What a situation was mine for a father! Wandering through unknown and dangerous seas with my three sons, my only hope, in search of a fourth, and of my beloved helpmate; utterly ignorant which way we should direct our course, or where to find a trace of those we sought.
How often do we allay the happiness granted us below by vain wishes! I had at one time regretted that we had no means of leaving our island; now we had left it, and our sole wish was to recover those we had lost, to bring them back to it, and never to leave it more.

I sometimes regretted that I had led my sons into this danger.

I might have ventured alone; but I reflected that I could not have left them, for Fritz had said, "If the savages had carried off the pinnace, I would have swum from isle to isle till I had found them." My boys all endeavoured to encourage and console me.

Fritz placed himself at the rudder, observing that the pinnace was new and well built, and likely to resist a tempest.
Ernest stood on the deck silently watching the stars, only breaking his silence by telling me he should be able by them to supply the want of the compass, and point out how we should direct our course.

Jack climbed dexterously up the mast to let me see his skill; we called him the cabin-boy, Fritz was the pilot, Ernest the astronomer, and I was the captain and commander of the expedition.