"I came fair on the south side of my island" — illustration for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1891)

I came fair on the south side of my island. (See p. 239), signed by Wal Paget, bottom left. Paget has positioned the island to the left, so that, in the conventional left-to-right configuration of most illustrations, Crusoe's vessel (and the reader) is coming upon the island in reverse, a fitting approach for Crusoe's second landing. One-third of page 240, roughly framed: 7.6 cm high by 12.6 cm wide. Running head: "Ancient Haunts" (page 241).

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

The Passage Illustrated: Returned to the Island

In short, I visited several of these islands to no purpose; some I found were inhabited, and some were not; on one of them I found some Spaniards, and thought they had lived there; but speaking with them, found they had a sloop lying in a small creek hard by, and came thither to make salt, and to catch some pearl-mussels if they could; but that they belonged to the Isle de Trinidad, which lay farther north, in the latitude of 10 and 11 degrees.

Thus, coasting from one island to another, sometimes with the ship, sometimes with the Frenchman’s shallop, which we had found a convenient boat, and therefore kept her with their very good will, at length I came fair on the south side of my island, and presently knew the very countenance of the place: so I brought the ship safe to an anchor, broadside with the little creek where my old habitation was. As soon as I saw the place I called for Friday, and asked him if he knew where he was? He looked about a little, and presently clapping his hands, cried, “Oh yes, Oh there, Oh yes, Oh there!” pointing to our old habitation, and fell dancing and capering like a mad fellow; and I had much ado to keep him from jumping into the sea to swim ashore to the place. [Chapter II, "Intervening History of the Colony," page 239]

Commentary

In the lengthier programs of illustration across the nineteenth century artists have realised the return of the absent Governor, sixty-one-year-old Robinson Crusoe, to the island south of Trinidad and east of the mouth of the Orinoco — apparently administered jointly by those old enemies, Spain and Britain. Whereas George Cruikshank in 1831 realised the joyful reunion of Friday and his father, and Edward Henry Wehnert in 1862 included Friday and his father in the background of Crusoe's Second Landing on the Island, a title which underscores the very different manner in which the former castaway arrives, now honoured by the thriving European colony. Whereas Cruikshank enjoys an emotional scene that lends itself to lively caricature, Stothard embues the return with dignified solemnity and Wehnert with the overflowing emotion of male bonding. Paget, too, in the next frame sees the moment as signifying Crusoe's welcome by a group or community. Paget has altered the 1864 program of illustration considerably here, however, by initially depicting in some detail the troubles aboard the dismasted vessel, and then showing Crusoe's approaching the island, building to the climax of his meeting the Spaniard on the beach in the next lithograph.

Related Material

References

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

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Exciting Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner, as Related by Himself. With 120 original illustrations by Walter Paget. London, Paris,and Melbourne: Cassell, 1891.

Last modified 27 March 2018