tide, and was driven up
almost as far as the rock which I at first mentioned, where I had been
so bruised by the wave dashing me against it. This being within about a
mile from the shore where I was, and the ship seeming to stand upright
still, I wished myself on board, that at least I might save some
necessary things for my use.

When I came down from my apartment in the tree, I looked about me again,
and the first thing I found was the boat; which lay, as the wind and the
sea had tossed her up, upon the land, about two miles on my right hand.
I walked as far as I could upon the shore to have got to her; but found
a neck, or inlet, of water between me and the boat, which was about half
a mile broad; so I came back for the present, being more intent upon
getting at the ship, where I hoped to find something for my present
subsistence.

A little after noon, I found the sea very calm, and the tide ebbed so
far out, that I could come within a quarter of a mile of the ship: and
here I found a fresh renewing of my grief; for I saw evidently, that if
we had kept on board, we had been all safe; that is to say, we had all
got safe on shore, and I had not been so miserable as to be left
entirely destitute of all comfort and company, as I now was. This forced
tears from my eyes again; but as there was little relief in that, I
resolved, if possible, to get to the ship; so I pulled off my clothes,
for the weather was hot to extremity, and took the water; but when I
came to the ship, my difficulty was still greater to know how to get on
board; for as she lay aground, and high out of the water, there was
nothing within my reach to lay hold of. I swam round her twice, and the
second time I spied a small piece of a rope, which I wondered I did 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 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, that 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 e