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For about a mile, my raft went very well
1820
Wood-block engraving
9.5 cm high by 6.7 cm wide, framed
Source: [Daniel Defoe] Robinson Crusoe, frontispiece. See Page 26. [Plate 3].
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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I had three encouragements — 1st, a smooth, calm sea; 2ndly, the tide rising, and setting in to the shore; 3rdly, what little wind there was blew me towards the land. And thus, having found two or three broken oars belonging to the boat — and, besides the tools which were in the chest, I found two saws, an axe, and a hammer; with this cargo I put to sea. For a mile or thereabouts my raft went very well, only that I found it drive a little distant from the place where I had landed before; by which I perceived that there was some indraft of the water, and consequently I hoped to find some creek or river there, which I might make use of as a port to get to land with my cargo.
As I imagined, so it was. There appeared before me a little opening of the land, and I found a strong current of the tide set into it; so I guided my raft as well as I could, to keep in the middle of the stream. But here I had like to have suffered a second shipwreck, which, if I had, I think verily would have broken my heart; for, knowing nothing of the coast, my raft ran aground at one end of it upon a shoal, and not being aground at the other end, it wanted but a little that all my cargo had slipped off towards the end that was afloat, and to fallen into the water. I did my utmost, by setting my back against the chests, to keep them in their places, but could not thrust off the raft with all my strength; neither durst I stir from the posture I was in; but holding up the chests with all my might, I stood in that manner near half-an-hour, in which time the rising of the water brought me a little more upon a level; and a little after, the water still-rising, my raft floated again, and I thrust her off with the oar I had into the channel, and then driving up higher, I at length found myself in the mouth of a little river, with land on both sides, and a strong current of tide running up. I looked on both sides for a proper place to get to shore, for I was not willing to be driven too high up the river: hoping in time to see some ships at sea, and therefore resolved to place myself as near the coast as I could. [Chapter IV, "First Few Weeks on the Island"]
For about a mile, my raft went very well, and with it I entered a creek. [See Page 26.]
. . . by themselves, there being no room for them in the chests, I also let down the carpenter's chest, which was worth to me more than a ship-load of gold. I next found two good fowling pieces, and two pistols, with some powder-horns I next found two good fowling pieces, and two pistols, with some powder-horns, two barrels of powder, and two old rusty swords, all of which I placed on the raft, and this invaluable cargo resolved to put to sea, without either sails, oars, or rudder; but the tide was now rising, and set in for the shore, and the little wind there was blew towards land; besides I found two or three broken oars that belonged to the boat, which served me to push the raft along.
For about a mile my raft went very well, and with it I entered a creek; but after having several times narrowly escaped oversetting it, I thrusted it on a fl;ay piece of ground, over which the tide flowed, and there fastened it by sticking my broken oars in the ground. Thus I stayed till the water ebbed, when I placed my cargo safe on land.
At night I barricadoed myself round with the chests and boards I had brought on shore, of which I had made a kind of hut.
The next day, considering that I might yet get many useful things out of the ship, particularly the rigging and sails, I resolved to make a second voyage/ My raft being too unwieldy, I swam to the ship and made another, on which I placed two or three bags of nails and spikes, some hatchets, a grindstone, two or three iron crows, seven musquets, and another fowling-piece, two barrels of musquet bullets, a large bag of small shot, all . . . . [page 26]
Readers would have expected a rafting scene since one occurs in every previous edition, suggesting Crusoe's resilience and determination to survive in spite of the adversities that fate and weather have placed in his path. Although the incident would seem to be an easy matter for an illustrator, the trick is to place Crusoe in focus without letting the goods salvaged (including a dog and the ship's cats) detract from the depiction of the young man confronting the unknown alone. Certainly this illustrator had a precedent: Thomas Stothard's beautiful illustration Robinson Crusoe upon the raft. However, whereas the earlier illustrator is employing a medium (copper-plate engraving) that enables him both to depict the lush tropical vegetation in the background and to focus on Crusoe's navigational skills in the foreground, such a dual focus would have been difficult in an early woodblock, a far less subtle medium. The children's or young adult illustration has had to juxtapose the wreck, the raft, and the creek, whereas later illustrators have been able to place the wreck well in the distance. The present illustration, to achieve its focus on Crusoe, has made the objects on the raft unrealistically small in comparison to the mariner's figure. Whereas Stothard had resolved the problem of scale in part by placing the raft very close to the wreck (right) as Crusoe departs, the present illustrator has elected to realise a later moment, when Crusoe is approaching the creek and the ship is at least a mile away.
Left: The Cassell's matter-of-fact scene of Crusoe's salvage operations, Crusoe loading his raft (1863: composite woodblock engraving, Chapter III, "Wrecked on a Desert Island"). Centre: Colourful realisation of the same scene, but somewhat lacking in realistic perspective: Robinson Crusoe on the Raft (1818). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Left: George Cruikshank's optimistic castaway makes his initial run from the wreck to the shore: Crusoe salvaging cargo from the shipwreck (1831). Right: John Gilbert's vivacious young Crusoe rescues the ship's dog and one cat, Robinson Crusoe on his Raft (1860s). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Many thanks for the assistance of the staff at Special Collections and University Archives, particularly John Frederick, Library Assistant, McPherson Library, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Defoe, Daniel (adapted). The Wonderful Life and Surprising Adventures of that Renowned Hero, Robinson Crusoe: who lived twenty-eight years on an uninhabited island, which he afterwards colonized.. London: W. Darton, 1815.
Last modified 20 February 2018