content: Captured at the age of 16, during several months of imprisonment, he often gnawed on fish bones to stave off hunger and thirst. During his escape, he inspired his companions to break through the barriers with the daring act of gnawing on bone ash. Encountering officers of a British merchant ship, he sneaked into the cabin and stole torn pages of an English dictionary, teaching himself fragments of the language and developing a rough but communicative bilingual ability.