What island was alexander selkirk stranded on
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Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk, (1676 - 13th December 1721) also known as Alexander Selcraig, was a Scottishsailor. He became famous for his amazing story of survival and is likely to have inspired Daniel Defoe to write the book Robinson Crusoe.
He was on an expedition when the captain of the ship, Captain Stradling, left him on an island off the coast of Chile. Selkirk's job on board was the navigator. He controlled where the ship needed to go and where it was then. He had an important job. He tried to warn the captain about necessary repairs, but the captain ignored Selkirk and continued sailing. Selkirk knew the ship was to drown at any given moment and tried to demand the repairs were taken care of but nobody listened. They had stopped at an island to restock fresh water and supplies. Selkirk said he would rather stay on the island than continue to ride on a dangerous, leaky ship. So, there he was left. He had last-minute second thoughts and tried to get back onto the ship, but Stradling refused. Selkirk was marooned on that island for about four years and ha
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Two Extraordinary Travellers
Alexander Selkirk - the Real Robinson Crusoe?
Frequently history is stranger than fiction and none more so than in the tale of Alexander Selkirk: the real-life Robinson Crusoe.
Born in 1676, the seventh son of a cobbler, Alexander Selkirk grew up in Lower Largo, Fife. At the age of 19 he found himself in trouble with the Kirk Session after his brother’s trick of making him drink sea water resulted in a family fight. Before his case was heard, Selkirk fled to sea hoping to make his fortune through privateering (effectively legalised piracy on the King’s enemies) against Spanish vessels off the coast of South America.
Within a few years his skill at navigation led to his appointment as Sailing Master on the ‘Cinque Ports’, a sixteen gun, ninety ton privateer. The expedition was a disaster. The captain of the ship was a tyrant and after a few sea battles with the Spanish, Selkirk feared the ship would sink. So, in an attempt to save his own life he demanded to be put ashore on the next island they encountered. In September 1704, Selkirk w
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Alexander Selkirk, or Alexander Selcraig, lived from 1676 to 13 December 1721). He is famous for spending four years as a castaway on an uninhabited island: an experience on which the Daniel Defoe book Robinson Crusoe was based. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.
Selkirk was born in Lower Largo in Fife in 1676. He was the seventh son of a shoemaker and tanner and would seem to have been something of a problem child, getting into trouble of various sorts quite quickly. On 27 August 1695 he was summoned to appear before the kirk-session (ecclesiastical court) for his unspecified indecent behaviour in church. Court records note that he failed to appear, having gone away to sea. The charges were deferred until his return.
This was the age of the pirate, and Selkirk became involved in a number of buccaneering expeditions. In 1703 he joined the ship's company of the notorious privateer and explorer William Dampier, captain of the ship Cinque Ports, a sixteen gun, ninety ton ves
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