Imagine what if you'd been caught and were to be sold as a slave, and suppose you were given the choice of deciding who you are going to be a slave for.
It could be:
a) a surveying officer in a ship, whom you would aid in the process of mapping coastlines, mountains, rivers, and documenting features about locals encountered there (such as their language and customs)
b) a ship engineer, whom you could aid in keeping everything a ship's got related to engines and gauges in check, occasionally performing some substitution of heavy parts and adding oil/fixing leaks as necessary.
c) a ship's captain, whom you would aid in keeping the navigation course (use compasses, read maps, the coasts, the stars) and receiving signals from other ships in the vicinity.
d) a large landowner back in the mainland, where you would work everyday on a farm growing and cultivating highly valuable cash crop like tobacco, and could also be given a small patch of land for yourself where you could grow some potatoes, tomatoes, and be able to raise pigs or chickens so you could feast on them once a year.
e) a nobleperson, for whom you would work as a regular servant, be able to cook, serve food, clean the floor, sew, wash, and prepare clothes, repair roof thatches and floors, and paint walls.