For thousands of years, man seems to have explored every corner of the world. However, even thanks to high technology and space satellites, information about uninhabited islands still appears . The greater sensation is the facts of the presence of people who, not by their own will, but by the will of fate, ended up there. All this in vivid detail reminds D. Defoe’s novel “Robinson Crusoe”. So partly it really is. Because people who have experienced this, literally have to survive away from civilization, in absolutely wild conditions.
Jeremy Bibs is one of these robinsons with a long history that deserves understanding and admiration today.
Wreck
In 1911, the British schooner "Beautiful Bliss", engaged in freight transport, fell into a hurricane in the South Pacific. The ship sank, and with it the entire crew of the ship. Only one young young man who was barely 14 years old managed to escape. Fate seemed to show mercy to him. And miraculously, the young man was thrown onto an uninhabited coral island, covered with coconut palms. But this is where the real test begins for him.
Maiden voyage
His name was Jeremy Bibs. He came, apparently, from a simple English family, where from an early age children had to earn their bread. His whole life from an early age was connected with the sea. And the schooner “Beautiful Bliss” offered him a chance to do what he loved and earn a little money.
From numerous sources it is known that the boy was able to read and loved this business. He was especially fascinated by adventurous maritime stories. It is easy to assume that his favorite work was Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe, published two centuries earlier before the fateful day. Who could then predict that this book will play a fateful role in his life ...
Isle
Once on the island, just like his favorite literary hero, Jeremy Bibs was completely at a loss. He and the island were left face to face. It is difficult to imagine what any other child would do in such a situation, but Jeremy, collecting his will, began to gradually settle in new territory. And in this he was helped by the same favorite book, which he remembered in detail. It should be noted his character and thirst for life. Indeed, on the island, except for thickets of coconut and some fruits, there was nothing else.
What helped to survive?
Jeremy Bibs, whose biography is now closely intertwined with the island, built a hut, made a bow and arrows to hunt birds. Fruits became his very first food, they throttled appetite and quenched thirst. Coconut was a favorite treat for young Robinson. He, in addition to delicious pulp and milk, also served as dishes. In his shell, Jeremy collected rainwater fresh water.
He butchered a caught bird and roasted it on a fire. I used sharp stones as a knife. The fire was built using tinder. In addition, he made a fishing rod and successfully caught fish during the tides. Bird eggs served him breakfast. Following the example of his literary predecessor, the young man from the first days of arrival on the island began to keep a “wooden calendar”, making nicks on a palm tree.
Life in another world
It is hard to imagine how he overcame loneliness on the empty island of Jeremy Bibs. His story as a robinson lasted 74 years. And for this long time the planet was shocked by two world wars, the beginning of space exploration by man, the invention of the atomic bomb, and the invention of the first computer, which later became known as a personal computer. Of course, Jeremy Bibs did not know about all these changes and discoveries in civilization. Much has changed in his native country. Therefore, having arrived after so many years in his native country, he probably experienced a considerable shock.
The rescue
Already discovered, the 88-year-old robinson was in 1985 the crew of the West German expedition (according to other sources, just a German merchant ship), contrary to the schedule and calculations, found themselves off the coast of a coral island. Of course, the old man was taken and taken to his homeland. But who was waiting for him there? Perhaps this is no longer important. The press was interested in the unusual story that Jeremy Bibbs brought with him. Photos of him are not available today. Perhaps they are stored in the London archives. Perhaps they are not at all. But what a young-robinson looked like is unknown today.
However, when the wave of journalists' curiosity subsided a little, a number of questions arose for the hero. Why for so many years Jeremy Bibs did not find a way to sail away from the island. He didn’t make bonfires to attract the attention of those sailing, perhaps somewhere within a few miles of the ships. And if we assume that the sea did not pass by the island, then why didn’t he make a raft or even a boat, did not calculate the approximate direction of movement and did not dare to sail away. And there were also minor doubts about his sanity, clothes, climate and other household trifles. But these questions remained unanswered.
After
Shortly after returning to his native country, the thread of the biography of old Jeremy Bibs abruptly breaks. Perhaps he died or voluntarily left the sharply collapsed glory. His story was forgotten for a while. But today there are different versions. Perhaps the British Robinson, having settled on the island, himself did not want to return back. After all, I would have to explain the reasons and details of the shipwreck. As well as his stay on the schooner at such a young age. And it is not known what cargo, where and where the ship was transporting. The world changed dramatically during his stay on the island and it is unlikely that anyone would go into such details, but the hermit man did not know this. Or maybe he just liked such a secluded life in the lap of nature. Today it’s difficult to talk about it with full confidence. But there are people in the world who voluntarily become hermits.
Other robinsons
World history already remembers many such heroes. But nevertheless, it is necessary to distinguish between those who become robinsons by chance, and who - of their own free will. Of course, Alexander Selkirk became the pioneer of “taming” the uninhabited wild island . He was a sailor and had a quick temper. After another conflict with the captain, he himself asked to drop him off on the nearest island. And so the team did. A few years later, Selkirk returned home. It was his image that formed the basis of the famous Defoe novel.
The modern robinsons include Ivan Jose and Brandon Grimshaw. The first was discovered in 2014 on one of the Marshall Islands. As it turned out, his boat broke while traveling from Mexico to El Salvador and lost its propeller. He roamed the ocean for 16 months. He ate fish, caught birds and turtles. I collected rainwater for drinking.
The story of Brandon Grimshaw is an example of a voluntary robinsonade. In the 60s, he made a trip to Seychelles for work and fell in love with these places. The entrepreneur chose the least suitable for life island Muen and bought it for 13 thousand dollars. Brandon accepted a hermit life and set out to find someone on the island. Searches were successful. Creole of Rene Lafortuno became the “Friday” of modern Robinson. They made good friends and set about transforming the island: they planted 16 thousand trees, spent water and began to breed turtles. As a result, in 2008 the island was given the status of a national park. Today it is open to tourists.
Among these people, Jeremy Bibs is the record holder. For more than half a century without communication with people, in isolation from civilization, in absolutely unsuitable conditions for life, he was able to survive, and moreover, live to the very gray hair without losing faith in himself.
Today, Jeremy Bibs is a Robinson whose story could well become the source for the script of the film or form the basis of another novel about people with a thirst for life and incredible willpower.
True or fiction?
However, there were skeptics who did not believe in the story of Jeremy Bibs. It suspiciously coincides with the plot of a famous novel and looks more like a fairy tale. Moreover, there are no documents confirming it officially. Many modern people from around the world know his name and remember as one of the modern robinsons. Someone heard about him from acquaintances or people of the older generation, someone read on the Internet or even an article in a scientific journal with the headline: "Jeremy Bibs, who lived on the island for 74 years." Nevertheless, like this, far from civilization, he became a hero. True, it is worth paying tribute to the crew of the ship that discovered it. By the way, its name is also not mentioned in the sources. Otherwise, fame would never have found its hero. And we just have to believe or doubt. After all, who knows how many such Robinson people in the world who have not yet been found ...