not see at first,
hang down by the fore-chains so low as that with great difficulty I got
hold of it, and by the help of that rope got up into the forecastle of
the ship. Here I found that the ship was bulged, and had a great deal of
water in her hold, but that she lay so on the side of a bank of hard
sand, or rather earth, and her stern lay lifted up upon the bank, and
her head low almost to the water: by this means all her quarter was
free, and all that was in that part was dry; for you may be sure my
first work was to search and to see what was spoiled and what was free;
and first I found that all the ship's provisions were dry and untouched
by the water; and being very well disposed to eat, I went to the
bread-room and filled my pockets with bisket, and ate it as I went about
other things, for I had no time to lose. I also found some rum in the
great cabin, of which I took a large drain, and which I had indeed need
enough of to spirit me for what was before me. Now I wanted nothing but
a boat to furnish myself with many things which I foresaw would be very
necessary to me.

It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be had; and
this extremity roused my application. We had several spare yards, and
two or three large spars of wood, and a spare topmast or two in the
ship; I resolved to fall to work with these, and flung as many of them
overboard as I could manage of their weight, tying every one with a
rope, that they might not drive away. When this was done I went down the
ship's side, and pulling them to me, I tied four of them fast together
at both ends as well as I could, in the form of a raft, and laying two
or three short pieces of plank upon them crossways, I found I could walk
upon it very well, but that it was not able to bear any great weight,
the pieces being too light; so I went to work, and with the carpenter's
saw I cut a spare topmast into three lengths, and added them to my raft,
with a great deal of labour and pains; but hope of furnishing myself
with necessaries encouraged me to go beyond what I should have been able
to have done upon another occasion.

My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight; my next
care was what to load it with, and how to preserve what I laid upon it
from the surf of the sea; but I was not long considering this: I first
laid all the planks or boards upon it that I could get, and having
considered well what I most wanted, I first got three of the