Robinson Crusoe in Words of One Syllable

MP3 Audio CD. Robinson Crusoe in Words of One Syllable

I was born at York on the first of March in the sixth year of the reign
of King Charles the First. From the time when I was quite a young child,
I had felt a great wish to spend my life at sea, and as I grew, so did
this taste grow more and more strong; till at last I broke loose from
my school and home, and found my way on foot to Hull, where I soon got a
place on board a ship.

When we had set sail but a few days, a squall of wind came on, and on
the fifth night we sprang a leak. All hands were sent to the pumps, but
we felt the ship groan in all her planks, and her beams quake from stem
to stern; so that it was soon quite clear there was no hope for her, and
that all we could do was to save our lives.

The first thing was to fire off guns, to show that we were in need of
help, and at length a ship, which lay not far from us, sent a boat to
our aid. But the sea was too rough for it to lie near our ship's side,
so we threw out a rope, which the men in the boat caught, and made fast,
and by this means we all got in. Still in so wild a sea it was in vain
to try to get on board the ship which had sent out the men, or to use
our oars in the boat, and all we could do was to let it drive to shore.