Part-1
Chapter-1
I was born to a family in Nottinghamshire. I was the third of five sons. Although I studied at Cambridge as a teenager yet my father was too poor to keep me there. So, at the age of seventeen, I was sent to London to be a surgeon’s apprentice. Mr James Bates was my teacher and I was his apprentice. In this way, I earned a little bit while learning. My father also kept sending me some money. I used it to learn things useful for a life at sea because I hoped to travel one day. After working with Mr. Bates for four years, with financial help from my father and my uncle John, I studied physics for almost three years at Leyden.
Afterwards, Mr. Bates got me a job as a doctor on a ship, named Swallow. I stayed in this job for three and a half years. During that period, I made some short voyages. Then, I decided to settle down in London and start my own practice as a doctor. Mr. Bates was very helpful and kept sending some of his patients. Soon I bought a house and got married to Mary Burton and lived happily for two years. When Mr. Bates died, my business began to fail because the number of patients became less and less.
So, I decided to go to the sea again. For the next six years, I was a doctor on two different ships. I made many voyages. On shore, I read many ancient and modern books. On voyage, I watched and learnt about the people in these foreign countries. I had a very good memory, so I learnt their languages as well. The last of these voyages did not prove favourable, so I went back to live in London with my wife and family. I shifted my house to a port-city in the hope that I would find patients easily among the seamen. But unfortunately, I didn’t find enough work.
On 4th May 1699, after three years in London, I went back to sea. The ship named Antelope sailed from Bristol on 4th May, 1699, towards the South sea. At first, things went very well. Then, there was a bad storm and the winds blew us the wrong way. On the fifth of November, our seamen observed a rock. We tried our level best to avoid the accident but the winds were so strong that we were driven directly upon it. Finally, the ship broke in the storm and six of the crew, including me, lowered a boat in the sea and rowed hard to get across the rock and the split ship. After a short while, my boat overturned in the strong wind. I didn’t know what happened to the other seamen on the boat. I fell into the water, and the sea and the wind carried me away for a long time. I struggled very hard to keep my head above the water but I became very tired.
After a long time in the sea, my feet touched sand and I could stand up. I walked out of the sea onto the land. By that time, the storm had also subsided. I walked around for about an hour but I could find neither towns nor villages nor people. I was so tired that it was impossible to walk any more. I lay on the ground and soon fell asleep. I must have slept for about nine hours because, when I woke up, it was morning. I was lying on my back and the sun was shining right above me. I tried to sit up but I couldn’t. There were thin ropes around my arms and legs. The ropes were tied to sticks in the ground and my long hair was tied to the ground as well. The only thing I could do was to look upwards. The sun was getting hotter and I started feeling very uncomfortable.
