The Four Years Voyages of Capt. George Roberts. Written by Himself [Re

[The Island]

The Four Years Voyages of Capt. George Roberts. Written by Himself [Really by D. Defoe]. This is my new topic. I am inquirying because in Cordingly's book it gets in detail about a Capt. Roberts who is captured by Low and his pirate squadron in Sept. 1721 off Cape Verde Islands. Was this book actually written by Dafoe or Roberts? Because if this is a work of fantasy then would it be safe to assume that the whole detailed story of Roberts to be false like Low's flag "green flag with yellow man blowing a trumpet and Low having this compassionate side towards Roberts and his ship. The title, I got from Amazon.com and that was the description.

[Fox]

You've probably figured out that there's a general fashion (or has been) for attributing to Defoe any early 18thC work of uncertain authorship. The number of works attributed to Defoe on shaky grounds (and in some cases, like Drury's Madagascar, proven beyond doubt not to have been Defoe's work) makes me take Defoe attributions with a grain of salt.

Roberts' account shows a number of parallels with other historical sources, suggesting that if it is a work of fiction it's a very well researched one. There is little evidence in support of the otherwise unknown Roberts being the author, but no less evidence than there is for Defoe.

[Daniel]

I'm not sure how the Roberts story came to be attributed to DeFoe in the first place. Does Cordingly say anything about it?

Here's one tiny piece of evidence against DeFoe's authorship. In Moll Flanders DeFoe has an unnamed pirate try to force Moll Flanders' husband to join his crew., "but by entreaties were prevailed with to leave him." In Roberts' account, Low's pirates have a strict rule against forcing any married man to join. If the books were written by the same man, it seems odd that they would represent the pirates as having such different rules.

[The Island]

I'm not sure how the Roberts story came to be attributed to DeFoe in the first place. Does Cordingly say anything about it?

On page 91 in the Cordingly book(talks about possibly being from Defoe and fictious but the nautical portion is so detailed and could be like Robinson Crusoe based on real pirate interviews were as Crusoe was based on real events) his notes refer to the Dow and Edmonds book.

[Fox]

Dow and Edmonds don't make any reference to it having been written by Defoe as far as I can see.

[Mission]

Why have I never before noticed Madagascar: or Robert Drury's Journal During Fifteen Years Captivity on that Island? For those who want to read it, you'll find it in PDF form here. You can also find The Four Years Voyages of Capt. George Roberts, written by himself as a PDF here if you want to read that.

Is there anything else like this I am failing to notice? I really must get busy reading...