They repair the boat so they can retake the ship. The captain tells the captured mutineers that the governor of the island is English and they are his prisoners. The governor has the power to hang them all but has determined that they should go back to England to be tried. When the captain and some of his crew return to the ship, they manage to overtake the men there; they shoot the ringleader, Atkins, and hang his body from the yardarm. On his return to the shore, Crusoe suggests dividing up the prisoners, which he does. The captain talks with them and offers them the choice of leaving with him to be tried in England or remaining on the island. They decide to remain, and Robinson Crusoe shows them how to survive.

Crusoe spends his last night in his cave, gathering what things he will take with him back to England. He boards the ship carrying his umbrella, his cap, and his parrot as well as all the gold and silver he acquired from the shipwrecks. They leave the island on December 19, the same date on which he escaped from slavery twenty-eight years previously. The ship arrives back in England on June 11, 1687, thirty-five years after Robinson Crusoe left its shores as a nineteen-year-old intent on seeing the world on his own terms.

Crusoe returns to England to find his parents dead; only two sisters and some nieces and nephews are still alive. Because it was generally believed that he was dead, no provision had been made for him in any will. He looks up the widow who was taking care of his small fortune in England only to find her near destitute. He leaves her some money and goes to Lisbon to learn about the fate of his plantation in Brazil. Crusoe finds the captain who had rescued him from Africa and learns that his estate has been put in use but is still held in trust should he ever be proved alive. He learns that he has become a very wealthy man. He contemplates going back to Brazil. However, he had followed the Catholic religion during his time there, and he does not want to subject himself to that now that he has committed himself to the Protestant faith. He provides gifts and money to his remaining family and those who helped him along the way and decides to return to England.