"If you come near the boat, I'll shoot you."
Wal Paget (1863-1935)
full-page lithograph
17.6 cm high by 12.2 cm wide, framed.
1891
Robinson Crusoe, page 16.
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
The Passage Illustrated: Seizing the opportunity to escape
After we had fished some time and caught nothing — for when I had fish on my hook I would not pull them up, that he might not see them — I said to the Moor, "This will not do; our master will not be thus served; we must stand farther off."He, thinking no harm, agreed, and being in the head of the boat, set the sails; and, as I had the helm, I ran the boat out near a league farther, and then brought her to, as if I would fish; when, giving the boy the helm, I stepped forward to where the Moor was, and making as if I stooped for something behind him, I took him by surprise with my arm under his waist, and tossed him clear overboard into the sea. He rose immediately, for he swam like a cork, and called to me, begged to be taken in, told me he would go all over the world with me. He swam so strong after the boat that he would have reached me very quickly, there being but little wind; upon which I stepped into the cabin, and fetching one of the fowling-pieces, I presented it at him, and told him I had done him no hurt, and if he would be quiet I would do him none. "But,"said I, "you swim well enough to reach to the shore, and the sea is calm; make the best of your way to shore, and I will do you no harm; but if you come near the boat I’ll shoot you through the head, for I am resolved to have my liberty;" so he turned himself about, and swam for the shore, and I make no doubt but he reached it with ease, for he was an excellent swimmer. [Chapter II, "Slavery and Escape,"page 15]
Commentary
Although Crusoe's effecting his escape by hurling the Moorish deckhand overboard has been the subject of a number of illustrations in other series, Paget puts his own unique mark on the moment by showing the aftermath of Crusoe's violent ejection of to the wreck of Moely, who even now is swimming after the small boat. The illustrator has armed Crusoe with what appears to be shotgun, which in a serious but not vindictive manner he points at the Moor. With no land in sight, Moely's swimming ashore should prove challenging. Other illustrators, such as Thomas Stothard and George Cruikshank, have depicted other aspects of the escape, which Paget had undoubtedly studied. He had seen the Moorish adventure depicted by of Thomas Stothard, George Cruikshank, Hablot Knight Browne, and probably Sir John Gilbert and Edward Henry Wehnert, but had elected to make Crusoe seem less violent, but every bit as determined as the protagonist in the other illustrations. The coast of Sallee does not appear as it does in the Cruikshank illustration, and Paget places the viewer behind the swimmer and boat as it rapidly heads out to sea, but Paget places Crusoe in the middle of the composition and focuses on his relationship with the swimmer rather than on the boat or the backdrop.
Related Material
- The Reality of Shipwreck
- Daniel Defoe
- Illustrations of Robinson Crusoe by various artists
- Illustrations of children’s editions
- The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe il. H. M. Brock at Project Gutenberg
- The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe at Project Gutenberg
Parallel Scenes from the Children's Books (1815, 1818),Cruikshank (1831),Wehnert (1862), and Cassell's (1863-64)
Left: Colourful children's book realisation of the same episode, Robinson Crusoe's escaping from Sallee (1818). Centre: A Chapbook-like woodblock engraving with broken chains, signifying young Crusoe's escaping slavery, Robinson Crusoe throwing the Moor overboard (1815). Right: Wehnert's realisation of the same scene, with a highly realistic and dynamic interpretation: Crusoe throwing the Moor overboard (1862). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Above: George Cruikshank's realistic wood-engraving of the Corsair fishing-boat off the coast of Sallee, Crusoe tosses the Moorish deckhand overboard (1863-64). [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Above: Cassell's highly realistic wood-engraving of the Corsair fishing-boat and the coast of Sallee, Crusoe escapes with Xury (1863-64). [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Reference
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 23 April 2018