I have found another character to add to my “Host of Characters” list. The Life, Adventures, and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton, was an absorbing story and besides Captain Singleton included other interesting characters. One such character was William, the ships surgeon. William was a Quaker who had been dragged off another ship by force by the pirates. (He wasn’t really forced he just acted as though he was.) William had secretly wanted to become a pirate in order to accumulate some wealth. William was to become Captain Singleton trusted advisory and faithful comrade.
Slave, servant, adventurer, pirate, and now captain of a pirate ship Captain Singleton has had many encounters with natives of foreign lands. Some of these encounters were friendly and beneficial, while others like the one I am about to describe were fraught with difficulties.
While visiting an island in the Indian Ocean Captain Singleton and some of his crew encountered the natives. The natives, not taking their visit too kindly fired arrows and threw spears at Captain Singleton and his crew. One of the crew was killed and several were injured. When the crew returned fire with their muskets the Indians retired to a large hollowed out tree that acted like their fortress. The Indians continued their assault on the invaders from the safety of their tree fortress.
Captain Singleton and his crew tried to blast the attackers out with their muskets and then with some ships cannon; to no avail, the tree like a true fortress withstood all of these attacks. Next the ships crew tried to smoke out the inhabitants of the fortress, but they didn’t realize that the tree sat on top of a cave. Not only was the cave used for the combatants to escape these assaults, but the cave was connected to another cave further out. The cave was only discovered after Captain Singleton and his crew applied several barrels of gun-powder to the tree. The powder did the trick and the tree and all that were beneath the tree was destroyed. It was a beastly sight!
The Life, Adventures, and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton, Daniel Defoe.
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