My father lived in the north of England, but he was not very rich. I was the youngest of five brothers and we lived on hand to mouth. I left school when I was seventeen years old. My father could not pay for me after that. So I chose my way of life. I travelled on the ship Antelope to the South Seas. We left Bristol in May, 1699.
I will not write down everything about our journey on those seas. But I will tell you this. On our way to the East Indies, a great wind carried us the wrong way.
Twelve of our men died from the hard work and bad food, and the other men were not very strong. The conditions were quite difficult.
One morning there was heavy rain and we could not see well. In the strong winds, the ship hit something in the water, and broke into pieces. Six of us got a boat into the sea. But we were weak and the wind turned it over. We fell into the water. The wind and the water carried me away from the other men and I never saw them again.

Otto-Classics Graded Readers Series are outstanding classics written by famous writers. The language and vocabulary in the books are controlled and simplified by specialist ELT authors and compilers according to Common European Framework so that they can be easily understood by new learners of English. 
Depending on the eight levels from A1 to B2+, the longer stories are divided into a number of chapters and every chapter has its own activities. Some of the activities in the books are meant to be done in pairs. You may work with a partner to solve problems and design projects that reflect not only your own thinking but also new ideas you and your mates will discover by working in groups.