Gulliver's Travels (Swift)/Part 3/Chapter 1
from the Collection âGulliver's Travels. Part 3â
The division of this summary into sections is editorial.
Gulliver had been home for less than ten days when a former shipmate visited him and offered him another voyage.
A new voyage and a trading expedition
The visitor was Captain William Robinson, a Cornish sailor under whom Gulliver had previously served as surgeon. Robinson had always treated him as a friend.
Robinson invited Gulliver to sail to the East Indies as his chief surgeon, offering double the usual pay and a say in decisions at sea. Gulliver still longed to travel and accepted. His wife finally agreed because the earnings could benefit their children.
They sailed on 5 August 1706 and reached Fort St. George in April 1707, where they stayed three weeks to let sick crewmen recover. At Tonquin, Robinson faced a long wait for goods. To cover some expenses, he bought a small trading vessel, loaded it with merchandise and put Gulliver in command of fourteen men for a two-month expedition among neighbouring islands.
Captured by pirates
After three days at sea, a storm drove the trading vessel far off course. On the tenth day, two pirate ships caught the heavily laden vessel. Unable to defend it, Gulliver ordered his men to lie face down; the pirates tied them up and searched the ship.
A Dutchman among the pirates, though not a captain, appeared to have authority and threatened to throw the Englishmen into the sea.
Gulliver spoke Dutch and appealed to him as a fellow Protestant from an allied country, but the plea made him angrier. The Japanese captain of the larger pirate ship then questioned Gulliver and promised that the prisoners would not die.
Relieved, Gulliver told the Dutchman that he had found more mercy in a man who was not a Christian than in a fellow Christian. He soon regretted the insult. The Dutchman failed to persuade the captains to break their promise and kill him, but secured a punishment Gulliver thought almost as deadly.
The pirates divided Gulliverâs crew between their ships and took over his vessel. Gulliver was set adrift in a canoe with a sail, paddles and four daysâ provisions. The Japanese captain doubled the food from his own stores and forbade anyone to search him, while the Dutchman shouted curses after him.
Alone among the rocky islands
Through his pocket telescope, Gulliver spotted islands to the southeast and sailed to the nearest. There he roasted birdsâ eggs over a fire, saved his provisions and slept under a rock. He continued from island to island, using either sail or paddles.
On the fifth day he reached the last island in sight. It was rocky and difficult to land on, but he found a narrow creek and stored his remaining food in a cave. He gathered eggs, dry seaweed and grass for fuel, then lay down on the grass and seaweed. Fear kept him awake: he could not see how he could survive in such a desolate place.
Rescue by a flying island
Late the next morning, Gulliver walked among the rocks beneath a clear, hot sky. Suddenly something blocked the sun. He saw an enormous solid body moving towards him, its flat underside shining with reflected light. Through his telescope he could make out people on its sloping sides.
The sight gave him hope of escape, although he was astonished by what he saw. Gulliver described the islandâs movements:
an island in the air, inhabited by men, who were able (as it should seem) to raise or sink, or put it into a progressive motion, as they pleased.
As it came closer, he saw galleries joined by stairs, with people fishing from the lowest level. He waved his cap and handkerchief and shouted. A crowd noticed him, and several men hurried upstairs, apparently to seek orders.
The island moved nearer and rose until its lowest gallery was roughly level with Gulliver. He pleaded for help. One of the well-dressed people above called to him in a language that sounded somewhat like Italian; Gulliver answered in Italian, but neither understood the other. Even so, his distress was clear.
The islanders signalled for him to go down to the shore. When he did, they positioned the islandâs edge above him and lowered a chain with a seat attached. Gulliver fastened himself to it and was pulled up by pulleys.