The Journey Begins
In 1696, Jonathan Dickinson, a quaker from Port Royal, Jamaica, decided to move his family to Philadelphia. Leaving his family's plantation home on the island, he set out for the Florida Straights, where he would sail through to Charleston and then northerly to Philadelphia. Dickinson and his family, which included his wife, Mary, their six-month-old son, Jonathan, and his ten slaves, sailed aboard the barkentine Reformation and was a part of a larger convoy of merchant ships.
After drifting in calm weather, the Reformation became separated from the convoy and on September 24, 1696, a storm, which most likely was a hurricane, drove the ship onto a reef and then onto shore on Jupiter Island, Florida, a little ways north of Jupiter Inlet near present-day Hobe Sound.
Captured By Indians
All of the ship's party survived the shipwreck, and they soon began retrieving provisions and supplies from the wreck. Within a few hours they were discovered by the local Jobe Indians, who took almost everything the shipwrecked party had brought out of the ship. They showed no interest in the alcohol, sugar or molasses.
The castaways were taken to the Jobe town at Jupiter Inlet (the area at the Indian mound at Dubois Park in Jupiter), where the indians mistreated the castaways and stripped them of most of their clothing. The indians harrassed and questioned the party as to wether they were English or Spanish. The group feined representation as being Spanish.
The Jobes burned the wrecked Reformation, but brought the ship's small boat to the town, and on September 28 the party was allowed to leave the Jobe village, heading north to Saint Augustine. They were allowed to take some supplies that the indians did not want, including some wine, butter, sugar, and chocolate, and one of the ship's quadrants.
The journey up the coast was difficult. The weak and sick members of the party were put in the ship's boat with some men to row it, while the rest walked along the shore. Drinking water was in short supply. They passed villages where the shore party would be harassed, but the travelers in the boat refused to land, fearing what treatment they would receive once all were on shore.
They encountered Indian tribes all along the Florida Coast as they made thier way slowly north to St. Augustine. Along the way, the Dickenson party was stripped of thier clothing and harrassed. Food was scarce, the Indians of this part of the Florida coast did not cultivate crops, but lived on fish, shellfish and palmetto, cocoplum and seagrape berries in season, so the party survived on berries and the gills and guts of fish.
Rescued By The Spanish
Finally, on November 2, 1696, a squad of Spanish soldiers reached the party in the indian town of Jece, near present-day Sebastian. The Spanish soldiers treated the English castaways kindly, but were harsh to the Indians. The next day they sent some of the English survivors from both ships north towards Saint Augustine on a catamaran they constructed from two canoes.
Dickinson reached Saint Augustine on November 15. He found that all of the English there were being well treated by the Spanish. Dickinson, his wife and child, and members of thier party, stayed in the governor's house.
Finally, the party of survivors left Saint Augustine in canoes on November 29. The governor had provided them with what supplies could be found in Saint Augustine. An escort of Spanish soldiers went with them. On March 18, 1697 the Dickenson party reached Philadelphia.
Jonathan Dickinson prospered in Philadelphia. He and his wife Mary had four children. He twice served as Mayor of Philadelphia, in 1712–1713 and 1717–1719. He authored a book telling of his party's dramatic journey, "Jonathan Dickinson's Journal or, God's Protecting Providence". Jonathan Dickinson died in 1722.
FTF Honors go to BluffsMike!!!!!!
