Glory did not spoil Karol Jetting, who survived so many adventures that it would be enough for a solid Hollywood TV series. During his lifetime, he did not manage to become famous or get rich.
Many wonderful people are buried in the cemetery of St. Andrew in Bratislava. But one grave is located separately, it can be found near the entrance, behind the building of the Greek Catholic Church, erected here recently. There is a large monument in the neo-Gothic style made of light sandstone on the grave, in the center of the monument there is a three-masted brig, and along the edges there are two coats of arms: one with a Maltese cross, and the second with a fortress with three towers. The half-erased inscription says that "Bratislava's Robinson" named Karol Jetting rests here.
Where are you, the sands of the Sahara?
Karol Jetting was born in Presporok (Bratislava) on September 13, 1730, during the more or less peaceful period of the Hungarian state.
The boy's life could be exactly the same as that of his father, who worked as a mechanic until his death, but his parents dreamed of a different fate for their son. Karol was not a fool - he entered the gymnasium and studied diligently there until the age of 15, until his serene youth was interrupted by the death of his father. Karol was left without a livelihood. He was forced to quit his studies, move to Vienna and get hired as an assistant lawyer.
The young man was smart and quick-witted, but the profession of a lawyer did not inspire him. Karol was attracted by that huge, shining world, which was somewhere in the distance, beyond the seas. The endless scorching sands of the Sahara spread there, tired caravans carrying precious cargo and gold, myrrh and saffron. There, noisy turquoise waves beat against the blood-red rocks, and pirate schooners, merchant ships and military frigates glided across the surface of the sea. Tight canvas fluttered in the wind, the teeth of black slaves gleamed, and goods from the shores of India or China waited in the holds. Why, why do we need jurisprudence?
The young man dreamed of making mistakes in the documents, and he was kicked out. Karol wanted to return to Bratislava, but at the inn he got into a conversation with some rich man, and he hired him into the house as a butler. Further more. Here, in the house, he met a London banker and moved to England, where he studied banking and worked for almost 20 years, forgetting about travel and dreams. Such is life - a penny saves a penny. But fate has prepared a surprise for Jetting.
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Finally some adventure
The Bank of London had branches all over the world and soon an experienced worker was required in Senegal. Carol Getting was offered to go there. By modern standards - not far, only some 4.5 thousand kilometers! By the standards of the 18th century, the distance was decent.
In October 1772, Karol boarded a ship sailing to distant Africa.
Off the African coast, the brigantine on which Karol was located was covered by a storm. The ship was badly battered, and on January 17, 1773, it ran aground off an island near Morocco.
As picturesque as the landscapes were, the local Moors were just as unfriendly, attacking the wrecked British, hijacking the ship and robbing it and everyone on board cleanly. One of the crew members, frightened, threw himself overboard and tried to swim to the shore, but the treacherous surf threw him onto the black rocks, and he died. The rest of the Moors were captured and turned into slaves.
Jetting was forced to work first for one Moor, then he was sold to another, richer Moor, who had his own farms, fields, herds of bulls, sheep and camels. It was then bought in a slave market in Robatob by a Jewish slave trader who allowed Karol to contact the British embassy, clearly counting on a good ransom.
And so it happened - the bank bought out its employee, sending a rich Arab merchant after him, who paid the required amount, and Jetting was free. Accompanied by the British military, he began to make his way through the deserts, in which the warlike tribes of the Moors, who fought with each other, then with the Europeans, and attacked all travelers in a row, were operating. Fate was favorable to the Hungarian, and after 20 days he reached the English consulate in Tangier, where, after a difficult journey, he ate and slept for four whole days. He took another week on his way with the Spanish mission to Cadiz, where he finally boarded the ship that brought Jetting to London in the fall of 1773.
Temptation and punishment
The banker's adventures did not go unnoticed! All London soon knew about bloodthirsty Arabs and blood-red sunsets over the Moorish coast.
Even the king of Great Britain, George III himself, became interested in Jetting's stories, who summoned him to the palace to hear about his adventures. Karol narrated everything so picturesquely that he "agreed" to the post of consul in Marseille, where he went without delay.
And what do you think?
This time the ship was captured by pirates, and Jetting returned to the slave market, but only this time in Tunisia, where he was taken in the hold of the ship, where he was bought by the wealthy Turk Selim.
Unlike the Jew, the Turk was not going to part with his property, and Jetting really had to work for him. Selim agreed to free the slave only after Jetting had saved his life - the Turk fell into the sea and would have drowned if not for his white slave.
Feeling emotional, Selim freed Karol, offered him friendship and really wanted him to accept Mohammedanism and stay in Tunisia. But Jetting showed character - home! Only home! As a result, the Turks gave the former slave money for the return trip.
However, freedom in Tunisia does not mean the ability to completely control oneself. Disagreeing with the decision of his father, the son of the Turk Selim intercepted the banker on the road, cleaned him to the skin and promised to deliver Jetting to the British consulate only if he took part in the raid on a Maltese ship.
There is no reception against the crowbar, and Karol had no choice but to agree.
On wild shores
The Maltese ship was indeed captured, but during the voyage Jetting managed to organize a mutiny, in which slaves also took part. The ship was captured again, but as a result of the mutiny, the ship was seriously damaged. The oncoming storm completed the business - the ship went to the bottom. Among the raging waves, Karol Jetting managed to grab a board and survive. For several days it was carried by the sea, and then thrown onto an uninhabited island, where the poor banker lived for nine whole months, eating almost nothing from coconuts. Finally, he noticed a ship passing by and managed to send a distress signal with smoke.
When he was taken from the shore, his appearance was truly exotic - a tanned daughter, in rags, overgrown to the eyebrows, thin and with a completely wild, inhuman look.
Compassionate sailors took him to Santo Domingo, from where Jetting somehow made it to London. When he came to his senses and finally showed up for work, they again tried to offer him a good position. But this time he flatly refused all the offers, deciding that he had enough adventures, and unexpectedly left home - to Bratislava. However, there is an explanation for this - he was no longer young and, obviously, decided that little was good. Before leaving, he married an Englishwoman, a bride who had been waiting for him in London all this time and agreed to go with him to Hungary.
He lived the rest of his life quietly and imperceptibly, died in 1790.
Belated recognition
In 1844, in the library, one of the local journalists came across the book Hungarian Robinson, or the Life, Fate and Adventures of Karol Jetting, published in Bratislava in 1797, after the death of the main character of the story.
They began to remember who he was, to look for eyewitnesses. And the elderly Bratislava people remembered that such a kind old man really lived on one of the streets of the city, all the time he told strange stories about distant countries, ships and wild Moors, but no one believed him.
To honor the memory of his fellow countryman, the city council found his grave in the cemetery and erected a monument on it, the same one in the neo-Gothic style - with a three-masted brig, a Maltese cross and towers.
Andrey LAVRENTYEV