of them for above two days; and I was afraid to inquire after
them,” said he, “for I had nothing to relieve them with.” We
immediately applied ourselves to give them what relief we could
spare; and indeed I had so far overruled things with my nephew,
that I would have victualled them though we had gone away to
Virginia, or any other part of the coast of America, to have
supplied ourselves; but there was no necessity for that.
But now they were in a new danger; for they were afraid of eating
too much, even of that little we gave them. The mate, or
commander, brought six men with him in his boat; but these poor
wretches looked like skeletons, and were so weak that they could
hardly sit to their oars. The mate himself was very ill, and half
starved; for he declared he had reserved nothing from the men, and
went share and share alike with them in every bit they ate. I
cautioned him to eat sparingly, and set meat before him
immediately, but he had not eaten three mouthfuls before he began
to be sick and out of order; so he stopped a while, and our surgeon
mixed him up something with some broth, which he said would be to
him both food and physic; and after he had taken it he grew better.
In the meantime I forgot not the men. I ordered victuals to be
given them, and the poor creatures rather devoured than ate it:
they were so exceedingly hungry that they were in a manner
ravenous, and had no command of themselves; and two of them ate
with so much greediness that they were in danger of their lives the
next morning. The sight of these people’s distress was very moving
to me, and brought to mind what I had a terrible prospect of at my
first coming on shore in my island, where I had not the least
mouthful of food, or any prospect of procuring any; besides the
hourly apprehensions I had of being made the food of other
creatures. But all the while the mate was thus relating to me the
miserable condition of the ship’s company, I could not put out of
my thought the story he had told me of the three poor creatures in
the great cabin, viz. the mother, her son, and the maid-servant,
whom he had heard nothing of for two or three days, and whom, he
seemed to confess, they had wholly neglected, their own extremities
being so great; by which I understood that they had really given
them no food at all, and that therefore they must be perished, and
be all lying dead, perhaps, on the floor or deck of the cabin.
As I therefore kept the mate, whom we then called captain, on board
with his men, to refresh them, so I also forgot not the starving
crew that were left on board, but ordered my own boat to go on
board the ship, and, with my mate and twelve men, to carry them a
sack of bread, and four or five pieces of beef to boil. Our
surgeon charged the men to cause the meat to be boiled while they
stayed, and to keep guard in the cook-room, to prevent the men
taking it to eat raw, or taking it out of the pot before it was
well boiled, and then to give every man but a very little at a
time: and by this caution he preserved the men, who would
otherwise have killed themselves with that very food that was given
them on purpose to save their lives.
At the same time I ordered the mate to go into the great cabin, and
see what condition the poor passengers were in; and if they were
alive, to comfort them, and give them what refreshment was proper:
and the surgeon gave him a large pitcher, with some of the prepared
broth which he had given the mate that was on board, and which he
did not question would restore them gradually. I was not satisfied
with this; but, as I said above, having a great mind to see the