Admittedly the nerds have spent the past few weeks recovering from a very serious “dispute” with pneumonia. During our illness, we had the opportunity to watch several popular movies from the 1980s through the early 2000s, including the 1986 groundbreaking film The Transformers. However, it was the 2000 drama Cast Away that caught our attention. After watching this movie we started to look for any 18th century accounts of individuals who were stranded on faraway islands and lived to tell their story.
Almost immediately, we stumbled across Phillip Ashton and his 1725 account entitled Ashton's memorial: An history of the strange adventures, and signal deliverances, of Mr. Philip Ashton.
Phillip Ashton was born in Marblehead in 1702. When he was twenty years old, he was employed as a fisherman on the Schooner Milton. According to Ashton, on June 15, 1722, he and five other crewmates were off of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia. At approximately four o’clock in the afternoon, the crew finished their work for the day and anchored at Port Rossaway. Shortly thereafter, a brigantine was observed bearing down on their vessel. At the time, Ashton and his fellow fisherman thought nothing of it and assumed it was another New England ship preparing to drop anchor for the night.
Suddenly, “a Boat from the Brigantine, with Four hands, came along side of us, and the Men Jumpt in upon our Deck, without our suspecting anything but that they were Friends, come on board to visit, or inquire what News; till they drew their Cutlashes and Pistols from under their Clothes, and Cock'd the one and Brandish'd the other, and began to Curse & Swear at us, and demanded a Surrender of our Selves and Vessel to them . . .being in no Capacity to make any Resistance, were necessitated to submit our selves to their will and pleasure.”
It turned out the raiders were under the command of the famed English pirate Edward Low. The entire crew was seized, forcibly transferred over to the brigantine and thrown into the hold for several hours. Afterwards, Ashton was transferred to a captured “Schooner belonging to Mr. Orn of Marblehead, which the Pirates made use of for a sort of a Prison.”
The next day the fisherman and his crewmates were brought back to Low’s brigantine. Once on board, the pirate simply asked Ashton if he was married. When he refused to answer, Low “Cock'd his Pistol, and clapt it to my Head, and cryed out, You D-g! why don't you Answer me? and Swore vehemently, he would shoot me thro' the Head, if I did not tell him immediately, whether I was Married or no . . . I was sufficiently frightned at the fierceness of the Man, and the boldness of his threatning, but rather than lose my Life for so trifling a matter, I e'en ventured at length to tell him, I was not Married.”
In response, Low asked Ashton to join his crew. The fisherman refused, citing obligations to his parents and God. The pirate was obviously not pleased with the response and ordered Ashton to to be hauled below deck and thrown in irons. Over the next week, the physical and verbal abuse continued.
Following Ashton’s capture, Low’s fleet left Cape Sable and traveled towards the Grand Banks, where it seized several Spanish and Portuguese fishing vessels. Afterwards, the pirates patrolled the Scottish coast for potential prizes. Ultimately, Low set his sights on the West Indies and arrived at the Gulf of Honduras the Spring of 1723.
While anchored off the tiny island of Roatan, Ashton begged a ship’s cooper to let him join the expedition to collect fresh water. The cooper and Low reluctantly agreed. Once ashore, Ashton assisted the crew with a variety of tasks. However, when the opportunity presented itself, Ashton “ran as fast as the thickness of the Bushes, and my naked Feet would let me. I bent my Course, not directly from them, but rather up behind them, which I continued till I had got a considerable way into the Woods, & yet not so far from them but that I could hear their talk, when they spake anything loud; and here I lay close in a very great Thicke, being well assured, if they should take the pains to hunt after me never so carefully they would not be able to find me.”
Search parties were sent out to recover Ashton. As he later recalled, “At length they set a hallooing for me, but I was still silent: I could hear them say to one another. The D-g is lost in the Woods, and can't find the way out again; then they hallooed again; and cried, he is run-away and won't come again; the Cooper said, if he had thought I would have served him so, he would not have brought me ashoar. They plainly saw it would be in vain to seek for me in such hideous Wood, and thick Brushes. When they were weary with hallooing, the Cooper at last, to shew his good Will to me, (I can't but Love and Thank him for his Kindness) call'd out, If you don't come away presently, I'll go off and leave you alone … So finding it in vain for them to wait any longer, they put off with their Water, without me; and thus was I left upon a desolate Island destitute of all help.”
Once Low and his fleet left the island, Ashton assessed his situation. “I was upon an Island from whence I could not get off; I knew of no Humane Creature within many scores of Miles of me; I had but a Scanty Cloathing, and no possibility of getting more; I was destitute of all Provision for my Support, and knew not how I should come at any; everything looked with a dismal Face; the sad prospect drew Tears from me in abundance.”
He spent the next sixteen months as a castaway. Because he lacked any weapons to kill animals native to the island, Ashton was forced to survive on coconuts and fruit native to the island. “I had no Knife, or other Instrument of Iron with me, by which to cut up a Tortoise, when I had turned it; or to make Snares or Pitts, with which to entrap, or Bows & Arrows with which to kill any Bird or Beast withal; nor could I by any possible means that I knew of, come at Fire to dress any if I had taken them; tho' I doubt not but some would have gone down Raw if I could have come at it.”
He also had to share the island with swarms of insects and dangerous predators, including crocodiles. “There are many Serpents upon this, and the Adjacent Islands. There is one sort that is very Large, as big round as a Man's Wast, tho' not above 12 or 14 Feet long. These are called Owlers. They look like old fallen Stocks of Trees covered over with a short Moss, when they lye at their length; but they more usually lye coiled up in a round. The first I saw of these greatly surprised me; for I was very near to it before I discovered it to be a Living Creature, and then it opened it's Mouth wide eno' to have thrown a Hat into it, and blew out its Breath at me. This Serpent is very slow in its motion, and nothing Venemous, as I was afterwards told by a Man, who said he had been once bitten by one of them. are several other smaller Serpents, some of them very Venemous, particularly one that is called a Barber's Pole, being streaked White and Yellow. But I met with no Rattle-Snakes there … The Islands are also greatly infested with vexatious Insects, especially the Musketto, and a sort of small Black Fly, (some|thing like a Gnat) more troublesome than the Musketto; so that if one had never so many of the comforts of Life about him, these Insects would render his Living here very burthen|some to him; unless he retired to a small Key, destitute of Woods and Brush, where the Wind disperses the Vermin. The Sea hereabouts, hath a variety of Fish; such as are good to Eat, I could not come at, and the Sharks, and Alligators or Crocodiles, I did not care to have anything to do with; tho' I was once greatly endangered by a Shark, as I shall tell afterwards.”
Approximately eight months into his plight, Ashton encountered another castaway. As he recalled, “Sometime in November 1723. I espied a small Canoo, com|ing towards me with one Man in it. It did not much surprise me. A friend I could not hope for; and I could not resist, or hardly get out of the way of an Enemy, nor need I fear one. I kept my Seat upon the Edge of the Beech. As he came nearer he discovered me & seemed g’tly surprised. He called to me. I told him whence I was, & that he might safely venture ashoar, for I was alone, & almost Dead. As he came up to me, he stared & look'd wild with surprise; my Garb & Countenance astonished him; he knew not what to make of me; he started back a little, & viewed me more thorowly; but upon recovering of himself, he came forward, & took me by the Hand & told me he was glad to see me. And he was ready as long as he stayed with me, to do any kind offices for me. He proved to be a North-Britain, a Man well in Years, of a Grave and Venerable Aspect, and of a reserved Temper. His Name I never knew, for I had not asked him in the little time he was with me, expecting a longer converse with him; and he never told me it. But he acquainted me that he had lived with the Spaniards 22 Years, and now they threatned to Burn him, I knew not for what Crime: therefore he had fled for Sanctuary to this Place, & had brought his Gun, Amunition, and Dog, with a small quantity of Pork, designing to spend the residue of his Days here, & support himself by Hunting. He seemed very kind & obliging to me, gave me some of his Pork, and assisted me all he could; tho' he conversed little . . . Upon the Third Day after he came to me, he told me, he would go out in his Canoo among the Islands, to kill some Wild Hogs & Deer, and would have had me to go along with him. His Company, the Fire and a little dressed Provision something recruited my Spirits; but yet I was so Weak, and Sore in my Feet, that I could not accompany him in Hunting: So he set out alone, and said he would be with me again in a Day or two. The Sky was Serene and Fair, and there was no prospect of any Danger in his little Voyage among the Islands, when he had come safe in that small at near 12 Leagues.”
Unfortunately for Ashton’s newly found friend, a powerful storm quickly overtook the island. “There arose a most Violent Gust of Wind and Rain, which in all probability overset him; so that I never saw nor heard of him any more. And tho' by this means I was deprived of my Companion, yet it was the Goodness of GOD to me, that I was not well eno' to go with him; for thus I was pre|served from that Destruction which undoubtedly overtook him.”
Nevertheless, the kindness of the mysterious castaway proved beneficial to Ashton, as he left behind “Five Pound of Pork, a Knife, a Bottle of Powder, Tobacco Tongs and Flint, by which means I was in a way to Live better than I had done. For now I could have a Fire, which was very needful for me, the Rainy Months of the Winter; I could cut up some Tortoise when I had turned them, and have a delicate broiled Meal of it: So that by the help of the Fire, and dressed Food.”
Coming soon … how Phillip Ashton escaped from Roatan Island.
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