Captain Singleton - Daniel Defoe

The Life, Adventures, and Pyracies of the Famous Captain Singleton (Defoe, 1720)

Like its predecessor Robinson Crusoe, Defoe's Captain Singleton is about survival in an exotic land. But widening his scope, Defoe takes his narrator across Africa and through all the major oceans, rather than trapping him on an island. He also introduces a moral conflict of interest that he would explore through the rest of his fiction.

The main character, a lawless youth who joins a mutiny and is marooned with the other plotters on Madagascar, turns out to be clever and resourceful as the men try to survive in a strange land and get back to Europe. Together they trek across Africa to the Gold Coast, braving jungles, deserts, wild animals, and those infamous natives. Like his predecessor Crusoe, Singleton acquires a man Friday, this time in the person of an African prince who, after the Europeans cure him of his gunshot wounds, pledges allegiance and takes along about 40 of his subjects on the transcontinental hike to serve the white masters. At the end of their risky adventure, they pan huge amounts of gold from the west African rivers and go home rich.

Quickly spending his wealth on dissolute living in England, Singleton turns pirate and terrorizes the Caribbean, South America, the east African coast, and Indonesia. His piracy is largely an economic venture, rather than a violent outburst against society, due in no small part to the intervention of William the Quaker, a surgeon they "force" on board (though he is certainly willing) who always keeps their focus on easy monetary gain and away from unnecessary killing. The tension between William's obvious relish for ill-gotten gain and his underlying morality form the most interesting part of the book, and his sagacity preserves Singleton from many a misadventure and finally brings to him a reputable end.

Essentially two different books in one, Captain Singleton is disjointed and a bit unfocused.  It is certainly crammed full of incidents, and Defoe's interest in economy, realism, and travel find full vent in this tale. While Robinson Crusoe is morally straightforward, Captain Singleton begins the string of narratives where Defoe's fascination with mercantile success through sinful or criminal means conflicts with his (or perhaps just his readers') desire for moral justice. His finest works in this vein are Moll Flanders and Roxana, but Captain Singleton provides an early outline for the conflict.

Arbitrary rating:  3 out of 5 infamous natives