I had heard of Selkirk's Island ever since I was young and my father told me stories about the Ship Brooklyn which sailed from Brooklyn Harbor, New York, and traveled south across the Atlantic equator, around Cape Horn, stopping at the Juan Fernández Islands (Selkirk's Island), then to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), finally docking in Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) on July 29, 1846. This ship carried Mormon pioneers including some of my ancestors who later settled in Utah. I always remember my father talking about its stop at the island that was the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe after a long sea voyage around Cape Horn.
I found this narrative of Selkirk to be very compelling reading. "Alexander Selkirk (1676 â 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704â1709) after being marooned by his captain on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean. He survived that ordeal, but succumbed to tropical illness years later while serving aboard HMS Weymouth off West Africa. Selkirk was an unruly youth, and joined buccaneering voyages to the South Pacific during the War of the Spanish Succession. One such expedition was on Cinque Ports, captained by Thomas Stradling under the overall command of William Dampier. Stradling's ship stopped to resupply at the uninhabited Juan Fernández Islands, and Selkirk judged correctly that the craft was unseaworthy and asked to be left there. By the time he was eventually rescued by English privateer Woodes Rogers, in company with Dampier, Selkirk had become adept at hunting and making use of the resources that he found on the island. His story of survival was widely publicized after his return to England, becoming a source of inspiration for writer Daniel Defoe's fictional character Robinson Crusoe."
Souhami's narrative tells not only the story of Selkirk but also provides a very good history of the times including England's use of privateers/pirates in it's war against Spain and France. Selkirk was mainly after riches and glory and cared nothing for others. He actually married two women who fought over his legacy after he died. The time he spent on The Island was also very interesting including his ability to make clothes using goat hides (which Defoe used in Robinson Crusoe), and his other uses for the goats which Defoe did not use in his novel.
Although many believe that Selkirk was Defoe's main inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, I have read that others do not believe this is so. A National Geographic article contends that there were several different stories known by Defoe that contributed to his Crusoe and that there were many differences between the fictional Crusoe and what happened to Selkirk. In any event, I now need to read Robinson Crusoe, another classic that I have neglected!
I found this narrative of Selkirk to be very compelling reading. "Alexander Selkirk (1676 â 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704â1709) after being marooned by his captain on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean. He survived that ordeal, but succumbed to tropical illness years later while serving aboard HMS Weymouth off West Africa. Selkirk was an unruly youth, and joined buccaneering voyages to the South Pacific during the War of the Spanish Succession. One such expedition was on Cinque Ports, captained by Thomas Stradling under the overall command of William Dampier. Stradling's ship stopped to resupply at the uninhabited Juan Fernández Islands, and Selkirk judged correctly that the craft was unseaworthy and asked to be left there. By the time he was eventually rescued by English privateer Woodes Rogers, in company with Dampier, Selkirk had become adept at hunting and making use of the resources that he found on the island. His story of survival was widely publicized after his return to England, becoming a source of inspiration for writer Daniel Defoe's fictional character Robinson Crusoe."
Souhami's narrative tells not only the story of Selkirk but also provides a very good history of the times including England's use of privateers/pirates in it's war against Spain and France. Selkirk was mainly after riches and glory and cared nothing for others. He actually married two women who fought over his legacy after he died. The time he spent on The Island was also very interesting including his ability to make clothes using goat hides (which Defoe used in Robinson Crusoe), and his other uses for the goats which Defoe did not use in his novel.
Although many believe that Selkirk was Defoe's main inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, I have read that others do not believe this is so. A National Geographic article contends that there were several different stories known by Defoe that contributed to his Crusoe and that there were many differences between the fictional Crusoe and what happened to Selkirk. In any event, I now need to read Robinson Crusoe, another classic that I have neglected!
