Robert Drury | |
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| Born | 24 July 1687 Tower Hamlets, London, England |
| Died | unknown |
| Occupations | Sailor,slave merchant,slave |
Robert Drury (born 1687; died between 1743 and 1750) was an English sailor on theDegrave who was shipwrecked at the age of 17 on the island ofMadagascar. He was trapped there for fifteen years.
Upon returning to England, a book allegedly recounting his memoirs was published in his name in 1729. Though it was an instant success, the authenticity of the book would be questioned by later historians.
Modern scholars have proven though that many details in the book are authentic and that the story itself is one of the oldest written historical accounts of life in southern Madagascar during the 18th century.
Robert was born atCrutched Friars in theTower Hamlets area of London and later moved to theOld Jewry nearCheapside, where his father ran an Inn calledThe King's Head. At the age of thirteen his father secured passage for him on the shipDegrave headed forIndia.
TheDegrave left port in February 1701 reaching India safely four months later. On the return voyage it ran aground nearMauritius, and the crew was forced to abandon ship inMadagascar on the southernmost tip of the island, having not reached theCape of Good Hope. The localAntandroy king Andriankirindra gave the sailors a fine welcome, but intended on keeping them captive to increase his standing among the other Antandroy kings.
The now captive sailors attempted to escape Andriankririndra to the east whereAbraham Samuel, a black native ofMartinique, reigned over theAntanosy tribes near what is nowFort-Dauphin. The first mateJohn Benbow and a few others were able to escape but most of the surviving crew were killed in the attempt. A couple of youths, Drury included, were spared and recaptured. Robert was then given to the king Andriamivaro as hisslave.
A reluctant slave at first, Robert eventually moved his way up from agricultural work and beekeeping to become a cow herd and eventually the royal butcher. He stayed there for what seems to have been 10 years. In the following years war broke out with the neighbouring ethnicity to the west, theMahafaly. This was followed by a fratricidal civil war between Andriamivaro, and his uncles and cousins which included theHigh King of theAndroy. An emissary from theSakalava king of Fiherenana (part of theMenabe kingdom) broke the civil war by proposing a joint attack against the Mahafaly. This emissary also spoke to Drury, convincing him that if he fled to Fiherenana they would help him on to the first British ship they found.
Robert then escaped and found refuge with Andrianafarana, a rival Antandroy king. He then fled from this master as well and, travelling north throughBara country, he found theOnilahy river and followed it to St Augustine's bay, now the city ofToliara in south-west Madagascar, and the capital of the Fiherenana.
Upon reaching the west coast, Robert was able to meet and socialise with a community of stowaways both black and white. After further warring between his new masters, the Antandroy allies and their Mahafaly enemies, Drury was forced to find refuge further north, this time in the court of the legendary Andriamanetriarivo, king ofMenabe, brother of the great king Andriamandisoarivo of theBoina. These two brothers built kingdoms which would dominate most of the island from the west coast well into the interior.
Eventually, through his new European friends, news would return to his father who asked a certain Captain Mackett to go to the coast to have him returned to England on his ship, theMasselage. This ship's primary goal though was to buy slaves from theBoina Kingdom in north-west Madagascar.
Robert arrived in England finally on 9 September 1717 after sixteen years. Unfortunately his parents were already dead. He then returned to Madagascar to become aslave trader. He may have even eventually also become apirate for some time. In the end though he was known to be a common porter atEast India House. He was said also to hang out at Old Tom's Coffee House in Birchin Lane telling tales of his adventures in Madagascar.
Drury published his memoirs under the titleMadagascar, or Robert Drury's Journal in 1729. It was highly praised at the time and went through seven editions until 1890. But suspicion began to rise concerning its authenticity due to its paraphrasing of many parts of the book on theHistory of Madagascar byEtienne de Flacourt in 1658. Also, Drury had the same publisher asDaniel Defoe and what some analysts found to be a similar writing style. Many authorities who know theAndroy andMahafaly regions well are convinced though that the story proves its creator had a very intimate knowledge of the region. These include :
Among the most important works was that of Mike P. Pearson, who found archaeological evidence of many parts of Drury's account. These discoveries are described in his bookIn Search of the Red Slave.
Other researchers conclude that Drury's book was based partially on the work of Flacourt and others, but primarily on the journal ofJohn Benbow, fellow sailor on theDegrave and son ofAdmiral Benbow.[1] Benbow escaped toFort Dauphin and sailed home aboard a Dutch ship; a few other Degrave survivors were picked up by pirateJohn Halsey.[2] Benbow penned a journal of his experiences, which was lost in a 1714 fire but may have been seen by Defoe.[1]
Robert Drury died sometime between the third (1743) and fourth (1750) editions of his Journal.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) – a detailed résumé of Drury's adventures can be found in pages 55–71 of this book.| International | |
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