Not every man would be able to live in love and harmony on a desert island with three dark-skinned women for fifteen years. But in reality, such a case has happened, and is unique in every way.
… The captain managed to steer the ship out of a storm and into the safe harbour of an unknown island in the middle of the sea. The provisions in the hold did not differ in variety, besides, the fresh water reserves, though available, were used in the mode of economy. The crew in several boats landed on the picturesque shore, and almost at once, going a little deeper into the thicket, found a natural stone bowl, into which the purest fresh water flowed from the slope. The trees were laden with a variety of fruits, the bushes drooping their branches under the weight of the berries. Looking at this abundance, the travellers involuntarily wished to stay longer in the paradise that had so unexpectedly saved them from the cruel storm.
While the crew was stocking up on provisions, the captain was making notes in the ship’s log, anticipating a real geographical discovery, for the island was not on any map! In his mind, the captain had already seen an updated map of this stretch of ocean with a small dot with his name underneath it.
For a moment these thoughts were interrupted by the surprised shouts of the sailors. As he hurried towards them, the captain saw in the thicket three huts with unpretentious roofs of palm leaves. The hearths of the fires, covered with stones, were still warm, and water flowed from them; evidently the owners had doused the fires to conceal their presence from their guests.
Having taken certain precautions, the captain divided the crew into several groups and the sailors moved off in search of the natives who had fled from their dwellings. They soon found several dark-skinned women and teenage children huddled around them. Strangely enough, the children looked more like mestizos than negroes, as was evident from the colour of their skin and hair.
While the captain was consulting with his assistants how to establish contact with the locals, one of the women, hearing their speech, suddenly took the initiative and addressed the sailors in English, though with a rather strong accent:
Have you brought us news from Captain White?
The stunned captain shook his head in the negative:
No, missus, we are not from Captain White. I am Captain Rogers, this is my crew, we mean you no harm, our objectives are only to replenish water, take fruit and after the storm continue our journey onwards.
Phrase by phrase, contact was established between the guests and hosts, reassured by the captain’s statement, and in the course of the conversation the sailors learnt the startling story of the origin of all the children, who were also present during the conversation.
One of the women, who spoke the best English, said that a decade and a half ago a storm had blown a half-submerged boat with no oars into their bay, in which a white man lay unconscious. At that time there were only three African women on the island, who had miraculously escaped a few months after a ship carrying slaves to the slave market had wrecked. The women managed to stay afloat by clinging to a life preserver and made their way to the island, which opened up to them after the weather cleared.
At first, the ‘local’ women were wary of the white man, just like the ones from the crew that had transported them to the slave traders. But curiosity got the upper hand, they carried the man to their hut and began to take care of him, bringing him to his senses.
The sailor woke up on the second day, surprised at his surroundings. The biggest obstacle to communication was the language barrier, it took some time for the man and women to begin to understand each other, but gestures, facial expressions and direct actions helped to establish contact.
The man behaved quite differently from those of the crew of the slave ship. When he got stronger, he began to help the women with the household chores, smiled in a friendly way, tried to understand their language and taught them English.
Spending time together could not but bring people of different races closer to each other, and a much closer contact was established over joint activities, and both men and women quickly found a consensus in this matter.
The ‘family’ of one husband and three wives proved to be very productive, each of the women giving birth to several children by the sailor.
Despite this idyll, the sailor did not give up hope of returning home, a few months after his rescue on the island, he began to build a boat, which took him more than a year, as the tools for construction, except for a single axe, were not available.
Nevertheless, the sailor succeeded in the arduous task and completed the construction, after which he made several trial trips into the ocean and, after one of them, bade farewell to his black wives and children, promising that he would return for them.
The women were still waiting for the return of the head of the family, they also watched the boats approaching their island, but not seeing their sailor there, they decided to hide.
The result of this story is that the island was indeed named after the captain who landed on it with his crew and soon left for the ocean. And on the island, marked on the current maps with his name, its indigenous inhabitants, most of whom appeared thanks to the ‘communication’ of the sailor rescued by women.
