Why is the verb "Pilot" capitalized in Robinson Crusoe?

The following is an excerpt from Robinson Crusoe (Oxford World's Classics, p39).

my Business was to hold my Breath, and raise my self upon the Water, if I could; and so by swimming to preserve my Breathing, and Pilot my self towards the Shore, if possible;

I understand that in the English of the time first letters of nouns are capitalized, like in modern German.

Why "Pilot" instead of "pilot"? I read "Pilot" above as a verb. Am I simply wrong on this or is it just a misprint?

Solution 1:

I have two main ideas here...

First... As some have noted in comments, it used to be common for publishers to Capitalise important words for emphasis, for which we now have other conventional typographical methods.

As an example, although my own edition of Robinson Crusoe (Penguin [1965] 1983) avoids all such capitalisation in the main text, it does include a facsimile of the original 1719 frontispiece, including the following text.

Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner:

Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque;

Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where-in all the Men perished but himself.

[To be strictly accurate, the proper nouns here are further pulled out by being in small capitals, indicating a set of conventions with various levels.]

The capitalisation might seem arbitary and perhaps even whimsical to modern eyes, but was entirely normal at the time. In this example (as has been pointed out), nouns are capitalised as they still are in German -- and so are the significant numbers describing the great length of Robinson's isolation.

Second... The term 'pilot', while indeed used as a verb in your quoted passsage, also designates a particular professional seafaring navigational function (as I recall, a ship's Pilot would be responsible for getting safely into harbour past concealed reefs, for example), so perhaps it is capitalised here as a kind of honorary noun, as Robinson describes applying a certain professional skill to reach safety.

Possibly, then, this is a bit like saying, 'Even though young, I was qualified, so I Doctored my way around the world,' or, 'I managed to Lawyer my way to riches.'