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There are many tales and legends of men who, for one reason or another, found themselves living a solitary life on an
uninhabited island. The most famous tale is based on the adventures of the Scotsman Alexander Selkirk. The account of his four years alone on a small Pacific island, 400 miles off Chile's central coast, was the
inspiration and principal source for Daniel Defoe's celebrated novel 'The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner'. Written by Himself. Alexander Selkirk, the seventh son of John
Selcraig and Euphan Mackie, was born in Largo, Fife in 1676. He was educated at the local school, where he showed considerable aptitude for mathematics and navigation. From accounts in the Largo church records, he
appears to have been a strong willed, troublesome youth. The young Selkirk grew up within sight and sound of the sea and was probably aware of a tradition of local seafaring adventurers. He must also have been aware of
what a notoriously dangerous and unhealthy existence a seafarer led in the 17th century. However, he went to sea, not as his brothers had done as fishermen, but on one of the many privateering expeditions against the
French and Spanish colonies. By 1703, at the age of 27, Selkirk had gained valuable experience as a navigator the most important of ship's officers. He joined a privateering expedition going to the South Seas,
commanded by Captain William Dampier of the St George and her consort the Cinque Ports galley. The consort ship was a precariously small vessel to be negotiating the dangerous seas off Cape Horn, and in January 1704 she
disappeared during a heavy storm. The crew of the St George feared the worst but were delighted to find her, four days later, lying at anchor off the Juan Fernandez Islands. Some months and a few
engagements later, Selkirk warned Lieutenant Stradling, captain of the Cinque Ports, that the ship was unseaworthy, and suggested returning again to the Juan Fernandez Islands for repairs. Stradling argued with his
second-in-command and, when they finally reached the islands in October, Selkirk asked to be put ashore hoping, no doubt, to join the next friendly privateer that came his way. Selkirk was landed with his sea chest
containing his clothes, mathematical instruments navigation books, a Bible, a kettle, a hatchet and his gun. His decision to leave The Gin que Ports proved to be a wise one, after leaving the islands the ship foundered
off the Peruvian coast and most of the crew were drowned. Stradling and seven of his men were 'saved' by the Spaniards who incarcerated them in a Lima prison for seven years. It was to be four years before Selkirk was
rescued from his exile. The account of Selkirk's years on the uninhabited island comes from his rescuer Captain Woodes Rogers, who arrived on the island with Captain Dampier and the privateering ships Duke and Duchess.
Woodes Rogers recorded in his journal that they found the Scotsman Alexander Selkirk who was 'cloth'd in goatskins, and looked wilder than the first owners of them'. Selkirk, reported Woodes Rogers, had
'diverted and provided for himself as well as he could; but for the first eight months he had much ado to bear up against melancholy and the terror of being left alone in such a desolate place, but by the favour of
providence and vigour of his youth, being now but thirty years old, he came at last to conquer all the inconveniences of his solitude and to be very easy. Woodes Rogers dubbed Selkirk 'the Governor of Juan Fernandez'
and later, recognising his skill as a navigator, gave him command of the Increase, a prize captured from the Spanish by the Duke and Duchess. Many adventures later and eight years after he had left Largo our hero
finally landed in England (on the Thames) on 3 October 1711, but it was to be two years before he would see his family again. As sailing master of the Increase, Selkirk's share of the money the ship had realised was
£800 - an enormous sum for the time. His adventures excited tremendous interest and in London he met frequently with Sir Richard Steele, editor of the political journal The Englishman. Issue 26, published on 3 December
1713, carried a long article on Selkirk's adventures. Selkirk was, it said, 'already familiar to men of curiosity' and 'a man of good sense and that it was a pleasure to converse with him'. Selkirk's
exploits were common knowledge by the time Robinson Crusoe was published in 1719, and it has never been proved whether Daniel Defoe ever met or corresponded with Alexander Selkirk. Defoe could certainly have used the
journals of Woodes Rogers and his fellow officer Edward Cooke for both had been published seven years before his novel. On Defoe's fictional island, Robinson Crusoe had 'Man Friday' and the 'Savages' with him. The
inspiration for these characters may have come from the journal of Captain W. Dampier. His account of a voyage to the Juan Fernandez Islands (taken some 20 years before Selkirk's) tells of a crew member's reunion with
his brother Will, who had been marooned there for a total of three years. When Selkirk finally returned home, family tradition has it that he arrived in Largo on a Sunday morning and, finding his family were at church,
appeared at the kirk door wearing gold-laced clothes. No one recognised him at first (it was thought he had perished years before), until his mother, with a cry of joy, ran to greet him. Selkirk stayed for several
months, but he often bewailed his return to a world that could not, he said, 'with all its enjoyments, restore him the tranquility of his solitude on his beloved island'. He left Largo with a 16 year-old girl
called Sophia Bruce. They lived together in London for a year, until he abandoned her and returned to seafaring. Selkirk joined His Majesty's ship Weymouth as a lieutenant. While the ship was in Plymouth,
being fitted out for her voyage, Selkirk met Frances Candis, an attractive widow and the owner of an inn popular with sailors. On 12 December 1720, they married in St Andrews Parish Church, Plymouth. Selkirk made a new
will replacing Sophia with Frances as his beneficiary. The Weymouth, captained by Mungo Herdman, was sent to the coast of Guinea in order to subdue piracy. The coast was unhealthy and fever was rife. In his log book on
13 December 1721, Mungo Herdman wrote: 'pm. Alexander Selkirk deceased.' He made no further comment. Many of Selkirk's fellow mariners died of yellow fever (180 out of a crew of 280 died during the voyage) along the
west coast of Africa known as the 'White Man's Grave. Back in England, Frances and Sophia both claimed their rights to Selkirk's legacy, and lawsuits were issued. Under English law Frances won her case Sophia's 'common
law marige' was recognised only in Scotland. Sophia was left penniless in London; Frances married again to Francis Hall, a wealthy tallow chandler. |
