaining book comes with eight pages of colored pictures, a detailed bibliography, and an index. If you’re at all familiar with Robinson Crusoe, this book will interest you by explaining how the fictional Crusoe was created and some of the real-life incidents that appeared in Defoe’s novel. Anyone with an interest in seafaring or the calamities of shipwrecks is sure to enjoy reading this great new book.
March 7, 2021
A nicely structured book with a series of real-life survivals, each different and interesting in its own right.
November 7, 2024
This book is written strictly from a British perspective, which is understandable considering their maritime involvement in the 1700s. It also explains the British involvement in the slave trade at that time, initially with islands in the Caribbean. Originally, I was going to read Robinson Crusoe, but then this book piqued my curiosity in that it provided a look at history from a perspective that is rarely seen.
The Author shows us the culture of the time that provided Daniel De Foe the resources to write Robinson Crusoe and some insight as to what type of person De Foe was. Many maritime writers were focused on historical facts, whereas De Foe looked at events through the impact of the individual. He had Crusoe dealing with the challenges and coping with the loneliness and own his fears. De Foe’s book created an insatiable public demand for more and more tales of survival and hardship.
The section on shipwrecks tells of the impact hurricanes and storms had on the maritime trade. It discusses the importance of trying to find a method for determining latitude. This led to the development of navigational tools, like the sextant, chronometer, lighthouses, and accurate charts of coastal waters. Then there was the self-inflicted damage, like finding out that 90% of compasses on the naval ships were not calibrated correctly.
Hurricanes and storms had a major impact on impending naval battles (mostly delaying but not necessarily eliminating them). It also had an impact on the British naval support for the American Revolutionary war. Most of the British naval ships were in the Caribbean in 1780 when Hurricanes decimated them, consequently, they couldn’t support General Cornwallis.
There is a chapter on Captain Bligh of the Bounty, telling the complete story of his incredible voyage in a longboat with 18 men, who were unwilling to join the mutineers. It took them 41 days and they covered 3,618 nautical miles. The essential and common characteristics of solo castaways was being self-disciplined. Realizing that their fate lay in their own hands, only they could make survival possible. The survival of seven women, abandoned for fifteen years on Tromelin Island, is perhaps the most remarkable story of survival of them all.
The Author shows us the culture of the time that provided Daniel De Foe the resources to write Robinson Crusoe and some insight as to what type of person De Foe was. Many maritime writers were focused on historical facts, whereas De Foe looked at events through the impact of the individual. He had Crusoe dealing with the challenges and coping with the loneliness and own his fears. De Foe’s book created an insatiable public demand for more and more tales of survival and hardship.
The section on shipwrecks tells of the impact hurricanes and storms had on the maritime trade. It discusses the importance of trying to find a method for determining latitude. This led to the development of navigational tools, like the sextant, chronometer, lighthouses, and accurate charts of coastal waters. Then there was the self-inflicted damage, like finding out that 90% of compasses on the naval ships were not calibrated correctly.
Hurricanes and storms had a major impact on impending naval battles (mostly delaying but not necessarily eliminating them). It also had an impact on the British naval support for the American Revolutionary war. Most of the British naval ships were in the Caribbean in 1780 when Hurricanes decimated them, consequently, they couldn’t support General Cornwallis.
There is a chapter on Captain Bligh of the Bounty, telling the complete story of his incredible voyage in a longboat with 18 men, who were unwilling to join the mutineers. It took them 41 days and they covered 3,618 nautical miles. The essential and common characteristics of solo castaways was being self-disciplined. Realizing that their fate lay in their own hands, only they could make survival possible. The survival of seven women, abandoned for fifteen years on Tromelin Island, is perhaps the most remarkable story of survival of them all.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews