"Robinson Crusoe on the Raft" [Plate 3] — Illustrated Edition of "Robinson Crusoe" (1818)

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Robinson Crusoe on the Raft

1818

Hand-tinted copper-engraving

8.2 cm high by 5.1 cm wide, framed

Pages: ii, 195 p., [12] leaves of illustrations

Source: Illustration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, facing page 37 [Plate 3].

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Illustrations of children’s editions

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated from the Original Text

My raft was now My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight. My next care was what to load it with, and how to preserve what I laid upon it from the surf of the sea; but I was not long considering this. I first laid all the planks or boards upon it that I could get, and having considered well what I most wanted, I got three of the seamen’s chests, which I had broken open, and emptied, and lowered them down upon my raft; the first of these I filled with provisions—viz. bread, rice, three Dutch cheeses, five pieces of dried goat’s flesh (which we lived much upon), and a little remainder of European corn, which had been laid by for some fowls which we brought to sea with us, but the fowls were killed. There had been some barley and wheat together; but, to my great disappointment, I found afterwards that the rats had eaten or spoiled it all. As for liquors, I found several, cases of bottles belonging to our skipper, in which were some cordial waters; and, in all, about five or six gallons of rack. These I stowed by themselves, there being no need to put them into the chest, nor any room for them. While I was doing this, I found the tide begin to flow, though very calm; and I had the mortification to see my coat, shirt, and waistcoat, which I had left on the shore, upon the sand, swim away. As for my breeches, which were only linen, and open-kneed, I swam on board in them and my stockings. However, this set me on rummaging for clothes, of which I found enough, but took no more than I wanted for present use, for I had others things which my eye was more upon—as, first, tools to work with on shore. And it was after long searching that I found out the carpenter’s chest, which was, indeed, a very useful prize to me, and much more valuable than a shipload of gold would have been at that time. I got it down to my raft, whole as it was, without losing time to look into it, for I knew in general what it contained. [Chapter IV, "First Few Weeks on the Island"]

Facing Page of Text

. . . all the contents of the that part of the ship were dry.

Crusoe immediately set to work. On board the vessel were several spare-yards, one or two top-masts, and two or three large spars of wood; of these he determined to form a raft. For this purpose he threw overboard all that were not too heavy and could be tied together by ropes. He then went down the ship's side, tioed together the largest pieces of wood, and placed planks across them, so that his raft, though rudely constructed, was capable of bearing a considerable weight. Necessity urged him to exert his industry and courage; and in the space of an hour he finished more work than he would have done in half a day on any ordinary occasion.

With respect to the articles which he wished to convey to his island, he selected the most useful and not the most valuable. He first took three sailors' trunks, which he opened by forcing the . . . . [Page 37]

Commentary

Providence intervenes to allow Robinson Crusoe to save himself as the slave ship on which he has been serving founders on a Caribbean island. Thomas Stothard depicted Crusoe's salvaging the implements of civilisation and food from the wreck in Robinson Crusoe upon the raft in Chapter IV, "First Weeks on the Island." Here, he has maintained his European dress, and takes a load of good from the ship, including two cats and a dog, back to a sizeable hut that he has already built on the shore.

Young Crusoe, a British merchant sailor, is dressed in a blue sailor's coat in these early plates. However, subsequent illustrations depict him in goatskin jacket, breeches, and hat — "island dress." The children's version outlines the story of the castaway and the Caribbean island, but does not venture into the second and third parts of Defoe's narrative. Again, the narrator, operating in the third person point of view rather than Defoe's first, emphasizes Crusoe's pragmatic reasoning and rejection of outmoded, materialistic thinking that will get in the way of his surviving on the island that the narrator calls "his," though doubtless it was within the traditional territories of the Caribbean aboriginal peoples inhabiting the mainland opposite.

Parallel Scenes from Stothard (1790), Cruikshank (1831), and Cassell's (1863-64)

Left: Stothard's 1790 atmospheric realisation of the same episode, Robinson Crusoe upon the raft (copper-plate engraving, Chapter IV, "First Weeks on the Island"). Centre: Cruikshank's woodblock engraving of a casual young Crusoe, very much in charge of salvaging operations, Crusoe salvaging cargo from the shipwreck (1831). Right: Casasell's realisation of the same scene, Crusoe loading his raft (1863-64). [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.

Reference

Defoe, Daniel. (adapted). The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. A New and Improved Edition, interspersed with Reflections, Religious and Moral. Adorned with Engravings. London: J. Harris, St. Paul's Church Yard, 1818.

Last modified 14 February 2018