Gulliver had been home less than ten days when Captain William Robinson, a Cornishman, came to his house. He commanded the Hopewell, a stout ship of three hundred tons.
Gulliver had once been surgeon on a ship Robinson commanded, on a voyage to the Levant. Robinson had always treated him more like a brother than an inferior officer. Gulliver took this visit to be simple friendship after a long absence.
But Robinson kept coming back. He said he was glad to see him well, asked whether he was settled for life, and mentioned he was sailing for the East Indies in two months. At last, with some apology but quite plainly, he asked Gulliver to be the ship’s surgeon.