Philip Ashton
Castaway on uninhabited Roatan Island in the Bay of Honduras for 16 months in 1723/1724
Philip Ashton (1702—1746) was a castaway on then-uninhabited Roatán island in the Gulf of Honduras for 16 months in 1723/1724. His memoirs about his solitary stay were published in book form in Boston in 1725. While some people believed it was a novel in the style of Robinson Crusoe (1719), Ashton's book was the account of a genuine experience. He was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1702 and married twice.
Castaway life
In June 1722, Ashton was captured by pirates while fishing near the coast of Shelburne, Nova Scotia. In the Boston News Letter of 9 July 1722, Ashton was listed as being one of those captured by the pirate Edward Low. As Ashton refused to cooperate with the pirates, he was often threatened, especially by Low's quartermaster John Russell. He managed to escape in March 1723 when the pirates landed at Roatán Island in the Bay Islands of Honduras, hiding in the jungle until the pirates decided to depart without him. He survived for 16 months, in spite of many insects, tropical heat and alligators. In the beginning he seems to have eaten only fruit, because he only had his hands to collect food; he could not kill any animal.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Philip Ashton” as castaway on uninhabited Roatan Island in the Bay of Honduras for 16 months in 1723/1724. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as castaway on uninhabited Roatan Island in the Bay of Honduras for 16 months in 1723/1724. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7183137. VIAF identifies the subject as 41777018. The Library of Congress control number is nr91022151. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1702, 1746, 1723 and 1724.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Philip Ashton”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Philip Ashton primary sources, Philip Ashton archive and Philip research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Philip Ashton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.