they ran the vessel on shore

[enkidu68]

Hi folks, this is coming from Colonel Jack by Defoe.
Context: a sloop tries to stand from a pirate ship. I wonder: run on only means to go on? Or run ashore. What makes me think this way is the sentence coming from second bold one."and the men shifted as well as they could in their boats."

and there finding no remedy, they ran the vessel on shore not far from the fort which the Spaniards call Pensacola, garrisoned at that time with French. Our men would have entered the river as a port, but having no pilot, and the current of the river being strong against them, the sloop ran on shore, and the men shifted as well as they could in their boats.

 

[lingobingo]

The vessel “ran on shore” means it landed — it headed towards the shore and stopped on the beach. (The word “run” is this context is perhaps more familiar in the term “run aground”.)

Here, it seems the men’s plan had been to reach their destination via the river, but this wasn’t possible.

 

[Packard]

I only hear "run aground" for larger ships and "beached" for small boats.

Run aground:

Beached boats:

 

[enkidu68]

Thank you so much.

 

[Packard]

The vessel “ran on shore” means it landed — it headed towards the shore and stopped on the beach. (The word “run” is this context is perhaps more familiar in the term “run aground”.)

Here, it seems the men’s plan had been to reach their destination via the river, but this wasn’t possible.

In my mind "run aground" is something that is done by accident. Do you have that same idea?

Contrast that with "beach" which is frequently intentional.

 

[lingobingo]

I was simply referring to the nautical use of the word “run”. In old texts there are lot of instances of “ran on shore”, but you probably wouldn’t find that expression used these days, although “to run aground” is still in use.

 

[Andygc]

The sloop ran on shore - in modern English, the sloop ran ashore. It was deliberate. It is not quite the same as "run aground", since it is perfectly possible to run aground well away from the shore. For example, it would be easy to run aground on the Middle Cross Sand, but still be 5 miles from the shore at Caister (on the Suffolk coast of England).

The men shifted as well as they could in their boats - they managed as well as they could in their boats - the ship's boats, which they used to get to the shore from where the sloop was stranded. Reading on a few pages in the book, Colonel Jack hears that the sloop was broken up by the waves and that the men managed to get ashore safely.

I only hear "run aground" for larger ships

It's not at all unusual to refer to small craft "running aground". I've done it several times in my local river in a 28-foot yacht, and I did it in sailing dinghies when I was younger.

 

[lingobingo]

I seem to have introduced a red herring here by mentioning the term “run aground” as a different example of the use of “run” in the context of ships. It’s otherwise irrelevant to the question in the OP.

 

[Andygc]

It's not a complete red herring - the ship ran ashore - a deliberate act, but it also ran aground as a result of the decision to run ashore.