Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. TITELBLATT

2. IMPRESSUM

3. PREFACE

4. CHAPTER I

5. CHAPTER II

6. CHAPTER III

7. CHAPTER IV

8. CHAPTER V

9. CHAPTER IV

10. CHAPTER VII

11. CHAPTER VII

12. CHAPTER IX

13. CHAPTER X

14. CHAPTER XI

15. CHAPTER XII

16. CHAPTER XIII

17. CHAPTER IV

18. CHAPTER XV

19. CHAPTER XVI

20. CHAPTER XVII

21. CHAPTER XVIII

22. CHAPTER XIX

23. CHAPTER XX

24. THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE (ENGLISCH)

Daniel Defoe
The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe / Das Leben und die Abenteuer des Robinson Crusoe
Zweisprachige Ausgabe
Übersetzt von Lore Krüger

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Übersetzung © Aufbau Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin 1973, 2008

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THE LIFE,
AND STRANGE SURPRIZING
ADVENTURES
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE,
OF YORK, MARINER:

DAS LEBEN UND DIE HÖCHST MERKWÜRDIGEN ABENTEUER
DES ROBINSON CRUSOE AUS YORK, EINES SEEMANNS,

who lived eight and twenty years all alone in an un-inhabited island on the coast of America, near the mouth of the great river Oroonoque;

der achtundzwanzig Jahre lang ganz allein auf einer unbewohnten Insel vor der Küste Amerikas nahe der Mündung des großen Orinokostroms lebte,

having been cast on shore by shipwreck, wherein all the men perished but himself.

dorthin verschlagen durch einen Schiffbruch, bei dem die gesamte Mannschaft außer ihm umkam.

With an account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by pyrates.

Mit einem Bericht, wie er schließlich auf seltsame Weise durch Piraten befreit wurde.

Written by himself.

Von ihm selbst geschrieben.

PREFACE

VORWORT

IF ever the story of any private man’s adventures in the world were worth making public,

Wenn die Geschichte der Abenteuer eines Privatmanns in der Welt es jemals wert gewesen sein mag, veröffentlicht zu werden,

and were acceptable when published, the Editor of this account thinks this will be so.

und nach ihrem Erscheinen Anklang finden dürfte, dann ist das nach Meinung des Herausgebers bei dem vorliegenden Bericht der Fall.

The wonders of this man’s life exceed all that (he thinks) is to be found extant;

Die erstaunlichen Begebenheiten im Leben dieses Mannes übertreffen (nach Ansicht des Herausgebers) alles bisher Dagewesene;

the life of one man being scarce capable of a greater variety.

denn im Leben eines einzigen Menschen kann es kaum bunter zugehen.

The story is told with modesty, with seriousness, and with a religious application of events to the uses to which wise men always apply them,

Die Geschichte ist mit Bescheidenheit, mit Ernst und in dem frommen Bemühen erzählt, die Ereignisse zu dem Zweck zu nutzen, zu dem die Weisen sie immer nutzen,

viz. to the instruction of others by this example,

nämlich um andere durch das Beispiel etwas zu lehren

and to justify and honour the wisdom of Providence in all the variety of our circumstances, let them happen how they will.

sowie um die Weisheit der göttlichen Vorsehung, die sich in allen unseren verschiedenartigen Lebensumständen zeigt – wie sie auch immer sein mögen –, zu rechtfertigen und sie zu preisen.

The editor believes this narrative to be a just history of fact; neither is there any appearance of fiction in it.

Der Herausgeber hält die Geschichte für einen getreuen Bericht von Tatsachen, denn sie lässt keinerlei Anzeichen freier Erfindung erkennen;

However this may be (for all such things are disputed),

jedenfalls ist er der Meinung – alle diese Dinge sind ja umstritten –,

he is of opinion that the improvement of it, as well as the diversion, as to the instruction of the reader, will be the same;

dass sie genauso gewinnbringend für den Leser sein wird, sowohl was dessen Unterhaltung als auch was seine Belehrung angeht,

and as such, he thinks, without farther compliment to the world, he does them a great service in the publication.

und glaubt deshalb, ohne der Welt weitere Komplimente zu machen, dass er ihr mit der Herausgabe des Buches einen großen Dienst erweist.

CHAPTER I

1. KAPITEL

I WAS born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country,

Ich wurde im Jahre 1632 in der Stadt York geboren; meine Familie genoss Ansehen, obwohl sie nicht aus diesem Lande stammte,

my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull:

denn mein Vater war Ausländer und kam aus Bremen; er ließ sich zuerst in Hull nieder.

he got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York, from whence he had married my mother,

Durch den Handel erwarb er sich ein schönes Vermögen, und nachdem er sein Geschäft aufgegeben hatte, lebte er in York, der Heimat meiner Mutter.

whose relations were named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer;

Sie war eine geborene Robinson und gehörte einer in dieser Gegend sehr geachteten Familie an; nach ihr hieß ich Robinson Kreutznaer,

but by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called, nay we call ourselves, and write our name Crusoe,

aber infolge der in England üblichen Verstümmelung von Wörtern nennt man uns jetzt, ja nennen wir uns selbst und schreiben wir unseren Namen Crusoe,

and so my companions always called me.

und so haben mich auch meine Kameraden immer genannt.

I had two elder brothers, one of which was lieutenant-colonel to an English regiment of foot in Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart,

Ich hatte zwei ältere Brüder, von denen der eine, ein Oberstleutnant in einem ehemals vom berühmten Oberst Lockhart befehligten englischen Infanterieregiment zu Flandern,

and was killed at the battle near Dunkirk against the Spaniards.

in der Schlacht bei Dünkirchen im Kampf gegen die Spanier fiel;

What became of my second brother I never knew, any more than my father or mother did know what was become of me.

was aus meinem zweiten Bruder wurde, erfuhr ich nie, ebenso wie weder mein Vater noch meine Mutter je erfahren haben, was aus mir geworden ist.

Being the third son of the family, and not bred to any trade, my head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts:

Da ich der dritte Sohn der Familie war und keine Lehre durchlaufen hatte, begann sich mein Kopf schon früh mit abenteuerlichen Gedanken zu füllen.

my father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent share of learning,

Mein bereits hochbetagter Vater hatte mir eine angemessene Ausbildung zukommen lassen,

as far as house education and a country free-school generally go, and designed me for the law;

soweit eben ein Unterricht im Hause und eine ländliche Freischule im Allgemeinen reichen, und mich für den Beruf eines Rechtsanwalts bestimmt;

but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea;

ich hatte aber nichts weiter im Sinn, als zur See zu fahren,

and my inclination to this led me so strongly against the will, nay the commands of my father, and against all the entreaties and persuasions of my mother and other friends,

und gegen den Willen, ja gegen den Befehl meines Vaters und gegen alle Bitten und Überzeugungsversuche meiner Mutter und anderer Freunde trieb mich diese Neigung so stark,

that there seemed to be something fatal in that propension of nature tending directly to the life of misery which was to befal me.

dass sie etwas Verhängnisvolles zu haben und unmittelbar zu dem elenden Leben zu führen schien, das mein Los sein sollte.

My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious and excellent counsel against what he foresaw was my design.

Mein Vater, ein weiser und gesetzter Mann, gab mir ernsthafte und ausgezeichnete Ratschläge zur Verhütung all dessen, was mir wahrscheinlich widerfahren würde.

He called me one morning into his chamber, where he was confined by the gout, and expostulated very warmly with me upon this subject:

Eines Morgens rief er mich in sein Zimmer, in dem ihn die Gicht festhielt, und machte mir wegen dieser Sache heftige Vorhaltungen.

he asked me what reasons more than a mere wandering inclination I had for leaving my father’s house and my native country,

Er fragte mich, welche Gründe ich denn außer einer Vorliebe für das Umherziehen hätte, mein Elternhaus und mein Vaterland zu verlassen,

where I might be well introduced, and had a prospect of raising my fortune by application and industry, with a life of ease and pleasure.

wo mir die Wege offenständen und ich die Aussicht hätte, durch Fleiß und Arbeit mein Glück zu machen und ein behagliches, angenehmes Leben zu führen.

He told me it was for men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring superior fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon adventures,

Er sagte, nur Verzweiflung oder Ehrgeiz und Unüberlegtheit triebe die Menschen ins Ausland, um Abenteuer zu suchen,

to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road;

durch Wagehalsigkeit emporzusteigen und mit Hilfe von Unternehmungen, die außerhalb des üblichen Weges lägen, berühmt zu werden;

that these things were all either too far above me, or too far below me;

dies sei aber entweder zu hoch für mich oder aber unter meiner Würde

that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of low life,

– ich gehörte dem Mittelstand an oder dem, was man die obere Schicht der unteren Klassen nennen könne,

which he had found by long experience was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness,

und er habe durch Erfahrung festgestellt, dass dies der beste Stand der Welt sei, am günstigsten für das Glück der Menschen,

not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labour and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind,

denn in ihm seien sie nicht dem Elend und der Not, der Mühsal und dem Leiden der handwerklich Arbeitenden ausgesetzt

and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind,

und nicht durch den Stolz, den Luxus, den Ehrgeiz und den Neid der oberen Schicht der Menschheit behindert.

he told me, I might judge of the happiness of this state by this one thing, viz. that this was the state of life which all other people envied;

Er sagte, wie glücklich dieser Stand sei, könne ich allein schon daran ermessen, dass es derjenige sei, den alle anderen beneideten;

that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequences of being born to great things,

oft hätten Könige die bitteren Folgen ihres Schicksals, zu großen Dingen geboren zu sein, beklagt

and wish they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great;

und gewünscht, sie wären in die Mitte der beiden Extreme, zwischen die Niedrigen und die Hohen gestellt worden,

that the wise man gave his testimony to this as the just standard of true felicity, when he prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.

und der Weise bezeuge, dass dies der richtige Maßstab echten Glücks sei, wenn er bete, er möge vom Reichtum und von der Armut verschont bleiben.

He bid me observe it, and I should always find, that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind;

Er forderte mich auf, dies zu beobachten, und immer könne ich feststellen, dass das Unheil des Lebens von der oberen und der unteren Schicht der Menschheit geteilt würde,

but that the middle station had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind;

im Mittelstand aber gebe es die wenigsten Katastrophen, in ihm seien die Menschen nicht so vielen Wechselfällen ausgesetzt wie im höheren oder im niedrigeren Stand,

nay, they were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasinesses, either of body or mind,

ja sie hätten nicht einmal unter so vielen Krankheiten und Beunruhigungen des Körpers und des Geistes zu leiden

as those were, who by vicious living, luxury, and extravagances, on one hand,

wie diejenigen, die sich auf der einen Seite durch lasterhaftes Leben, Luxus und Üppigkeit

or by hard labour, want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet, on the other hand, bring distempers upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living;

oder auf der anderen Seite durch schwere Arbeit, Mangel am Notwendigen und magere oder ungenügende Ernährung Krankheiten zuzögen als natürliche Folge ihrer Lebensweise;

that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtues and all kind of enjoyments;

die mittlere Stellung in der Welt sei für alle Tugenden und alle Freuden berechnet,

that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society,

Frieden und Wohlhabenheit seien die Mägde des Mittelstandes – Enthaltsamkeit, Mäßigung, Ruhe, Gesundheit, Geselligkeit,

all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the middle station of life;

alle angenehmen Zerstreuungen und alle wünschenswerten Vergnügungen seien der Segen, den eine mittlere Stellung im Leben erwartet

that this way men went silently and smoothly through the world, and comfortably out of it,

– auf diese Weise gingen die Menschen still und mühelos durch die Welt und gemütlich aus ihr hinaus,

not embarrassed with the labours of the hands or of the head,

ohne dass die Plackerei ihrer Hände oder ihres Kopfes sie belästigte

not sold to the life of slavery for daily bread, or harassed with perplexed circumstances,

noch ein Leben der Sklaverei um des täglichen Brotes willen sie fesselte oder wirre Verhältnisse sie quälten,

which rob the soul of peace, and the body of rest; not enraged with the passion of envy, or secret burning lust of ambition for great things;

die der Seele den Frieden und dem Körper die Ruhe raubten, und ohne dass die Leidenschaft der Missgunst oder die heimlich brennende ehrgeizige Lust auf große Dinge sie verzehrte,

but in easy circumstances sliding gently through the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without the bitter,

sondern sie glitten unter behaglichen Umständen sanft durch die Welt, kosteten spürbar die Annehmlichkeiten des Daseins, nicht aber seine bitteren Seiten,

feeling that they are happy, and learning by every day’s experience to know it more sensibly.

fühlten, dass sie glücklich waren, und lernten es durch die Erfahrung jedes Tages nur umso bewusster feststellen.

After this, he pressed me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner, not to play the young man, not to precipitate myself into miseries

Danach drang er ernsthaft und auf die liebevollste Weise in mich, nicht den jungen Draufgänger zu spielen und mich nicht in ein Elend zu stürzen,

which nature and the station of life I was born in seemed to have provided against;

vor dem mich die Natur und der Stand, in dem ich geboren wurde, bewahrt zu haben schienen;

that I was under no necessity of seeking my bread;

ich hätte es nicht nötig, einem Broterwerb nachzugehen;

that he would do well for me, and endeavour to enter me fairly into the station of life which he had been just recommending to me;

er, mein Vater, werde mich gut versorgen und sich bemühen, mir den Weg zu der Lebensweise zu ebnen, die er mir soeben empfohlen hatte,

and that if I was not very easy and happy in the world,

und wenn ich es in der Welt nicht leicht hätte und wenn ich nicht glücklich würde,

it must be my mere fate or fault that must hinder it, and that he should have nothing to answer for,

so könnte allein nur mein Schicksal oder meine Schuld das Hindernis sein, und er werde es keineswegs zu verantworten haben,

having thus discharged his duty in warning me against measures which he knew would be to my hurt:

denn er habe seine Pflicht erfüllt und mich vor Schritten gewarnt, von denen er wisse, dass sie mir Schaden brächten

in a word, that as he would do very kind things for me if I would stay and settle at home as he directed,

– mit einem Wort, sosehr er sich mir gegenüber gütig zeigen werde, wenn ich zu Hause bliebe und mich dort nach seinen Anweisungen niederließe,

so he would not have so much hand in my misfortunes, as to give me any encouragement to go away:

sowenig wolle er mit meinem Unglück etwas zu schaffen haben und mich in keiner Weise ermutigen fortzugehen.

and to close all, he told me I had my elder brother for an example,

Zum Schluss sagte er, mein älterer Bruder sei ein warnendes Beispiel für mich;

to whom he had used the same earnest persuasions to keep him from going into the Low Country wars, but could not prevail,

mit ebenso ernsten Worten habe er ihn zu bewegen versucht, nicht nach den Niederlanden in den Krieg zu ziehen, ihn jedoch nicht überzeugen können,

his young desires prompting him to run into the army, where he was killed;

denn seine jugendlichen Wünsche hätten ihn zum Heer getrieben, und dort war er gefallen.

and though he said he would not cease to pray for me, yet he would venture to say to me, that if I did take this foolish step, God would not bless me,

Er erklärte wohl, er werde unaufhörlich für mich beten, sagte aber auch, wenn ich diesen törichten Schritt tue, werde Gott mich nicht segnen,

and I would have leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his counsel

und ich hätte später noch Muße genug, darüber nachzudenken, dass ich seinen Rat in den Wind schlug,

when there might be none to assist in my recovery.

und dann wäre vielleicht niemand da, der mir helfen könne, wieder auf die Beine zu kommen.

I observed in this last part of his discourse, which was truly prophetic,

Ich bemerkte bei diesem letzten Teil seiner Rede, die wirklich prophetisch war,

though I suppose my father did not know it to be so himself; I say, I observed the tears run down his face very plentifully,

obgleich ich annehme, dass mein Vater es selbst nicht wusste, ich bemerkte also, dass ihm dicke Tränen über das Gesicht liefen,

and especially when he spoke of my brother who was killed;

besonders als er von meinem gefallenen Bruder sprach;

and that when he spoke of my having leisure to repent, and none to assist me,

und als er erwähnte, dass ich Muße zur Reue haben würde, aber niemand zu meiner Hilfe,

he was so moved, that he broke off the discourse, and told me, his heart was so full he could say no more to me.

war er so bewegt, dass er das Gespräch abbrach und erklärte, das Herz sei ihm zu voll, er könne jetzt nicht weitersprechen.

I was sincerely affected with this discourse, as indeed who could be otherwise?

Ich war von dieser Rede ernsthaft bewegt, und wer wäre es auch nicht gewesen?

and I resolved not to think of going abroad any more, but to settle at home according to my father’s desire.

Ich nahm mir vor, den Gedanken ans Ausland aufzugeben und mich, dem Wunsche meines Vaters entsprechend, zu Hause niederzulassen.

But, alas! a few days wore it all off; and in short, to prevent any of my father’s farther importunities, in a few weeks after I resolved to run quite away from him.

Aber ach, in wenigen Tagen war alles verblasst, und einige Wochen danach beschloss ich, kurz gesagt, meinem Vater ganz davonzulaufen, um seinem Drängen zu entgehen.

However, I did not act so hastily neither as my first heat of resolution prompted,

So überstürzt, wie ich es in der ersten Hitze meines Entschlusses gewollt hatte, handelte ich jedoch nicht;

but I took my mother, at a time when I thought her a little pleasanter

sondern in einem Augenblick, als meine Mutter etwas besser aufgelegt schien

than ordinary, and told her, that my thoughts were so entirely bent upon seeing the world,

als gewöhnlich, nahm ich sie beiseite und erklärte ihr, meine Gedanken seien so völlig darauf gerichtet, die Welt zu sehen,

that I should never settle to any thing with resolution enough to go through with it,

dass ich mich niemals irgendeiner anderen Sache mit der genügenden Ausdauer widmen könne,

and my father had better give me his consent than force me to go without it;

und mein Vater täte besser daran, mir seine Einwilligung zu geben, anstatt mich zu zwingen, ohne diese fortzugehen;

that I was now eighteen years old, which was too late to go apprentice to a trade, or clerk to an attorney;

ich sei jetzt achtzehn Jahre alt, und das sei zu spät, um eine Lehre als Kaufmanns- oder Anwaltsgehilfe zu beginnen;

that I was sure, if I did, I should never serve out my time, and I should certainly run away from my master before my time was out, and go to sea;

täte ich es dennoch, dann würde ich sicher meine Lehrzeit nicht beenden und meinem Meister gewiss vorher weglaufen, um zur See zu fahren.

and if she would speak to my father to let me go one voyage abroad,

Wenn meine Mutter mit meinem Vater sprechen und ihn bewegen wolle, mich nur eine einzige Seereise ins Ausland machen zu lassen,

if I came home again, and did not like it, I would go no more, and I would promise by a double diligence to recover that time I had lost.

dann würde ich, wenn ich zurückkäme und es mir nicht gefallen habe, nie wieder fahren und versprechen, die verlorene Zeit durch doppelten Fleiß wettzumachen.

This put my mother into a great passion: she told me, she knew it would be to no purpose to speak to my father upon any such subject;

Diese Worte versetzten meine Mutter in großen Zorn; sie sagte, sie sei sicher, dass es keinen Zweck habe, mit meinem Vater über ein solches Thema zu sprechen;

that he knew too well what was my interest to give his consent to any such thing so much for my hurt;

er wisse zu genau, was meinem Wohle diente, um seine Zustimmung zu etwas zu geben, was so zu meinem Schaden wäre,

and that she wondered how I could think of any such thing after such a discourse as I had had with my father,

und sie wundere sich, dass ich nach der Aussprache mit ihm an so etwas denken könne,

and such kind and tender expressions as she knew my father had used to me;

nach all den gütigen und zärtlichen Worten, die, wie sie wisse, mein Vater zu mir geäußert habe;

and that, in short, if I would ruin myself, there was no help for me;

wenn ich mich also zugrunde richten wolle, dann sei mir nicht zu helfen,

but I might depend I should never have their consent to it:

ich könne mich aber darauf verlassen, dass ich keinesfalls die Zustimmung meiner Eltern dazu erhalten würde;

that for her part she would not have so much hand in my destruction;

was sie betreffe, so wolle sie zu meinem Untergang nicht einen Handschlag leisten,

and I should never have it to say, that my mother was willing when my father was not.

und ich solle niemals sagen können, ich hätte die Erlaubnis meiner Mutter, nicht aber die meines Vaters gehabt.

Though my mother refused to move it to my father, yet, as I have heard afterwards, she reported all the discourse to him,

Obwohl sie sich weigerte, die Sache bei meinem Vater vorzubringen, erfuhr ich doch später, dass sie ihm das ganze Gespräch berichtete

and that my father, after shewing a great concern at it, said to her with a sigh,

und mein Vater, nachdem er große Sorgen darüber gezeigt hatte, mit einem Seufzer zu ihr sagte:

“That boy might be happy if he would stay at home; but if he goes abroad, he will be the most miserable wretch that was ever born; I can give no consent to it.”

»Wenn der Junge zu Hause bleibt, kann er glücklich werden, im Ausland aber macht er sich todunglücklich; dazu kann ich mein Einverständnis nicht geben.«

It was not till almost a year after this that I broke loose, though, in the meantime, I continued obstinately deaf to all proposals of settling to business,

Es verging noch fast ein Jahr, bevor ich fortlief, obgleich ich in der Zwischenzeit auch weiterhin für alle Vorschläge, mich zu einem Beruf zu entscheiden, taub blieb

and frequently expostulating with my father and mother about their being so positively determined against what they knew my inclinations prompted me to.

und Vater und Mutter Vorhaltungen machte, weil sie sich mit solcher Bestimmtheit gegen das stemmten, wozu mich, wie sie wussten, meine Neigung trieb.

But being one day at Hull, where I went casually, and without any purpose of making an elopement that time;

Als ich mich aber eines Tages in Hull aufhielt – wohin ich zufällig und damals ohne die Absicht wegzulaufen gereist war –,

but I say, being there, and one of my companions being going by sea to London, in his father’s ship, and prompting me to go with them,

als ich mich also dort aufhielt und mir einer meiner Kameraden, der mit dem Schiff seines Vaters auf dem Seeweg nach London fahren wollte, zuredete, ihn zu begleiten,

with the common allurement of seafaring men, viz. that it should cost me nothing for my passage,

und das übliche Lockmittel der Seeleute anwandte, nämlich, dass mich die Fahrt nichts kosten werde,

I consulted neither father or mother any more, not so much as sent them word of it; but leaving them to hear of it as they might,

fragte ich meinen Vater und meine Mutter nicht mehr und sandte ihnen noch nicht einmal Nachricht, sondern überließ es ihnen, auf irgendeine Weise davon zu erfahren;

without asking God’s blessing, or my father’s, without any consideration of circumstances or consequences,

und ohne um den Segen Gottes oder meines Vaters zu bitten, ohne die Umstände noch die Folgen zu bedenken,

and in an ill hour, God knows, on the first of September, 1651, I went on board a ship bound for London.

ging ich am 1. September 1651 zu einer, Gott weiß, unglückseligen Stunde an Bord eines nach London bestimmten Schiffes,

Never any young adventurer’s misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer than mine.

und niemals begannen, wie ich glaube, die Missgeschicke eines jungen Abenteurers so früh oder dauerten sie so lange.

The ship was no sooner gotten out of the Humber, but the wind began to blow, and the waves to rise in a most frightful manner;

Kaum hatte das Schiff den Humber verlassen, als Wind aufkam und die Wellen auf furchterregende Weise immer höher schlugen;

and, as I had never been at sea before, I was most inexpressibly sick in body, and terrified in mind.

und da ich mich noch nie zuvor auf dem Meer befunden hatte, wurde ich körperlich unaussprechlich krank und mein Gemüt von Schrecken erfasst;

I began now seriously to reflect upon what I had done, and how justly I was overtaken by the judgment of Heaven

ich begann ernsthaft darüber nachzudenken, was ich getan hatte und wie gerecht es war, dass mich jetzt das Gericht des Himmels ereilte,

for my wicked leaving my father’s house, and abandoning my duty;

weil ich mein Vaterhaus böswillig verlassen und meine Pflicht vernachlässigt hatte.

all the good counsel of my parents, my father’s tears and my mother’s entreaties, came now fresh into my mind;

Alle guten Ratschläge meiner Eltern, die Tränen meines Vaters und die flehenden Bitten meiner Mutter kamen mir jetzt von neuem in den Sinn,

and my conscience, which was not yet come to the pitch of hardness to which it has been since,

und mein Gewissen, das noch nicht in dem Grade verhärtet war wie später,

reproached me with the contempt of advice, and the breach of my duty to God and my father.

warf mir vor, dass ich alle guten Ratschläge missachtet und Gott und meinem Vater gegenüber meine Pflicht verletzt hatte.

All this while the storm increased, and the sea, which I had never been upon before, went very high,

Inzwischen wurde der Sturm heftiger, und die See, auf der ich noch nie gewesen war, ging sehr hoch,

though nothing like what I have seen many times since; no, nor like what I saw a few days after:

obgleich nicht so hoch, wie ich es einige Tage später und seitdem oft erlebt habe;

but it was enough to affect me then, who was but a young sailor, and had never known any thing of the matter.

aber damals genügte es, mich, der ich als Matrose ja ein Neuling war und keinerlei Erfahrung hatte, zu beeindrucken.

I expected every wave would have swallowed us up,

Bei jeder einzelnen Welle erwartete ich, dass sie uns verschlinge,

and that every time the ship fell down, as I thought, in the trough or hollow of the sea, we should never rise more;

und jedes Mal, wenn das Schiff, wie ich glaubte, in die Schlucht oder den Abgrund der See hinunterfiel, dachte ich, wir würden nie wieder emporsteigen.

and in this agony of mind I made many vows and resolutions, that if it would please God here to spare my life this one voyage,

In dieser Gemütsqual legte ich viele Versprechen und Gelübde ab. Sollte es Gott gefallen, mein Leben auf dieser einen Reise zu schonen,

if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again I would go directly home to my father,

und sollte ich den Fuß jemals wieder auf festes Land setzen, dann wollte ich mich auf geradem Weg nach Haus und zu meinem Vater begeben

and never set it into a ship again while I lived; that I would take his advice, and never run myself into such miseries as these any more.

und, solange ich lebte, niemals mehr ein Schiff betreten; ich wollte seinen Rat befolgen und mich nie wieder einer so jammervollen Lage aussetzen.

Now I saw plainly the goodness of his observations about the middle station of life, how easy, how comfortably he had lived all his days,

Jetzt erkannte ich deutlich den Wert seiner Bemerkungen über den mittleren Lebensstand, wie bequem, wie behaglich er es sein Lebtag gehabt hatte,

and never had been exposed to tempests at sea, or troubles on shore;

ohne jemals Stürmen auf der See noch Wirren auf dem Lande ausgesetzt gewesen zu sein,

and I resolved that I would, like a true repenting prodigal, go home to my father.

und ich beschloss, wie ein wahrhaft reuiger Sohn zu meinem Vater heimzukehren.

These wise and sober thoughts continued all the while the storm continued, and indeed some time after;

Diese weisen und nüchternen Gedanken waren von ebenso langer Dauer wie der Sturm und sogar von noch etwas längerer;

but the next day the wind was abated, and the sea calmer, and I began to be a little inured to it:

am nächsten Tag aber ließ der Wind nach, und die See wurde ruhiger, ich begann mich auch allmählich an sie zu gewöhnen;

however, I was very grave for all that day, being also a little sea-sick still;

den ganzen Tag über war ich jedoch sehr ernst, zumal ich mich noch ein wenig seekrank fühlte;

but towards night the weather cleared up, the wind was quite over, and a charming fine evening followed;

aber gegen Nachmittag klärte sich das Wetter auf, der Wind legte sich gänzlich, und ein zauberhaft schöner Abend folgte,

the sun went down perfectly clear, and rose so the next morning; and having little or no wind,

die Sonne ging bei völlig klarem Himmel unter und am nächsten Morgen ebenso wieder auf, kaum ein Lüftchen wehte,

and a smooth sea, the sun shining upon it, the sight was, as I thought, the most delightful that ever I saw.

und das spiegelglatte, von der Sonne beschienene Meer bot, wie ich dachte, den wundervollsten Anblick, den ich je erlebt hatte.

I had slept well in the night, and was now no more sea-sick, but very cheerful,

In der Nacht hatte ich gut geschlafen und war jetzt nicht mehr seekrank, sondern recht guter Dinge.

looking with wonder upon the sea that was so rough and terrible the day before, and could be so calm and so pleasant in so little time after.

Ich blickte voller Staunen auf das Meer, das am Tage zuvor so rau und furchtbar gewesen war und schon bald darauf so still und angenehm sein konnte.

And now, lest my good resolutions should continue, my companion, who had indeed enticed me away, comes to me:

Und nun, damit meine guten Vorsätze nur ja nicht anhielten, kommt doch mein Kamerad, der mich tatsächlich fortgelockt hatte, auf mich zu und sagt:

“Well, Bob,” says he, (clapping me upon the shoulder) “how do you do after it?

»Nun, Bob« (und klopft mir auf die Schulter), »wie geht‘s dir danach?

I warrant you were frighted, wa’n’t you, last night, when it blew but a capful of wind?”

Ich wette, du hast gestern Abend Angst gehabt, nicht wahr, wo es doch nur eine Mütze voll Wind gegeben hat?«

— “A capful do you call it?” said I; “it was a terrible storm.”

»Eine Mütze voll nennst du das?«, sage ich. »Es war ein furchtbarer Sturm.«

— “A storm you fool you,” replied he, “do you call that a storm? why it was nothing at all;

»Ein Sturm, du Schafskopf«, antwortet er, »nennst du das einen Sturm? Es war überhaupt nichts.

give us but a good ship and sea-room, and we think nothing of such a squall of wind as that; but you’re but a fresh-water sailor, Bob.

Wenn wir nur ein gutes Schiff und eine weite See haben, dann macht uns so ein Windstoß nichts aus, aber du bist ja nur ein Süßwassermatrose, Bob;

Come, let us make a bowl of punch, and we’ll forget all that; do you see what charming weather it is now?”

komm, machen wir uns eine Schale Punsch, und vergessen wir das alles; siehst du, wie prächtig das Wetter jetzt ist?«

To make short this sad part of my story, we went the old way of all sailors; the punch was made,

Um mich bei diesem traurigen Teil meiner Geschichte kurz zu fassen: Wir handelten nach altem Seemannsbrauch, der Punsch wurde hergestellt

and I was made drunk with it; and in that one night’s wickedness I drowned all my repentance,

und ich damit betrunken gemacht, und in der Sündhaftigkeit dieser einen Nacht ertränkte ich all meine Reue,

all my reflections upon my past conduct, and all my resolutions for my future.

meine Einsichten über mein vergangenes Betragen und alle meine Beschlüsse für die Zukunft.

In a word, as the sea was returned to its smoothness of surface and settled calmness by the abatement of that storm,

Mit einem Wort, als das Meer durch den Abzug des Sturms seine glatte Oberfläche und seine gleichmäßige Ruhe wiedergewonnen hatte,

so the hurry of my thoughts being over, my fears and apprehensions of being swallowed up by the sea being forgotten,

der Tumult meiner Gedanken sowie meine Befürchtungen und meine Ängste, von der See verschlungen zu werden, vorüber waren

and the current of my former desires returned, I entirely forgot the vows and promises that I made in my distress.

und meine vorherigen Wünsche wieder freien Lauf hatten, vergaß ich völlig meine in der Not abgelegten Schwüre und Versprechen.

I found, indeed, some intervals of reflection, and the serious thoughts did, as it were, endeavour to return again sometimes;

Ich dachte zwischendurch wohl hin und wieder nach, und die ernsten Überlegungen wollten zuweilen zurückkehren,

but I shook them off, and roused myself from them as it were from a distemper,

aber ich schüttelte sie ab und befreite mich von ihnen wie von einer Krankheit,

and applying myself to drinking and company, soon mastered the return of those fits, for so I called them;

und indem ich mich dem Trinken und der Geselligkeit hingab, überwand ich bald die Wiederkehr dieser Anfälle, denn so nannte ich sie,

and I had in five or six days got as complete a victory over conscience,

und nach fünf, sechs Tagen hatte ich einen so vollständigen Sieg über mein Gewissen davongetragen,

as any young fellow that resolved not to be troubled with it could desire:

wie es sich ein junger Bursche, der sich von diesem nicht belästigen lassen wollte, nur wünschen konnte.

but I was to have another trial for it still; and Providence, as in such cases generally it does, resolved to leave me entirely without excuse:

Ich sollte jedoch noch einmal eine Prüfung meines Gewissens erleben, und das Schicksal beschloss, wie in solchen Fällen gewöhnlich, mir gänzlich jede Entschuldigung zu nehmen.

for if I would not take this for a deliverance, the next was to be such a one

Denn wenn ich schon dies hier nicht als Rettung anerkennen wollte, so war die nächste Prüfung von solcher Art,

as the worst and most hardened wretch among us would confess both the danger and the mercy.

dass selbst der hartgesottenste Lump unter uns die Gefahr wie auch die Gnade zugeben musste.

The sixth day of our being at sea we came into Yarmouth Roads;

Am sechsten Tage unserer Seefahrt kamen wir auf die Reede von Yarmouth;

the wind having been contrary, and the weather calm, we had made but little way since the storm.

wegen des Gegenwindes und des ruhigen Wetters waren wir seit dem Sturm nur wenig vorangekommen und mussten hier vor Anker gehen.

Here we were obliged to come to anchor, and here we lay, the wind continuing contrary, viz. at south-west, for seven or eight days,

Da der Südwestwind auch weiterhin gegen uns stand, lagen wir hier sieben oder acht Tage lang,

during which time a great many ships from Newcastle came into the same roads, as the common harbour where the ships might wait for a wind for the river.

und während dieser Zeit suchten sehr viele Segler aus Newcastle auf derselben Reede Zuflucht, um auf günstigen Wind für die Fahrt flussaufwärts zu warten.

We had not, however, rid here so long, but should have tided it up the river,

Wir wären hier jedoch nicht lange geblieben, sondern mit der Flut den Fluss hinaufgefahren,

but that the wind blew too fresh; and after we had lain four or five days, blew very hard.

wenn nicht so ein scharfer Wind geweht hätte, der, nachdem wir vier oder fünf Tage hier gelegen hatten, äußerst heftig wurde.

However, the roads being reckoned as good as a harbour, the anchorage good, and our ground tackle very strong,

Da man die Reede aber als ebenso sicher ansah wie einen Hafen, der Ankergrund gut und unser Ankertau sehr stark war,

our men were unconcerned, and not in the least apprehensive of danger,

machten sich unsere Leute keine Sorgen und fürchteten nicht im mindesten eine Gefahr,

but spent the time in rest and mirth, after the manner of the sea;

sondern verbrachten die Zeit damit, sich auszuruhen und fröhlich zu sein, wie es auf See üblich ist;

but the eighth day in the morning the wind increased, and we had all hands at work to strike our topmasts,

am Morgen des achten Tages aber wurde der Wind stärker, und wir setzten alle Mann an die Arbeit,

and make every thing snug and close, that the ship might ride as easy as possible.

um die Stengen zu streichen und alles schön dicht zu machen, damit das Schiff so gut wie möglich vor Anker spielen konnte.

By noon the sea went very high indeed, and our ship rid forecastle in, shipped several seas,

Um Mittag ging die See wirklich sehr hoch, und unser Schiff tauchte mit der Back ein, etliche Brecher schlugen über das Deck,

and we thought once or twice our anchor had come home;

und ein –, zweimal dachten wir, der Anker hätte sich losgerissen;

upon which our master ordered out the sheet anchor; so that we rode with two anchors ahead, and the cables veered out to the better end.

daraufhin befahl der Kapitän, den Notanker zu werfen, so dass wir jetzt mit zwei Ankern vorauslagen; die Taue ließen wir schuppen.

By this time it blew a terrible storm indeed; and now I began to see terror and amazement in the faces even of the seamen themselves.

Inzwischen war ein wirklich furchtbarer Sturm aufgekommen, und jetzt sah ich sogar in den Gesichtern der Seeleute Angst und Verblüffung.

The master, though vigilant in the business of preserving the ship,

Zwar war der Kapitän umsichtig bemüht, das Fahrzeug zu retten,

yet as he went in and out of his cabin by me, I could hear him softly to himself say several times,

aber ich hörte ihn doch auf dem Wege zu seiner Kajüte mehrmals leise zu sich selbst sagen:

“Lord be merciful to us! we shall be all lost, we shall be all undone!” and the like.

»Der Herr sei uns gnädig, wir sind alle verloren, wir werden alle umkommen!« und Ähnliches.

During these first hurries I was stupid, lying still in my cabin, which was in the steerage, and cannot describe my temper:

Während dieses ersten Hin und Her war ich wie betäubt und lag reglos in meiner Kajüte auf dem Zwischendeck; meine Gefühle vermag ich nicht zu beschreiben.

I could ill reassume the first penitence which I had so apparently trampled upon, and hardened myself against:

Zu meiner ersten Reue, die ich so offensichtlich mit Füßen getreten und gegen die ich mich verhärtet hatte, konnte ich nicht zurückkehren;

I thought the bitterness of death had been past, and that this would be nothing like the first:

ich hielt die Bitterkeit des Todes für schon überwunden und glaubte, diesmal wäre es nichts im Vergleich zum ersten Mal.

but when the master himself came by me, as I said just now, and said we should be all lost,

Als aber nun der Kapitän selbst an mir vorbeikam und sagte, wir seien alle verloren,

I was dreadfully frighted: I got up out of my cabin, and looked out;

hatte ich entsetzliche Angst; ich erhob mich, verließ meine Kajüte und blickte hinaus.

but such a dismal sight I never saw; the sea went mountains high, and broke upon us every three or four minutes:

Einen grausigeren Anblick hatte ich jedoch noch nie erlebt: Die Wellen waren hoch wie Berge und schlugen alle drei oder vier Minuten über unser Schiff,

when I could look about, I could see nothing but distress round us:

und wenn freie Sicht war, vermochte ich rings um uns nichts als Not zu sehen;

two ships that rid near us, we found, had cut their masts by the board, being deep loaden; and our men cried out,

zwei neben uns liegende Schiffe hatten ihre Masten gekappt und über Bord gehen lassen, da sie zu schwer beladen waren, und unsere Matrosen riefen,

that a ship which rid about a mile ahead of us was foundered.

ein Fahrzeug, das ungefähr eine Meile von uns vor Anker gelegen hatte, sei gesunken.

Two more ships being driven from their anchors, were run out of the roads to sea, at all adventures, and that with not a mast standing.

Zwei weitere Schiffe hatten sich vom Anker losgerissen und waren von der Reede fortgetrieben, allen Abenteuern ausgesetzt, und das ohne Mast.

The light ships fared the best, as not so much labouring in the sea; but two or three of them drove,

Den leichten Fahrzeugen erging es am besten, denn sie stampften nicht so stark, zwei oder drei von ihnen aber trieben ab

and came close by us, running away with only their sprit-sail out before the wind.

und kamen nahe an uns vorbei, sie fuhren davon, nur das Sprietsegel vor dem Wind.

Towards evening the mate and boatswain begged the master of our ship to let them cut away the fore-mast, which he was very unwilling to do:

Gegen Abend baten der Maat und der Bootsmann unseren Kapitän, sie den Fockmast kappen zu lassen, was er zuerst durchaus nicht wollte;

but the boatswain protesting to him, that if he did not, the ship would founder, he consented;

aber da ihm der Bootsmann beteuerte, das Schiff werde sonst untergehen, stimmte er zu;

and when they had cut away the fore-mast, the main-mast stood so loose, and shook the ship so much,

und nachdem sie den Fockmast gekappt hatten, stand der Großmast so locker da und brachte das Schiff derart in Erschütterung,

they were obliged to cut her away also, and make a clear deck.

dass sie ihn ebenfalls kappen und das Deck klarmachen mussten.

Any one may judge what a condition I must be in at all this,

Jeder wird beurteilen können, in was für einer Verfassung ich gewesen sein muss,

who was but a young sailor, and who had been in such a fright before at but a little.

da ich ja als Matrose ein Neuling war und zuvor schon bei einem nur geringen Anlass so viel Angst ausgestanden hatte.

But if I can express at this distance the thoughts I had about me at that time,

Wenn ich mich aber nach all der langen Zeit meiner damaligen Gedanken noch erinnere,

I was in tenfold more horror of mind upon account of my former convictions,

dann war mein Entsetzen zehnmal größer darüber, dass ich meine früheren Überzeugungen aufgegeben

and the having returned from them to the resolutions I had wickedly taken at first, than I was at death itself;

und mich meinen ersten sündhaften Entschlüssen wieder zugewandt hatte, als meine Furcht vor dem Tode selbst,

and these, added to the terror of the storm, put me in such a condition, that I can by no words describe it.

und dies zusammen mit den Schrecken des Sturms versetzte mich in einen Zustand, den ich mit Worten nicht beschreiben kann.

But the worst was not come yet; the storm continued with such fury, that the seamen themselves acknowledged they had never known a worse.

Das Schlimmste sollte jedoch noch kommen; der Sturm wütete derart weiter, dass sogar die Seeleute eingestanden, einen schlimmeren hätten sie noch nie erlebt.

We had a good ship, but she was deep loaden, and wallowed in the sea, that the seamen every now and then cried out, she would founder.

Unser Schiff war gut, aber schwer beladen, und es stampfte dermaßen, dass die Matrosen immer wieder riefen, es werde scheitern.

It was my advantage in one respect, that I did not know what they meant by founder till I inquired.

In einer Hinsicht war es zu meinem Vorteil, dass ich nicht wusste, was sie mit »scheitern« meinten, bis ich mich danach erkundigte.

However, the storm was so violent, that I saw what is not often seen,

Der Sturm war so gewaltig, dass ich etwas sah, was man nicht häufig zu sehen bekommt,

the master, the boatswain, and some others more sensible than the rest, at their prayers, and expecting every moment when the ship would go to the bottom.

wie nämlich der Kapitän, der Maat und einige andere vernünftige Seeleute beteten, denn sie erwarteten jeden Augenblick, das Schiff werde untergehen.

In the middle of the night, and under all the rest of our distresses, one of the men that had been down on purpose to see, cried out, we had sprang a leak;

Mitten in der Nacht rief zu all unserer sonstigen Not ein Matrose, der einen Kontrollgang unternommen hatte, wir hätten ein Leck,

another said, there was four foot water in the hold.

und ein anderer meldete, das Wasser stehe schon vier Fuß hoch im Laderaum.

Then all hands were called to the pump. At that very word my heart, as I thought, died within me,

Nun wurden alle Mann an die Pumpen gerufen. Schon bei diesem Wort hatte ich das Gefühl, das Herz ersterbe mir im Leibe,

and I fell backwards upon the side of my bed where I sat, into the cabin.

und ich fiel von der Bettkante, auf der ich gesessen hatte, in die Kajüte hinein.

However, the men roused me, and told me, that I that was able to do nothing before, was as well able to pump as another;

Die Matrosen richteten mich jedoch auf und sagten, wenn ich auch vorher nicht imstande gewesen sei, etwas zu tun, so sei ich doch ebenso gut wie jeder andere imstande zu pumpen.

at which I stirred up, and went to the pump and worked very heartily.

Bei diesen Worten erhob ich mich, ging an die Pumpe und arbeitete sehr tüchtig.

While this was doing, the master seeing some light colliers, who, not able to ride out the storm,

Währenddessen hatte der Kapitän beobachtet, wie einige leichte Kohlenschiffe, die dem Sturm vor Anker nicht standhalten konnten,

were obliged to slip and run away to sea, and would come near us, ordered to fire a gun as a signal of distress.

gezwungen waren, die Ankerketten zu schuppen und aufs offene Meer hinauszufahren; da sie sich uns näherten, befahl er, als Notsignal eine Kanone abzufeuern.

I, who knew nothing what that meant, was so surprised, that I thought the ship had broke, or some dreadful thing happened.

Ich wusste nicht im Geringsten, was das bedeutete, und war so überrascht, dass ich dachte, das Schiff sei geborsten oder etwas anderes Schreckliches habe sich ereignet.

In a word, I was so surprised, that I fell down in a swoon.

Mit einem Wort, es traf mich so unerwartet, dass ich in Ohnmacht fiel.

As this was a time when every body had his own life to think of, nobody minded me, or what was become of me;

In diesem Augenblick hatte aber jeder an sein eigenes Leben zu denken, und so kümmerte sich niemand darum, wie es mir ging,

but another man stept up to the pump, and thrusting me aside with his foot, let me lie, thinking I had been dead;

sondern ein anderer trat an die Pumpe, schob mich mit dem Fuß beiseite und ließ mich da liegen, in der Meinung, ich sei tot;

and it was a great while before I came to myself.

es dauerte ziemlich lange, bis ich wieder zu mir kam.

We worked on; but the water increasing in the hold, it was apparent that the ship would founder;

Wir arbeiteten weiter, aber das Wasser im Laderaum stieg; es war offensichtlich, dass das Schiff sinken werde,

and though the storm began to abate a little; yet as it was not possible she could swim till we might run into a port,

und obwohl der Sturm ein wenig abflaute, konnten wir uns unmöglich bis zum nächsten Hafen über Wasser halten.

so the master continued firing guns for help;

Deshalb ließ der Kapitän auch weiterhin die Kanonen abfeuern, um Hilfe herbeizurufen,

and a light ship, who had rid it out just ahead of us, ventured a boat out to help us.

und ein leichtes Schiff, das ganz in unserer Nähe den Sturm vor Anker überdauert hatte, wagte es, ein Boot auszusetzen, um uns zu helfen.

It was with the utmost hazard the boat came near us, but it was impossible for as to get on board, or for the boat to lie near the ship’s side,

Unter großer Gefahr kam es näher heran, aber wir konnten weder an Bord gehen, noch vermochte das Boot längsseits unseres Schiffes anzulegen;

till at last the men rowing very heartily, and venturing their lives to save ours, our men cast them a rope over the stern with a buoy to it, and then veered it out a great length,

endlich aber warfen unsere Matrosen vom Heck aus den Leuten, die mit ganzer Kraft ruderten und ihr Leben zu unserer Rettung aufs Spiel setzten, ein Tau mit einer Boje zu und ließen es ablaufen;

which they after great labour and hazard took hold of, and we hauled them close under our stern, and got all into their boat.

jene konnten es nach großer Mühe und Gefahr fassen; wir zogen sie bis dicht unter unser Heck heran und stiegen alle in ihr Boot.

It was to no purpose for them or us, after we were in the boat, to think of reaching to their own ship;

Von hier aus war es jedoch ganz aussichtslos, ihr Schiff zu erreichen;

so all agreed to let her drive, and only to pull her in towards shore as much as we could;

darum kamen wir alle überein, das Boot treiben zu lassen und es nur so nahe wie möglich ans Ufer zu steuern;

and our master promised them, that if the boat was staved upon shore he would make it good to their master:

unser Kapitän versprach ihnen, es zu ersetzen, falls es am Ufer zerschellen sollte;

so partly rowing and partly driving, our boat went away to the northward, sloping towards the shore almost as far as Winterton-Ness.

und so fuhr unser Boot, halb gerudert, halb treibend, nordwärts schräg aufs Ufer zu, immer weiter bis fast nach Winterton Ness.

We were not much more than a quarter of an hour out of our ship but we saw her sink,

Wir hatten unser Schiff kaum eine Viertelstunde verlassen, als wir es sinken sahen,

and then I understood for the first time what was meant by a ship foundering in the sea.

und da verstand ich zum ersten Mal, was es bedeutet, wenn ein Schiff auf See scheitert.

I must acknowledge I had hardly eyes to look up when the seamen told me she was sinking;

Ich muss gestehen, dass ich kaum den Blick zu heben vermochte, als mir die Matrosen sagten, es gehe unter,

for from that moment they rather put me into the boat, than that I might be said to go in; my heart was, as it were, dead within me,

denn von dem Moment an, da sie mich ins Boot hoben – man hätte schwerlich sagen können, ich sei hineingestiegen –, war mein Herz wie tot,

partly with fright, partly with horror of mind, and the thoughts of what was yet before me.

teils vor Angst, teils vor Gemütsqualen sowie bei dem Gedanken, was mir noch bevorstand.

While we were in this condition, the men yet labouring at the oar to bring the boat near the shore,

Während wir uns in dieser Lage befanden und die Männer angestrengt ruderten, um das Boot in Küstennähe zu bringen,

we could see, when our boat mounting the waves we were able to see the shore, a great many people running along the shore to assist us when we should come near;

konnten wir von der Höhe der Wellen aus das Ufer erblicken; wir sahen auch viele Leute den Strand entlanglaufen, die uns beim Landen helfen wollten;

but we made but slow way towards the shore, nor were we able to reach the shore,

wir näherten uns aber dem Ufer nur sehr langsam und vermochten es auch erst dort zu erreichen,

till being past the light-house at Winterton, the shore falls off to the westward towards Cromer, and so the land broke off a little the violence of the wind.

wo es hinter dem Leuchtturm von Winterton nach Westen gegen Cromer hin abfällt und das Land die Heftigkeit des Sturms ein wenig brach.

Here we got in, and, though not without much difficulty, got all safe on shore,

Hier gelangten wir, wenn auch nicht ohne große Schwierigkeiten, endlich alle wohlbehalten ans Ufer;

and walked afterwards on foot to Yarmouth, where, as unfortunate men, we were used with great humanity,

danach gingen wir zu Fuß nach Yarmouth, wo wir als Schiffbrüchige sehr freundlich behandelt wurden,

as well by the magistrates of the town, who assigned us good quarters, as by particular merchants and owners of ships,

sowohl von der Obrigkeit der Stadt, die uns gute Quartiere anwies, als auch von Privatkaufleuten und Schiffseigentümern,

and had money given us sufficient to carry us either to London or back to Hull, as we thought fit.

und man gab uns ausreichend Geld, um nach London oder zurück nach Hull zu reisen, wie es uns beliebte.

Had I now had the sense to have gone back to Hull, and have gone home, I had been happy,

Wenn ich jetzt genügend Verstand gehabt hätte, nach Hull zurückzufahren und heimzukehren, wäre ich glücklich geworden,

and my father, an emblem of our blessed Saviour’s parable, had even killed the fatted calf for me;

und mein Vater hätte – sinnbildlich wie im Gleichnis unseres Heilands – sogar das gemästete Kalb für mich geschlachtet,

for hearing the ship I went away in was cast away in Yarmouth Roads,

denn nachdem er gehört hatte, dass mein Schiff auf der Reede von Yarmouth gesunken war,

it was a great while before he had any assurance that I was not drowned.

dauerte es lange, bis er Gewissheit darüber erhielt, dass ich nicht ertrunken war.

But my ill fate pushed me on now with an obstinacy that nothing could resist;

Mein böses Geschick aber trieb mich jetzt mit einer Hartnäckigkeit voran, der nichts zu widerstehen vermochte,

and though I had several times loud calls from my reason and my more composed judgment to go home, yet I had no power to do it.

und obwohl meine Vernunft und mein besseres Wissen mehrfach vernehmlich von mir forderten, nach Hause zu fahren, hatte ich nicht die Kraft, es zu tun.

I know not what to call this, nor will I urge that it is a secret over-ruling decree

Ich weiß nicht, wie ich es nennen soll, und ich will auch nicht behaupten, dass es ein geheimes übermächtiges Schicksal ist,

that hurries us on to be the instruments of our own destruction,

das uns treibt, zu Werkzeugen unseres eigenen Verderbens zu werden,

even though it be before us, and that we push upon it with our eyes open.

sogar dann, wenn es unmittelbar vor uns liegt und wir mit offenen Augen hineinrennen.

Certainly nothing but some such decreed unavoidable misery attending, and which it was impossible for me to escape, could have pushed me forward

Gewiss vermochte nur ein unabwendbar über mich beschlossenes Verhängnis, dem ich in keiner Weise entgehen konnte, mich vorwärtszustoßen,

against the calm reasonings and persuasions of my most retired thoughts, and against two such visible instructions as I had met with in my first attempt.

trotz der Vernunft und Überzeugungskraft meiner innersten Gedanken und ungeachtet zweier so sichtbarer Lektionen, wie ich sie bei meinem ersten Versuch erhalten hatte.

My comrade, who had helped to harden me before, and who was the master’s son, was now less forward than I.

Mein Kamerad, der Sohn des Kapitäns, der zuvor zu meiner Verstocktheit beigetragen hatte, war jetzt viel kleinlauter als ich.

The first time he spoke to me after we were at Yarmouth, which was not till two or three days,

Bei unserem ersten Gespräch nach unserer Ankunft in Yarmouth – und das fand erst nach zwei, drei Tagen statt,

for we were separated in the town to several quarters; I say, the first time he saw me, it appeared his tone was altered,

da man uns in der Stadt auf verschiedene Quartiere verteilt hatte –, bei unserem ersten Wiedersehen also schien sich sein Ton verändert zu haben;

and looking very melancholy, and shaking his head, asked me how I did,

er sah sehr trübsinnig aus, schüttelte den Kopf und fragte, wie es mir gehe;

and telling his father who I was, and how I had come this voyage only for a trial, in order to go farther abroad;

dann erzählte er seinem Vater, wer ich sei und dass ich diese Seereise nur versuchsweise unternommen hätte, um dann weiter fort ins Ausland zu fahren.

his father turning to me with a very grave and concerned tone, “Young man,” says he, “you ought never to go to sea any more;

Sein Vater wandte sich mir zu und sagte in sehr ernstem und beunruhigtem Ton: »Junger Mann, Ihr solltet nie wieder zur See fahren.

you ought to take this for a plain and visible token that you are not to be a seafaring man.”

Ihr solltet das als deutlich sichtbares Zeichen auffassen, dass Ihr kein Seemann werden dürft.«

— “Why, Sir,” said I, “will you go to sea no more?” “That is another case,” said he;

– »Wieso, Sir«, antwortete ich, »wollt Ihr denn auch nicht wieder zur See fahren?« – »Das ist etwas anderes«, erklärte er,

“it is my calling, and therefore my duty; but as you made this voyage for a trial,

»es ist mein Beruf und darum meine Pflicht; da Ihr diese Reise aber als Versuch unternommen habt,

you see what a taste Heaven has given you of what you are to expect if you persist:

so seht Ihr ja, was für einen Vorgeschmack Euch der Himmel von dem, was Ihr erwarten könnt, gegeben hat, falls Ihr darauf besteht.

perhaps this is all befallen us on your account, like Jonah in the ship of Tarshish.

Vielleicht habt Ihr das alles über uns gebracht wie Jona auf dem Schiff nach Tarsis.

Pray,” continues he, “what are you? and on what account did you go to sea?”

Bitte, was seid Ihr«, fuhr er fort, »und aus welchem Grund seid Ihr auf See gegangen?«

Upon that I told him some of my story; at the end of which he burst out with a strange kind of passion;

Daraufhin erzählte ich ihm etwas von meiner Geschichte, und als ich geendet hatte, wurde er merkwürdig zornig.

“What had I done,” says he, “that such an unhappy wretch should come into my ship?

»Was habe ich nur getan«, sagte er, »dass ein so unglückseliger Kerl auf mein Schiff kommen musste?

I would not set my foot in the same ship with thee again for a thousand pounds.”

Nicht für tausend Pfund würde ich den Fuß wieder auf das gleiche Schiff mit Euch setzen!«

This indeed was, as I said, an excursion of his spirits, which were yet agitated by the sense of his loss, and was farther than he could have authority to go.

Er hatte, wie gesagt, die Beherrschung verloren und ging – noch erregt über seinen Verlust – weiter, als es ihm mir gegenüber zustand.

However, he afterwards talked very gravely to me, exhorted me to go back to my father, and not tempt Providence to my ruin;

Danach aber sprach er sehr ernst mit mir, ermahnte mich, zu meinem Vater zurückzukehren und nicht zu meinem Verderben das Schicksal herauszufordern;

told me I might see a visible hand of Heaven against me. “And young man,” said he, “depend upon it,

er erklärte, ich könne darin die sichtbare Hand des Himmels gegen mich erkennen, und fuhr fort: »Junger Mann, verlasst Euch darauf,

if you do not go back, wherever you go, you will meet with nothing but disasters and disappointments, till your father’s words are fulfilled upon you.”

wenn Ihr nicht zurückkehrt, wird Euch nichts als Unglück und Enttäuschung begegnen, wohin Ihr Euch auch wendet, bis sich die Worte Eures Vaters an Euch erfüllt haben.«

We parted soon after; for I made him little answer, and I saw him no more: which way he went, I know not.

Kurz danach trennten wir uns, denn ich antwortete ihm kaum darauf und sah ihn auch nie wieder; wohin er ging, weiß ich nicht.

As for me, having some money in my pocket, I travelled to London by land;

Was mich betrifft, so reiste ich, da ich etwas Geld in der Tasche hatte, über Land nach London

and there, as well as on the road, had many struggles with myself, what course of life I should take, and whether I should go home, or go to sea.

und rang dort wie auch unterwegs immer wieder mit der Frage, welchen Lebensweg ich wählen und ob ich heimkehren oder zur See gehen sollte.

As to going home, shame opposed the best motions that offered to my thoughts;

Was die Heimkehr betrifft, so verdrängte die Scham alle besseren Überlegungen, die ich anstellte,

and it immediately occurred to me how I should be laughed at among the neighbours, and should be ashamed to see,

und mir fiel sogleich ein, dass die Nachbarn über mich lachen würden und dass es für mich beschämend wäre,

not my father and mother only, but even every body else;

nicht nur vor Vater und Mutter, sondern auch vor alle Übrigen hinzutreten.

from whence I have since often observed, how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth,

Seitdem habe ich häufig beobachtet, wie widersinnig und unvernünftig gewöhnlich der Charakter der Menschen, besonders der der Jugendlichen ist –

to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases, viz. that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent;

wie sehr der Vernunft entgegengerichtet, die sie in solchen Fällen lenken sollte, nämlich, dass sie sich zwar nicht schämen, eine Sünde zu begehen, wohl aber, sie zu bereuen –

nor ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools,

dass sie sich der Tat nicht schämen, um derentwillen man sie gerechterweise für Narren halten muss,

but are ashamed of the returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men.

aber Scham empfinden umzukehren, was allein dazu führen könnte, dass man sie für weise Menschen hielte.

In this state of life however I remained some time, uncertain what measures to take, and what course of life to lead.

In diesem Zustand blieb ich noch einige Zeit und schwankte, welche Maßnahmen ich treffen und was für eine Laufbahn ich wählen sollte.

An irresistible reluctance continued to going home; and as I stayed a while, the remembrance of the distress I had been in wore off;

Meine unwiderstehliche Abneigung gegen die Heimkehr hielt an, und nachdem ich eine Weile in London geblieben war, verblasste die Erinnerung an die durchstandene Not

and as that abated, the little motion I had in my desires to a return wore off with it,

und mit ihr auch der schwache Wunsch nach einer Rückkehr, der sich in mir geregt hatte.

till at last I quite laid aside the thoughts of it, and looked out for a voyage.

Schließlich schob ich den Gedanken daran ganz beiseite und sah mich nach einer Seereise um.

THE LIFE,
AND STRANGE SURPRIZING
ADVENTURES
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE,
OF YORK, MARINER:

who lived eight and twenty years all alone in an un-inhabited island on the coast of America, near the mouth of the great river Oroonoque;
having been cast on shore by shipwreck, wherein all the men perished but himself.
With an account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by pyrates.

Written by himself.

PREFACE

IF ever the story of any private man’s adventures in the world were worth making public, and were acceptable when published, the Editor of this account thinks this will be so.

The wonders of this man’s life exceed all that (he thinks) is to be found extant; the life of one man being scarce capable of a greater variety.

The story is told with modesty, with seriousness, and with a religious application of events to the uses to which wise men always apply them, viz. to the instruction of others by this example, and to justify and honour the wisdom of Providence in all the variety of our circumstances, let them happen how they will.

The editor believes this narrative to be a just history of fact; neither is there any appearance of fiction in it. However this may be (for all such things are disputed), he is of opinion that the improvement of it, as well as the diversion, as to the instruction of the reader, will be the same; and as such, he thinks, without farther compliment to the world, he does them a great service in the publication.

CHAPTER I

I WAS born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull: he got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now called, nay we call ourselves, and write our name Crusoe, and so my companions always called me.

I had two elder brothers, one of which was lieutenant-colonel to an English regiment of foot in Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart, and was killed at the battle near Dunkirk against the Spaniards. What became of my second brother I never knew, any more than my father or mother did know what was become of me.

Being the third son of the family, and not bred to any trade, my head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts: my father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent share of learning, as far as house education and a country free-school generally go, and designed me for the law; but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea; and my inclination to this led me so strongly against the will, nay the commands of my father, and against all the entreaties and persuasions of my mother and other friends, that there seemed to be something fatal in that propension of nature tending directly to the life of misery which was to befal me.

My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious and excellent counsel against what he foresaw was my design. He called me one morning into his chamber, where he was confined by the gout, and expostulated very warmly with me upon this subject: he asked me what reasons more than a mere wandering inclination I had for leaving my father’s house and my native country, where I might be well introduced, and had a prospect of raising my fortune by application and industry, with a life of ease and pleasure. He told me it was for men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring superior fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road; that these things were all either too far above me, or too far below me; that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found by long experience was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labour and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind, he told me, I might judge of the happiness of this state by this one thing, viz. that this was the state of life which all other people envied; that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequences of being born to great things, and wish they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great; that the wise man gave his testimony to this as the just standard of true felicity, when he prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.

He bid me observe it, and I should always find, that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind; but that the middle station had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind; nay, they were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasinesses, either of body or mind, as those were, who by vicious living, luxury, and extravagances, on one hand, or by hard labour, want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet, on the other hand, bring distempers upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living; that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtues and all kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way men went silently and smoothly through the world, and comfortably out of it, not embarrassed with the labours of the hands or of the head, not sold to the life of slavery for daily bread, or harassed with perplexed circumstances, which rob the soul of peace, and the body of rest; not enraged with the passion of envy, or secret burning lust of ambition for great things; but in easy circumstances sliding gently through the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without the bitter, feeling that they are happy, and learning by every day’s experience to know it more sensibly.

After this, he pressed me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner, not to play the young man, not to precipitate myself into miseries which nature and the station of life I was born in seemed to have provided against; that I was under no necessity of seeking my bread; that he would do well for me, and endeavour to enter me fairly into the station of life which he had been just recommending to me; and that if I was not very easy and happy in the world, it must be my mere fate or fault that must hinder it, and that he should have nothing to answer for, having thus discharged his duty in warning me against measures which he knew would be to my hurt: in a word, that as he would do very kind things for me if I would stay and settle at home as he directed, so he would not have so much hand in my misfortunes, as to give me any encouragement to go away: and to close all, he told me I had my elder brother for an example, to whom he had used the same earnest persuasions to keep him from going into the Low Country wars, but could not prevail, his young desires prompting him to run into the army, where he was killed; and though he said he would not cease to pray for me, yet he would venture to say to me, that if I did take this foolish step, God would not bless me, and I would have leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his counsel when there might be none to assist in my recovery.

I observed in this last part of his discourse, which was truly prophetic, though I suppose my father did not know it to be so himself; I say, I observed the tears run down his face very plentifully, and especially when he spoke of my brother who was killed; and that when he spoke of my having leisure to repent, and none to assist me, he was so moved, that he broke off the discourse, and told me, his heart was so full he could say no more to me.

I was sincerely affected with this discourse, as indeed who could be otherwise? and I resolved not to think of going abroad any more, but to settle at home according to my father’s desire. But, alas! a few days wore it all off; and in short, to prevent any of my father’s farther importunities, in a few weeks after I resolved to run quite away from him. However, I did not act so hastily neither as my first heat of resolution prompted, but I took my mother, at a time when I thought her a little pleasanter than ordinary, and told her, that my thoughts were so entirely bent upon seeing the world, that I should never settle to any thing with resolution enough to go through with it, and my father had better give me his consent than force me to go without it; that I was now eighteen years old, which was too late to go apprentice to a trade, or clerk to an attorney; that I was sure, if I did, I should never serve out my time, and I should certainly run away from my master before my time was out, and go to sea; and if she would speak to my father to let me go one voyage abroad, if I came home again, and did not like it, I would go no more, and I would promise by a double diligence to recover that time I had lost.

This put my mother into a great passion: she told me, she knew it would be to no purpose to speak to my father upon any such subject; that he knew too well what was my interest to give his consent to any such thing so much for my hurt; and that she wondered how I could think of any such thing after such a discourse as I had had with my father, and such kind and tender expressions as she knew my father had used to me; and that, in short, if I would ruin myself, there was no help for me; but I might depend I should never have their consent to it: that for her part she would not have so much hand in my destruction; and I should never have it to say, that my mother was willing when my father was not.

Though my mother refused to move it to my father, yet, as I have heard afterwards, she reported all the discourse to him, and that my father, after shewing a great concern at it, said to her with a sigh, “That boy might be happy if he would stay at home; but if he goes abroad, he will be the most miserable wretch that was ever born; I can give no consent to it.”

It was not till almost a year after this that I broke loose, though, in the meantime, I continued obstinately deaf to all proposals of settling to business, and frequently expostulating with my father and mother about their being so positively determined against what they knew my inclinations prompted me to. But being one day at Hull, where I went casually, and without any purpose of making an elopement that time; but I say, being there, and one of my companions being going by sea to London, in his father’s ship, and prompting me to go with them, with the common allurement of seafaring men, viz. that it should cost me nothing for my passage, I consulted neither father or mother any more, not so much as sent them word of it; but leaving them to hear of it as they might, without asking God’s blessing, or my father’s, without any consideration of circumstances or consequences, and in an ill hour, God knows, on the first of September, 1651, I went on board a ship bound for London. Never any young adventurer’s misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer than mine. The ship was no sooner gotten out of the Humber, but the wind began to blow, and the waves to rise in a most frightful manner; and, as I had never been at sea before, I was most inexpressibly sick in body, and terrified in mind. I began now seriously to reflect upon what I had done, and how justly I was overtaken by the judgment of Heaven for my wicked leaving my father’s house, and abandoning my duty; all the good counsel of my parents, my father’s tears and my mother’s entreaties, came now fresh into my mind; and my conscience, which was not yet come to the pitch of hardness to which it has been since, reproached me with the contempt of advice, and the breach of my duty to God and my father.

All this while the storm increased, and the sea, which I had never been upon before, went very high, though nothing like what I have seen many times since; no, nor like what I saw a few days after: but it was enough to affect me then, who was but a young sailor, and had never known any thing of the matter. I expected every wave would have swallowed us up, and that every time the ship fell down, as I thought, in the trough or hollow of the sea, we should never rise more; and in this agony of mind I made many vows and resolutions, that if it would please God here to spare my life this one voyage, if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again I would go directly home to my father, and never set it into a ship again while I lived; that I would take his advice, and never run myself into such miseries as these any more. Now I saw plainly the goodness of his observations about the middle station of life, how easy, how comfortably he had lived all his days, and never had been exposed to tempests at sea, or troubles on shore; and I resolved that I would, like a true repenting prodigal, go home to my father.

These wise and sober thoughts continued all the while the storm continued, and indeed some time after; but the next day the wind was abated, and the sea calmer, and I began to be a little inured to it: however, I was very grave for all that day, being also a little sea-sick still; but towards night the weather cleared up, the wind was quite over, and a charming fine evening followed; the sun went down perfectly clear, and rose so the next morning; and having little or no wind, and a smooth sea, the sun shining upon it, the sight was, as I thought, the most delightful that ever I saw.

I had slept well in the night, and was now no more sea-sick, but very cheerful, looking with wonder upon the sea that was so rough and terrible the day before, and could be so calm and so pleasant in so little time after. And now, lest my good resolutions should continue, my companion, who had indeed enticed me away, comes to me: “Well, Bob,” says he, (clapping me upon the shoulder) “how do you do after it? I warrant you were frighted, wa’n’t you, last night, when it blew but a capful of wind?” — “A capful do you call it?” said I; “it was a terrible storm.” — “A storm you fool you,” replied he, “do you call that a storm? why it was nothing at all; give us but a good ship and sea-room, and we think nothing of such a squall of wind as that; but you’re but a fresh-water sailor, Bob. Come, let us make a bowl of punch, and we’ll forget all that; do you see what charming weather it is now?” To make short this sad part of my story, we went the old way of all sailors; the punch was made, and I was made drunk with it; and in that one night’s wickedness I drowned all my repentance, all my reflections upon my past conduct, and all my resolutions for my future. In a word, as the sea was returned to its smoothness of surface and settled calmness by the abatement of that storm, so the hurry of my thoughts being over, my fears and apprehensions of being swallowed up by the sea being forgotten, and the current of my former desires returned, I entirely forgot the vows and promises that I made in my distress. I found, indeed, some intervals of reflection, and the serious thoughts did, as it were, endeavour to return again sometimes; but I shook them off, and roused myself from them as it were from a distemper, and applying myself to drinking and company, soon mastered the return of those fits, for so I called them; and I had in five or six days got as complete a victory over conscience, as any young fellow that resolved not to be troubled with it could desire: but I was to have another trial for it still; and Providence, as in such cases generally it does, resolved to leave me entirely without excuse: for if I would not take this for a deliverance, the next was to be such a one as the worst and most hardened wretch among us would confess both the danger and the mercy.

The sixth day of our being at sea we came into Yarmouth Roads; the wind having been contrary, and the weather calm, we had made but little way since the storm. Here we were obliged to come to anchor, and here we lay, the wind continuing contrary, viz. at south-west, for seven or eight days, during which time a great many ships from Newcastle came into the same roads, as the common harbour where the ships might wait for a wind for the river.

We had not, however, rid here so long, but should have tided it up the river, but that the wind blew too fresh; and after we had lain four or five days, blew very hard. However, the roads being reckoned as good as a harbour, the anchorage good, and our ground tackle very strong, our men were unconcerned, and not in the least apprehensive of danger, but spent the time in rest and mirth, after the manner of the sea; but the eighth day in the morning the wind increased, and we had all hands at work to strike our topmasts, and make every thing snug and close, that the ship might ride as easy as possible. By noon the sea went very high indeed, and our ship rid forecastle in, shipped several seas, and we thought once or twice our anchor had come home; upon which our master ordered out the sheet anchor; so that we rode with two anchors ahead, and the cables veered out to the better end.

By this time it blew a terrible storm indeed; and now I began to see terror and amazement in the faces even of the seamen themselves. The master, though vigilant in the business of preserving the ship, yet as he went in and out of his cabin by me, I could hear him softly to himself say several times, “Lord be merciful to us! we shall be all lost, we shall be all undone!” and the like. During these first hurries I was stupid, lying still in my cabin, which was in the steerage, and cannot describe my temper: I could ill reassume the first penitence which I had so apparently trampled upon, and hardened myself against: I thought the bitterness of death had been past, and that this would be nothing like the first: but when the master himself came by me, as I said just now, and said we should be all lost, I was dreadfully frighted: I got up out of my cabin, and looked out; but such a dismal sight I never saw; the sea went mountains high, and broke upon us every three or four minutes: when I could look about, I could see nothing but distress round us: two ships that rid near us, we found, had cut their masts by the board, being deep loaden; and our men cried out, that a ship which rid about a mile ahead of us was foundered. Two more ships being driven from their anchors, were run out of the roads to sea, at all adventures, and that with not a mast standing. The light ships fared the best, as not so much labouring in the sea; but two or three of them drove, and came close by us, running away with only their sprit-sail out before the wind.

Towards evening the mate and boatswain begged the master of our ship to let them cut away the fore-mast, which he was very unwilling to do: but the boatswain protesting to him, that if he did not, the ship would founder, he consented; and when they had cut away the fore-mast, the main-mast stood so loose, and shook the ship so much, they were obliged to cut her away also, and make a clear deck.

Any one may judge what a condition I must be in at all this, who was but a young sailor, and who had been in such a fright before at but a little. But if I can express at this distance the thoughts I had about me at that time, I was in tenfold more horror of mind upon account of my former convictions, and the having returned from them to the resolutions I had wickedly taken at first, than I was at death itself; and these, added to the terror of the storm, put me in such a condition, that I can by no words describe it. But the worst was not come yet; the storm continued with such fury, that the seamen themselves acknowledged they had never known a worse. We had a good ship, but she was deep loaden, and wallowed in the sea, that the seamen every now and then cried out, she would founder. It was my advantage in one respect, that I did not know what they meant by founder till I inquired. However, the storm was so violent, that I saw what is not often seen, the master, the boatswain, and some others more sensible than the rest, at their prayers, and expecting every moment when the ship would go to the bottom. In the middle of the night, and under all the rest of our distresses, one of the men that had been down on purpose to see, cried out, we had sprang a leak; another said, there was four foot water in the hold. Then all hands were called to the pump. At that very word my heart, as I thought, died within me, and I fell backwards upon the side of my bed where I sat, into the cabin. However, the men roused me, and told me, that I that was able to do nothing before, was as well able to pump as another; at which I stirred up, and went to the pump and worked very heartily. While this was doing, the master seeing some light colliers, who, not able to ride out the storm, were obliged to slip and run away to sea, and would come near us, ordered to fire a gun as a signal of distress. I, who knew nothing what that meant, was so surprised, that I thought the ship had broke, or some dreadful thing happened. In a word, I was so surprised, that I fell down in a swoon. As this was a time when every body had his own life to think of, nobody minded me, or what was become of me; but another man stept up to the pump, and thrusting me aside with his foot, let me lie, thinking I had been dead; and it was a great while before I came to myself.

We worked on; but the water increasing in the hold, it was apparent that the ship would founder; and though the storm began to abate a little; yet as it was not possible she could swim till we might run into a port, so the master continued firing guns for help; and a light ship, who had rid it out just ahead of us, ventured a boat out to help us. It was with the utmost hazard the boat came near us, but it was impossible for as to get on board, or for the boat to lie near the ship’s side, till at last the men rowing very heartily, and venturing their lives to save ours, our men cast them a rope over the stern with a buoy to it, and then veered it out a great length, which they after great labour and hazard took hold of, and we hauled them close under our stern, and got all into their boat. It was to no purpose for them or us, after we were in the boat, to think of reaching to their own ship; so all agreed to let her drive, and only to pull her in towards shore as much as we could; and our master promised them, that if the boat was staved upon shore he would make it good to their master: so partly rowing and partly driving, our boat went away to the northward, sloping towards the shore almost as far as Winterton-Ness.

We were not much more than a quarter of an hour out of our ship but we saw her sink, and then I understood for the first time what was meant by a ship foundering in the sea. I must acknowledge I had hardly eyes to look up when the seamen told me she was sinking; for from that moment they rather put me into the boat, than that I might be said to go in; my heart was, as it were, dead within me, partly with fright, partly with horror of mind, and the thoughts of what was yet before me.

While we were in this condition, the men yet labouring at the oar to bring the boat near the shore, we could see, when our boat mounting the waves we were able to see the shore, a great many people running along the shore to assist us when we should come near; but we made but slow way towards the shore, nor were we able to reach the shore, till being past the light-house at Winterton, the shore falls off to the westward towards Cromer, and so the land broke off a little the violence of the wind. Here we got in, and, though not without much difficulty, got all safe on shore, and walked afterwards on foot to Yarmouth, where, as unfortunate men, we were used with great humanity, as well by the magistrates of the town, who assigned us good quarters, as by particular merchants and owners of ships, and had money given us sufficient to carry us either to London or back to Hull, as we thought fit.

Had I now had the sense to have gone back to Hull, and have gone home, I had been happy, and my father, an emblem of our blessed Saviour’s parable, had even killed the fatted calf for me; for hearing the ship I went away in was cast away in Yarmouth Roads, it was a great while before he had any assurance that I was not drowned.

But my ill fate pushed me on now with an obstinacy that nothing could resist; and though I had several times loud calls from my reason and my more composed judgment to go home, yet I had no power to do it. I know not what to call this, nor will I urge that it is a secret over-ruling decree that hurries us on to be the instruments of our own destruction, even though it be before us, and that we push upon it with our eyes open. Certainly nothing but some such decreed unavoidable misery attending, and which it was impossible for me to escape, could have pushed me forward against the calm reasonings and persuasions of my most retired thoughts, and against two such visible instructions as I had met with in my first attempt.

My comrade, who had helped to harden me before, and who was the master’s son, was now less forward than I. The first time he spoke to me after we were at Yarmouth, which was not till two or three days, for we were separated in the town to several quarters; I say, the first time he saw me, it appeared his tone was altered, and looking very melancholy, and shaking his head, asked me how I did, and telling his father who I was, and how I had come this voyage only for a trial, in order to go farther abroad; his father turning to me with a very grave and concerned tone, “Young man,” says he, “you ought never to go to sea any more; you ought to take this for a plain and visible token that you are not to be a seafaring man.” — “Why, Sir,” said I, “will you go to sea no more?” “That is another case,” said he; “it is my calling, and therefore my duty; but as you made this voyage for a trial, you see what a taste Heaven has given you of what you are to expect if you persist: perhaps this is all befallen us on your account, like Jonah in the ship of Tarshish. Pray,” continues he, “what are you? and on what account did you go to sea?” Upon that I told him some of my story; at the end of which he burst out with a strange kind of passion; “What had I done,” says he, “that such an unhappy wretch should come into my ship? I would not set my foot in the same ship with thee again for a thousand pounds.” This indeed was, as I said, an excursion of his spirits, which were yet agitated by the sense of his loss, and was farther than he could have authority to go. However, he afterwards talked very gravely to me, exhorted me to go back to my father, and not tempt Providence to my ruin; told me I might see a visible hand of Heaven against me. “And young man,” said he, “depend upon it, if you do not go back, wherever you go, you will meet with nothing but disasters and disappointments, till your father’s words are fulfilled upon you.”

We parted soon after; for I made him little answer, and I saw him no more: which way he went, I know not. As for me, having some money in my pocket, I travelled to London by land; and there, as well as on the road, had many struggles with myself, what course of life I should take, and whether I should go home, or go to sea.

As to going home, shame opposed the best motions that offered to my thoughts; and it immediately occurred to me how I should be laughed at among the neighbours, and should be ashamed to see, not my father and mother only, but even every body else; from whence I have since often observed, how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases, viz. that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; nor ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men.

In this state of life however I remained some time, uncertain what measures to take, and what course of life to lead. An irresistible reluctance continued to going home; and as I stayed a while, the remembrance of the distress I had been in wore off; and as that abated, the little motion I had in my desires to a return wore off with it, till at last I quite laid aside the thoughts of it, and looked out for a voyage.