Chapter 24: The Cruise of the Coracle
Okay, so “coracle” is the word Jim has been using for his small boat, which I didn’t think was worth mentioning but I forgot it was in a chapter title. I guess it’s an actual type of water craft, but if you do an image search you’ll see pictures of boats that are way better-constructed than whatever Jim is in.
Anyway, when he wakes up the next morning, he finds he hasn’t capsized and drowned, which is always a positive. He also instinctively knows he’s on the southwest side of the island; I guess maybe you could reason this based on the position of the sun and the tallest mountain, so I’ll let it slide.
He considers making for land, but the portion of island nearest to him contains sharp rocks against a cliff face, upon which sit “huge slimy monsters—soft snails, as it were, of incredible bigness”. Which he tells he learned later were, uh, actually sea lions; and like, I get not knowing what a sea lion is in that day and age, but really… giant snails??? A giant slug I could understand. Did we just not have a word for “slug” at this time, and we called them “soft snails” instead? Does England have snails but not slugs? I dunno man, I can’t explain this shit.
Jim figures he’ll continue north towards a more advantageous landing spot, even though attempting to maneuver the “coracle” is still risky as all hell. Skipping ahead a page or two of furtive paddling, he eventually rounds an outcropping to see the Hispaniola dead ahead of him, turning this way and that, angling itself dead to the wind on multiple occasions. He reckons nobody is steering the thing, and wonders if the pirates abandoned ship. Either that, or they could be passed out drunk below deck; regardless, he starts to get the notion that maybe he might take over the ship…
I’m cutting out a lot of “Jim does some paddling” bits because that’s really most of the chapter. I actually respect how Stevenson manages to keep this part half-interesting despite how little action is happening. Anyway, Jim closes in on the ship, and then… well, I’m pretty sure what happens is the coracle crests a wave at the same time the Hispaniola does, so he’s as high as he can possibly be while the bow of the ship is pointed downward as it descends. It’s really the only conceivable way to explain how he jumps out of his boat to grab hold of the bowsprit—that pointy bit that sticks out the front of the ship. So now he’s officially on the Hispaniola; which is just as well, because the coracle is smashed to bits against the ship’s hull.