Robert Drury

Born in 1687, Robert Drury was an English sailor who became known after the East India ship Degrave was wrecked off southern Madagascar in the early 1700s. He was said to have spent about fifteen years on the island before eventually returning to England, and his experiences were later published in 1729 as Madagascar; or, Robert Drury’s Journal.

The book quickly drew attention because it offered European readers a vivid story of captivity, survival, and daily life in Madagascar. It has remained important not only as an adventure narrative, but also as a source often discussed by historians interested in the island’s past and in how travel accounts were written and edited in the eighteenth century.

Some details of Drury’s story have long been debated, and scholars have questioned how much of the published journal was his own direct account and how much may have been shaped by an editor. Even so, the work has endured because it captures the drama of a remarkable life and opens a window onto a world that was little known to English readers of the time.