Why Wasn't Crusoe Found Sooner?

While reading Robinson Crusoe a thought had occurred to me. Robinson became marooned when the trade ship that he had been riding in crashed. He then spent some very long time (I say this cause he lost track when he got sick) on that deserted island until he is accidentally discovered by another merchant ship. This made me ask why it took so long for him to be discovered. Didn’t Britain have a better system to look after their ships?

During the 17^th and most of the 18^th British commerce centered on the colonization for other states and countries. America is probably the biggest example of how the British conducted their colonization and how cruel it really was. Colonization was Britain’s biggest source of income since the British colonies provided new raw materials and new land to help strengthen the countries. This being the case one would think that the British would be highly interested in the only means of reaching the colonies… the ships. However I was quite surprised to find out that the British kept very loose tracks of the ships. However, looking at it more closely this fact might have been quite easily explained. Most people of the time, especially in Britain found these colonies to be a great way to make quick money. This fact, plus the fact that the new world had started to become more “civil” lead to a dramatic increase in people like Robinson Crusoe who decided that their fortunes lay within the colonies. Of course this also lead to an increase in the number of trade and merchant ship; almost to the point that all the ships could not be kept track of accurately. To put is simply there were just too many ships, going to too many different locations that it seems more logical that the British couldn’t keep accurate records; not that they didn’t.

See you around
Will