Kingston upon Hull
Port city on the Humber estuary in Yorkshire. Robinson Crusoe sails from Hull on his first voyage, against his father’s wishes.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robinson Crusoe | Daniel Defoe | turning point | Crusoe sails from Hull against his father’s wishes. |
Robinson Crusoe — Daniel Defoe (1719)
Source: Original · Readwise highlight
on the 1st of September 1651, I went on board a ship bound for London. Never any young adventurer’s misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer than mine. The ship was no sooner out of the Humber than the wind began to blow and the sea to rise in a most frightful manner
- Role: turning point
- In the book: Aged eighteen, Crusoe goes casually to Hull, is offered a free passage to London on a friend’s father’s ship, and on 1 September 1651 sails without telling his parents. The first storm hits as the ship leaves the Humber. He recalls the date again in Brazil as the ‘same day eight years’ before his second flight.
- Why it matters: The break with home that starts the whole chain of misfortunes, and a date he returns to as a marker of his ‘original sin’.