This incident occurs in the first chapter of the book. Gulliver's ship splits in two after striking the rock, and Gulliver and several of the crewmen escape in the ship's lifeboat. The boat is taken by a strong wind, which causes the other crew members, as far as Gulliver can tell, to get lost at sea. In short, the storm blows Gulliver's boat ashore on Lilliput, where he, made weary by his exertions and by brandy, falls asleep. He awakens, in perhaps the book's most enduring scene, tied to the ground by the Lilliputians:

I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir; for, as I happened to lie on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground, and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner.

It is the shipwreck, in short, which sets the story of Gulliver's Travels in motion.