A castaway creation

2009 sees the 300th anniversary of the rescue of Alexander Selkirk. In the early 1700s Selkirk served on the ship the Cinque Ports, but began to grow resentful of the new commander, Captain Thomas Stradling. A hurried refit of the ship at Juan Fernandez (an island off the coast of Chile) convinced Selkirk that the Cinque Ports was unseaworthy and he declared he would leave the vessel rather than sail in her. Disembarking with 'his Clothes and Bedding, with a Firelock, some Powder, Bullets, and Tobacco, a Hatchet, a Knife, a Kettle, a Bible, some practical Pieces, and his Mathematical Instruments and Books,' Selkirk bid the boat's crew a hearty farewell but the moment they pulled away from the shore he experienced an immediate change of heart. Stradling, who may have anticipated a volte-face, had taken it upon himself to supervise Selkirk's transfer personally, and he steadfastly refused Selkirk's pleas to be taken up again. Selkirk was discovered on 1st February 1709 by a ship commanded by Woodes Rogers who found '...a man clothed in goat skins who look'd wilder than the first Owners of them...' Selkirk had been alone on the island for four years and four months.

It is thought that Alexander Selkirk was a primary model for the character of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe's famous castaway creation. Below is an extract from the Oxford World's Classics edition of Robinson Crusoe. Check out our monthly quiz page to win a copy of the book.

'My next Work was to view the Country, and seek a proper Place for my Habitation, and where to stow my Goods to secure them from whatever might happen; where I was I yet knew not, whether on the Continent or on an Island, whether inhabited or not inhabited, whether in Danger of wild Beasts or not: There was a Hill not above a Mile from me, which rose up very steep and high, and which seem'd to over-top some other Hills which lay as in a Ridge from it northward; I took out one of the fowling Pieces, and one of the Pistols, and an Horn of Powder, and thus arm'd I travell'd for Discovery up to the Top of that Hill, where after I had with great Labour and Difficulty got to the Top, I saw my Fate to my great Affliction, (viz.) that I was in an Island environ'd every Way with the Sea, no Land to be seen, except some Rocks which lay a great Way off, and two small Islands less than this, which lay about three Leagues to the West.

I found also that the Island I was in was barren, and, as I saw good Reason to believe, un-inhabited, except by wild Beasts, of whom however I saw none, yet I saw Abundance of Fowls, but knew not their Kinds, neither when I kill'd them could I tell what was fit for Food, and what not; at my coming back, I shot at a great Bird which I saw sitting upon a Tree on the Side of a great Wood, I believe it was the first Gun that had been fir'd there since the Creation of the World; I had no sooner fir'd, but from all the Parts of the Wood there arose an innumerable Number of Fowls of many Sorts, making a confus'd Screaming, and crying every one according to his usual Note; but not one of them of any Kind that I knew: As for the Creature I kill'd, I took it to be a Kind of a Hawk, its Colour and Beak resembling it, but had no Talons or Claws more than common, its Flesh was Carrion, and fit for nothing.

Contented with this Discovery, I came back to my Raft, and fell to Work to bring my Cargoe on Shore, which took me up the rest of that Day, and what to do with my self at Night I knew not, nor indeed where to rest; for I was afraid to lie down on the Ground, not knowing but some wild Beast might devour me...'

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The information on Alexander Selkirk was taken from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and written by James William Kelly. Click here for more details on the ODNB - www.oxforddnb.com

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