Legend 02 · held by James Castaway

Ashton’s Memorial

James Castaway

I kept these pages. I did not walk that shore.

A Marblehead fisherman told this to his minister in 1725 so the voice would not vanish. I will not let it vanish here.

What follows is his I. Not mine. Roatán is not this island.

Not Robinson Crusoe. 1725 pamphlet. Roatán is not this island. James kept the pages.

Friday Harbor

Orthography lightly modernized; substance 1725. Evans TCP / OTA N02186, CC0. John Barnard from Philip Ashton’s mouth. Boston: Samuel Gerrish, 1725.

UPON Friday, June 15th. 1722. After I had been out for some time in the Schooner Milton, upon the Fishing grounds, off Cape Sable Shoar, among others, I came to Sail in Company with Nicholas Merritt, in a Shallop, and stood in for Port-Rossaway, designing to Harbour there, till the Sabbath was over; where we Arrived about Four of the Clock in the Afternoon. When we came into the Harbour, where several of our Fishing Vessels had arrived before us, we spy'd among them a Brigantine, which we supposed to have been an Inward bound Vessel, from the West Indies, and had no apprehensions of any Danger from her; but by that time we had been at Anchor two or three Hours, a Boat from the Brigantine, with Four hands, came along side of us, and the Men Jumpt in upon our Deck, without our suspecting any thing 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. It was too late for us to rectify our Mistake, and think of Freeing our selves from their power: for however we might have been able, (being Five of us and a Boy) to have kept them at a Distance, had we known who they were, before they had boarded us; yet now we had our Arms to seek, and being in no Capacity to make any Resistance, were necessitated to submit our selves to their will and pleasure. In this manner they surprised Nicholas Merritt, and 12 or 13 other Fishing Vessels this Evening.

When the Boat went off from our Vessel, they carried me on board the Brigantine, and who should it prove but the Infamous Ned Low, the Pirate, with about 42 Hands, 2 Great Guns, and 4 Swivel Guns. You may easily imagine how I look'd, and felt, when too late to prevent it, I found my self fallen into the hands of such a mad, roaring, mischievous Crew; yet I hoped, that they would not force me away with them, and I purposed to endure any hardship among them patiently, rather than turn Pirate with them.

Unit 01 Friday Harbor · James · Philip Ashton · Legend 01 First Deck

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The Chronicle opens without ceremony. No harbor gate. No marketplace banner. You are already on the deck of the Blessed Endeavor, where the wood still holds the cool of night and the first gold finds the hatch ring.

James’s notes for the morning are spare: tide, rope, the small weight of a key that is not yet a key. RUDI-0 logs the hour without sentiment. Mango has already claimed the warmest square of sun.

The hatch is a ring in the deck, not a door in a corridor. It only answers when you are looking at it. Below is one hold, not three rooms. Look down. A barrel on the deck is worth examining before you force the ring.

On the south wall of that hold sits a dull pewter plate. It is not the key and not the chart. Research it: old table pewter stays dull because it is mostly tin, not silver. The punch marks on the underside are how a maker signed the work. The object story lives on the plate record and in the pewter cabinet.

Start on First Deck — that is the player door. You can still read this page alone. If the ship window is open and Living Bond is linked, standing on 9S1E and this entry can find each other. Guests may play this ship. The rest of the island stays closed. This is a voyage, not “your island.”