"I entered into a long discourse" — illustration for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1891)

Surprised in the grey of morning, signed "Wal Paget" lower right. The illustration, positioned at the head of the page, prepares the reader for the incident with the Sallee rover on the same page. One-third of page 12, vignetted: 7.8 cm high by 13 cm wide. Running head: "Prisoner at Sallee" (page 13).

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: An Ignominious End to Crusoe's First Command

I was now set up for a Guinea trader; and my friend, to my great misfortune, dying soon after his arrival, I resolved to go the same voyage again, and I embarked in the same vessel with one who was his mate in the former voyage, and had now got the command of the ship. This was the unhappiest voyage that ever man made; for though I did not carry quite £100 of my new-gained wealth, so that I had £200 left, which I had lodged with my friend’s widow, who was very just to me, yet I fell into terrible misfortunes. The first was this: our ship making her course towards the Canary Islands, or rather between those islands and the African shore, was surprised in the grey of the morning by a Moorish rover of Sallee, who gave chase to us with all the sail she could make. We crowded also as much canvas as our yards would spread, or our masts carry, to get clear; but finding the pirate gained upon us, and would certainly come up with us in a few hours, we prepared to fight; our ship having twelve guns, and the rogue eighteen. About three in the afternoon he came up with us, and bringing to, by mistake, just athwart our quarter, instead of athwart our stern, as he intended, we brought eight of our guns to bear on that side, and poured in a broadside upon him, which made him sheer off again, after returning our fire, and pouring in also his small shot from near two hundred men which he had on board. However, we had not a man touched, all our men keeping close. He prepared to attack us again, and we to defend ourselves. But laying us on board the next time upon our other quarter, he entered sixty men upon our decks, who immediately fell to cutting and hacking the sails and rigging. We plied them with small shot, half-pikes, powder-chests, and such like, and cleared our deck of them twice. However, to cut short this melancholy part of our story, our ship being disabled, and three of our men killed, and eight wounded, we were obliged to yield, and were carried all prisoners into Sallee, a port belonging to the Moors. [Chapter II, "Slavery and Escape," pp. 11-12]

Commentary

Paget is sparing of his maritime scenes, perhaps because the previous Cassell edition contained so many of them. Instead, Paget typically focus on the human reaction to shipping disasters. Here, however, he foregrounds the European ship, placing the menacing Moorish vessel on the horizon. Although the ship in the foreground is running a complement of canvas, the accompanying text establishes that the Europeans are not winning the race, and must prepare to fight the Moorish rover of Sallee, otherwise alled "the pirate." The picture therefore contributes to the textual reading without merely repeating visually what the writer narrates: the fight on board, the loss of three crew, and the capitulation of the European crew.

Related Material

Parallel illustration from the Cassell Edition, 1863-1864

Above: The Cassell's house-artist's realistic wood-engraving of the Moorish vessel's intercepting young Crusoe's merchant ship, The Attack by the Sallee Rover.[Click on image to enlarge it.]

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 25 April 2018