Selkirk

NAME:

Selkirk, Alexander

ACHIEVEMENTS:

Castaway.  May have inspired:  “Robinson Crusoe” by Defoe

NICKNAME/ALIAS: None

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH:

1676, Largo, Fife, Scotland

DATE AND PLACE OF DEATH AND AGE AT DEATH:

12 December 1721, at sea. Aged around 45

DISCIPLINE:

Sailor and castaway

FIELD:

Buccaneering and maritime trading

LANGUAGE:

English

PARENTS:

Father: John Selcraig

Mother: Eupan Mackie

SIBLINGS:

6 brothers

SPOUSE:

Frances Candish

CHILDREN:

None

EDUCATION:

Church school, Largo, Scotland.

MAJOR WORK:

None

LIFE AND TIMES:

In 1703 Selkirk joined an expedition to the South Sea led by <sailed with> William Dampier*, the aim of which was to capture a Spanish treasure galleon, and Selkirk was made Sailing Master of the "Cinque Ports."  By November1703, the "Cinque Ports" was off the Brazilian coast.

The captain of ship died there and Selkirk disliked Stradling, his replacement. There were terrible storms on the way from the south Atlantic to the south Pacific but the "Cinque Ports" reached Juan Fernandez island and anchored there on 7 February 1704. Dampier arrived a few days later.

The crew of the "Cinque Ports", apparently led by Selkirk, fell out with Stradling, and forty-two of the sixty strong crew went ashore with their belongings. After two days, during which they ate boiled goat, seals, and green "cabbage" palms, they were persuaded to rejoin their ship.

Over the next three months, the expedition was harassed by French shipping and

Dampier was forced to retreat from any large scale privateering venture.

The men on all the ships were becoming discontented as their visions of

loot faded and yet another group of men had left the expedition.

On 19 May

1704 the "Cinque Ports" separated from the rest of the expedition and

cruised along the coast of South and Central America until in September

Stradling was forced to return to Juan Fernandez to repair his badly

damaged ship. In October while still at anchorage, Selkirk and Stradling

quarrelled violently, probably over Stradling's decision to sail before

repairs were completed.

Selkirk demanded to be put ashore with his belongings. This was something the men were prone to do in times of stress and he probably thought the some of the other men would accompany him. After he had been left on the island and the last members of the crew were embarking in the ship's boat Selkirk waded into the water and  shouted

out, asking to be taken off. 

Stradling, however,  would not listen and for the next four years and four months Selkirk remained on the uninhabited island as a castaway.  He had with him his sea chest, his clothes, some simple mathematical instruments and a kettle, a knife and a hatchet. He only had rations for one day. Fortunately, the climate was good and the island was fertile. After the first eighteen months became he very fit and active and when a party of Spaniards landed, Selkirk  escaped capture by climbing up a tree.

On 2 February 1709 Selkirk saw two ships had anchored off shore and lit a fire to attract their attention.  By an extraordinary coincidence,  Dampier was pilot on one of the ships. Selkirk was taken off the island and his appearance in his goatskins caused a sensation

on board.  Woodes Rogers, the leader of the expedition, appointed him mate.

Rogers was authorised by the British for privateering and within a short time, Selkirk was appointed Master on a captured boat which was designated as the hospital ship.  In December 1709 the expedition captured a Spanish galleon, and Selkirk was appointed Master of the ship,  renamed then "Batchelor".

After sailing 6,000 miles to Guam they arrived in the Dutch East Indies in June 1710. They rounded the Cape of Good Hope in December 1710 and eventually arrived in the Thames in October 1711.

Rogers knew the essayist <written about by> Steele* and introduced him to Selkirk. In 1712 Rogers wrote his account of the voyage in which he described Selkirk's stay on the deserted island, and in 1713 Steele wrote an essay on Selkirk. According to Steele, Selkirk was happy and confident at their first meeting but had become somewhat depressed two years' later.

These accounts probably  inspired the novel "Robinson Crusoe" (1719-22) by <hero of novel by> Defoe*. In 1714 Selkirk returned to Largo where he is said to have built himself a small shelter on the hillside behind his father's house to which he would retreat when human company became too much for him. By 1717 he was back in London,  joined the navy and went back to sea.

In 1720 he was Master on HMS 'Weymouth", bound for the west coast of Africa. In May 1721 the "Weymouth" reached the Gold Coast, and in December Selkirk died during an outbreak of tropical fever.

ASSESSMENT: Selkirk provided the model for the fictional "Robinson Crusoe".

EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None

ONELINER: Alexander Selkirk, model for ‘Robinson Crusoe’

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Megroz, R L, The Real Robinson Crusoe, The Cresset Press, London.1939