The Haunted Island

Coming forth upon the poop, I desponded in my mind, thinking of home and England; and the sea, with all the beauty of its clear and flashing blue waters, was hateful to me; yea, it cruelly smiled on me with its shining face.

For I suffered loneliness, such loneliness as exiles know; than which, to sensible men, there is not on the earth a more cruel affliction. Here, indeed, on this populous King's ship, of which my very brother was in command, I did find myself alone with a desolation very far greater than solitude of place. Doubtless there was something of God in the villainous men, deep in the hearts of them, as there is something of God in all things; and the rest (to speak truly) is but distortion and shadow and absence and darkness. But I did not understand it so, and looked but on the appearance, loathing them for their villainous demeanour, and filthy discourse.