"He made Robinson hail them." — illustration for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1891)

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He made Robinson hail them

Wal Paget (1863-1935)

lithograph dropped into the letter-press

14 cm high by 8 cm wide, vignetted.

1891

Robinson Crusoe, left half of page 192.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Complemented

The captain now had no difficulty before him, but to furnish his two boats, stop the breach of one, and man them. He made his passenger captain of one, with four of the men; and himself, his mate, and five more, went in the other; and they contrived their business very well, for they came up to the ship about midnight. As soon as they came within call of the ship, he made Robinson hail them, and tell them they had brought off the men and the boat, but that it was a long time before they had found them, and the like, holding them in a chat till they came to the ship’s side; when the captain and the mate entering first with their arms, immediately knocked down the second mate and carpenter with the butt-end of their muskets, being very faithfully seconded by their men; they secured all the rest that were upon the main and quarter decks, and began to fasten the hatches, to keep them down that were below; when the other boat and their men, entering at the forechains, secured the forecastle of the ship, and the scuttle which went down into the cook-room, making three men they found there prisoners.[Chapter XIX, "The Ship Recovered," pp. 193-94.

Commentary

The sailing ship does not serve as a particularly effective way of introducing Crusoe's part in quelling the mutiny, and might, indeed, be equally pertinent to a number of Crusoe's nautical adventures in Part Two, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. The illustration does not to elucidate the confusion of the names of the mutineer Robinson and the narrator, but at least foregrounds the longboats returning from shore.

The Suppression of the Mutiny in Pictures

Related Material

References

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Of York, Mariner. As Related by Himself. With upwards of One Hundred Illustrations. London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863-64.

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Of York, Mariner. As Related by Himself. With upwards of One Hundred and Twenty Original Illustrations by Walter Paget. London, Paris, and Melbourne: Cassell, 1891.

Last modified 28 March 2018