The story of Alexander Selkirk, who became the prototype of Robinson Crusoe in the book by Daniel Defoe. The True Story of Robinson Crusoe, Alexander Selkirk Alexander Selkirk was the prototype

ALEXANDER SELKIRK

Dates of life: 1676 - December 13, 1721
Place of birth: village. Largo, Scotland
Scottish sailor, spent 4 years and 4 months (in 1704-1709) on desert island Mas a Tierra (now Robinson Crusoe as part of the Juan Fernandez archipelago) in Pacific Ocean, 640 kilometers from the coast of Chile.
Served as the prototype for Robinson Crusoe, the literary hero of Daniel Defoe's novel.

Robinson Crusoe from the adventure book by Daniel Defoe is not fiction. This book is based on fact. The island of Mas a Tierra, which belongs to the Republic of Chile, is famous island Robinson Crusoe.
The climate of this island is quite mild, the temperature ranges from +12 to +19 degrees throughout the year. In the mountainous part of the island there is a dense forest; below the ground is covered with palm groves and thickets of ferns. It was on this island that the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk lived in complete solitude for 5 years.

He was born in 1676 in the small Scottish village of Largo, in the family of a poor shoemaker John Selkreg. When the guy turned 19, he changed his last name and left home, as constant quarrels with his father and brother haunted him. The young man went to work as a sailor in the English navy. He sailed a lot across the seas and oceans and took part in naval battles. When the famous pirate, Captain Damper, was recruiting sailors for his crew, Alexander Selkirk joined them. Later he joined the command of the captain of another frigate, Pickering. After some time, Pickering died and Stredling took his place, and Alexander Selkirk, who turned out to be a capable sailor, became the new captain's assistant.
In May 1704 Pirates' ship due to damage caused by the storm, he was forced to anchor near the island of Mas a Tierra. A quarrel arises between the captain and Selkirk, as a result of which the captain orders his assistant to be landed on the island, leaving him with a gun, gunpowder, bullets, an axe, a spyglass, a blanket and tobacco. View of Cumberland Bay on Robinson Crusoe Island. At first, the navigator was overcome by despair, sleepless nights and hunger pushed him to suicide. But, overpowering himself, Alexander built himself a dwelling and went deep into the island in search of food. Vegetable and animal world The islands were varied and rich. Alexander Selkirk began fishing, hunting sea ​​turtles, tamed wild goats and wild cats that were on the island. As in the Stone Age, he made fire by friction, made clothes from goat skin, using a nail instead of a needle.
In addition, Selkirk made himself a calendar. So he lived for five years on a deserted island.
On February 2, 1709, Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was found by an English warship. The sailors saw an overgrown man with long hair and a beard, his clothes were made of goatskin. At first, Alexander could only utter inarticulate sounds, and only after a few weeks, having come to his senses, he was able to tell his story. Later it turned out that the ship, whose captain left him on a deserted island, was caught in a storm and almost the entire crew died.
In 1712, Woods Rogers's book, An Industrial Voyage Around the World, was published, which told about the life of Alexander Selkirk on a desert island. A little later, Alexander Selkirk himself wrote a book called “The Intervention of Providence, or unusual description adventures of Alexander Selkirk, written by his own hand,” but this book did not become popular.
And Daniel Defoe’s book, which was published in 1719 under the title “The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Robinson of York, Who Lived 28 Years on a Deserted Island,” gained worldwide fame; readers immediately recognized the fictional character as “Robinson” from the Island of Mas- a-Tierra. Daniel Defoe has repeatedly confirmed the fact that he met the prototype of Robinson's hero, Selkirk, and used his life story in his book.
In the preface to the first edition of the book about Robinson, D. Defoe wrote: “There is still among us a man whose life served as the basis for this book.” The government of the Republic of Chile renamed the island of Mas a Tierra, where Selkirk spent five years of his life, Selkirk Island. In the Scottish village of Largo, where Alexander Selkirk was born, a monument was erected to him.

Alexander Selkirk was not the first “Robinson” on the deserted island of Mas a Tierra. His predecessor, Juan Fernandez, lived here for several years; it was he who left the goats here, which were so useful to Alexander Selkirk, they gave him meat, milk and leather for clothing. A dark-skinned sailor who escaped from a sunken ship lived on this island for five years (1680−1685). In 1687, Captain Davis left 9 sailors on the island, so he decided to teach them a lesson for gambling with dice. The captain provided them with food and everything necessary for life, the sailors were not sad at all, but rather the opposite, they now had a lot of free time to play dice, which is what they did all their time free time. Since they had no money, the resourceful sailors divided the territory of the island among themselves and played for land. The sailors left the island after three years, although they had many opportunities to do so earlier. 14 years after them, Alexander Selkirk “settled” on this island.

(1676 ) Date of death:

Biography

Island life

Alexander Selkirk had some things necessary for survival: an axe, a gun, a supply of gunpowder, etc. Suffering from loneliness, Selkirk got used to the island and gradually acquired the necessary survival skills. At first, his diet was meager - he ate shellfish, but over time he got used to it and discovered feral domestic goats on the island. Once upon a time, people lived here and brought these animals with them, but after they left the island, the goats went wild. He hunted them, thereby adding much-needed meat to his diet. Soon Selkirk tamed them and received milk from them. Among plant crops, he discovered wild turnips, cabbage and black pepper, as well as some berries.

Rats posed a danger to him, but fortunately for him, wild cats, previously brought by people, also lived on the island. In their company he could sleep peacefully, without fear of rodents. Selkirk built himself two huts from Pimento officinalis wood. His supply of gunpowder ran low and he was forced to hunt goats without a gun. While chasing them, he once became so carried away by his pursuit that he did not notice the cliff from which he fell and lay there for some time, miraculously surviving.

In order not to forget the English speech, he constantly read the Bible aloud. Not to say that he was a pious person - that’s how he heard a human voice. When his clothes began to wear out, he began to use goat skins for them. Being the son of a tanner, Selkirk knew well how to tan hides. After his boots wore out, he did not bother to make new ones for himself, because his feet, hardened by calluses, allowed him to walk without shoes. He also found old hoops from barrels and was able to make something like a knife out of them.

One day, two ships arrived on the island, which turned out to be Spanish, and England and Spain were enemies at that time. Selkirk could have been arrested or even killed, since he was a privateer, and he made the difficult decision for himself to hide from the Spaniards.

Salvation came to him on February 1, 1709. It was the English ship Duke, captained by Woodes Rogers, who named Selkirk governor of the island.

The life of Robinson Crusoe in Defoe's novel of the same name was more colorful and eventful. After many years of loneliness, the hermit managed to make a friend, which did not happen to Selkirk. Alexander did not meet bloodthirsty cannibal Indians, as was described in the book.

Alexander-Selkirk Island, located near Robinson Crusoe Island, was named directly in honor of the sailor. In 2008, scientists from the British Society for Post-Medieval Archeology discovered the site of Alexander Selkirk. Archaeological finds suggest that while on the island, the sailor built two huts and an observation post near the stream, from which one could see passing ships. A pair of navigational instruments from the early 18th century were also found there, which are believed to have belonged to Selkirk: the captain of the ship who discovered the Scot mentioned that some mathematical instruments were also brought on board with the man.

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Excerpt characterizing Selkirk, Alexander

His meek, gentle, sincere voice suddenly seemed so strange to Natasha.
- Let’s not talk, my friend, I’ll tell him everything; but I ask you one thing - consider me your friend, and if you need help, advice, you just need to pour out your soul to someone - not now, but when you feel clear in your soul - remember me. “He took and kissed her hand. “I’ll be happy if I’m able to...” Pierre became embarrassed.
– Don’t talk to me like that: I’m not worth it! – Natasha screamed and wanted to leave the room, but Pierre held her hand. He knew he needed to tell her something else. But when he said this, he was surprised at his own words.
“Stop it, stop it, your whole life is ahead of you,” he told her.
- For me? No! “Everything is lost for me,” she said with shame and self-humiliation.
- Everything is lost? - he repeated. - If I were not me, but the most beautiful, smartest and best person in the world, and if I were free, I would be on my knees right now asking for your hand and love.
For the first time after many days, Natasha cried with tears of gratitude and tenderness and, looking at Pierre, left the room.
Pierre, too, almost ran out into the hallway after her, holding back the tears of tenderness and happiness that were choking his throat, without getting into his sleeves, he put on his fur coat and sat down in the sleigh.
- Now where do you want to go? - asked the coachman.
"Where? Pierre asked himself. Where can you go now? Is it really to the club or guests? All people seemed so pitiful, so poor in comparison with the feeling of tenderness and love that he experienced; in comparison with that softened, grateful look with which she looked at him the last time because of tears.
“Home,” said Pierre, despite the ten degrees of frost, opening his bear coat on his wide, joyfully breathing chest.
It was frosty and clear. Above the dirty, dim streets, above the black roofs, there was a dark, starry sky. Pierre, just looking at the sky, did not feel the offensive baseness of everything earthly in comparison with the height at which his soul was located. Upon entering Arbat Square, a huge expanse of starry dark sky opened up to Pierre’s eyes. Almost in the middle of this sky above Prechistensky Boulevard, surrounded and sprinkled on all sides with stars, but differing from everyone else in its proximity to the earth, white light, and long, raised tail, stood a huge bright comet of 1812, the same comet that foreshadowed as they said, all sorts of horrors and the end of the world. But in Pierre this bright star with a long radiant tail did not arouse any terrible feeling. Opposite Pierre, joyfully, eyes wet with tears, looked at this bright star, which, as if, with inexpressible speed, flying through immeasurable spaces along a parabolic line, suddenly, like an arrow pierced into the ground, stuck here in one place chosen by it, in the black sky, and stopped, energetically raising her tail up, glowing and playing with her white light between countless other twinkling stars. It seemed to Pierre that this star fully corresponded to what was in his soul, which had blossomed towards a new life, softened and encouraged.

From the end of 1811, increased armament and concentration of forces began Western Europe, and in 1812 these forces - millions of people (counting those who transported and fed the army) moved from West to East, to the borders of Russia, to which, in the same way, since 1811, Russian forces were drawn together. On June 12, the forces of Western Europe crossed the borders of Russia, and war began, that is, an event contrary to human reason and all human nature took place. Millions of people committed each other, against each other, such countless atrocities, deceptions, betrayals, thefts, forgeries and issuance of false banknotes, robberies, arson and murders, which for centuries will not be collected by the chronicle of all the courts of the world and for which, during this period of time, people those who committed them did not look at them as crimes.
What caused this extraordinary event? What were the reasons for it? Historians say with naive confidence that the reasons for this event were the insult inflicted on the Duke of Oldenburg, non-compliance with the continental system, Napoleon's lust for power, Alexander's firmness, diplomatic mistakes, etc.
Consequently, it was only necessary for Metternich, Rumyantsev or Talleyrand, between the exit and the reception, to try hard and write a more skillful piece of paper, or for Napoleon to write to Alexander: Monsieur mon frere, je consens a rendre le duche au duc d "Oldenbourg, [My lord brother, I agree return the duchy to the Duke of Oldenburg.] - and there would be no war.
It is clear that this was how the matter seemed to contemporaries. It is clear that Napoleon thought that the cause of the war was the intrigues of England (as he said this on the island of St. Helena); It is clear that it seemed to the members of the English House that the cause of the war was Napoleon’s lust for power; that it seemed to the Prince of Oldenburg that the cause of the war was the violence committed against him; that it seemed to the merchants that the cause of the war was the continental system that was ruining Europe, that it seemed to the old soldiers and generals that the main reason was the need to use them in business; the legitimists of that time that it was necessary to restore les bons principes [good principles], and the diplomats of that time that everything happened because the alliance of Russia with Austria in 1809 was not skillfully hidden from Napoleon and that the memorandum was awkwardly written for No. 178. It is clear that these and a countless, infinite number of reasons, the number of which depends on the countless differences in points of view, seemed to contemporaries; but for us, our descendants, who contemplate the enormity of the event in its entirety and delve into its simple and terrible meaning, these reasons seem insufficient. It is incomprehensible to us that millions of Christian people killed and tortured each other, because Napoleon was power-hungry, Alexander was firm, the politics of England was cunning and the Duke of Oldenburg was offended. It is impossible to understand what connection these circumstances have with the very fact of murder and violence; why, due to the fact that the duke was offended, thousands of people from the other side of Europe killed and ruined the people of the Smolensk and Moscow provinces and were killed by them.

Selkirk, Alexander

Figurine depicting Alexander Selkirk

Alexander Selkirk, outdated Selkirk (English) Alexander Selkirk, Selcraig, - December 13) - a Scottish sailor who spent 4 years and 4 months (in 1704-1709) on the uninhabited island of Mas a Tierra (now Robinson Crusoe), which is part of the Juan Fernandez archipelago, located in the Pacific Ocean, 640 kilometers off the coast of Chile. He served as the prototype for the literary hero of Daniel Defoe's novel, Robinson Crusoe.

Biography

The 27-year-old boatswain of the ship "Sank Port", which was part of the flotilla under the command of William Dampier, went to the shores in 1704 South America. Hot-tempered and capricious, he constantly came into conflict with the ship's captain, Stradling. After another quarrel, which took place near the island of Mas a Tierra, Selkirk demanded to be disembarked; the captain immediately granted his request. True, later the sailor asked the captain to cancel his order, but he was relentless, and Selkirk was able to leave the island only after more than four years.

Returning to his hometown of Largo, Selkirk initially lived quietly; visited pubs, where he talked about his adventures. Judging by the memoirs of his contemporaries, he was a good storyteller. Thus, Sir Richard Steele noted in the Englishman magazine in 1713 that “he is very interesting to listen to, he thinks soberly and very vividly describes the presence of the soul at various stages of such a long loneliness.”

However, Selkirk was never able to adapt to the new environment. He entered the Royal Navy with the rank of lieutenant and died on board the royal ship Weymouth. According to the ship's log, death occurred at 8 o'clock in the evening on December 13, 1721, and was most likely caused by yellow fever. Selkirk was buried at sea off the coast of West Africa.

Alexander Selkirk Island, located not far from Robinson Crusoe Island, was named directly in honor of the sailor.

Categories:

  • Persons:Scotland
  • Sailors
  • Left on a desert island
  • Prototypes of literary characters
  • Personalities in alphabetical order
  • Born in 1676
  • Died in 1721
  • Robinson Crusoe
  • Deaths from yellow fever

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    Figurine depicting Alexander Selkirk Alexander Selkirk, obsolete. Selkirk (English: Alexander Selkirk, Selcraig, 1676 December 13, 1721) Scottish sailor who spent several years (released in 1709) on the uninhabited island of Mas a Tierra (now ... ... Wikipedia

    Selkirk, Alexander Statuette depicting Alexander Selkirk Alexander Selkirk, obsolete. Selkirk (English: Alexander Selkirk, Selcraig, 1676 December 13, 1721) Scottish sailor who spent several years (released in 1709) ... Wikipedia

    Geographical encyclopedia

    - ... Wikipedia- an island in the group of islands of Juan Fernandez, Pacific Ocean, possession of Chile. Named in 1960 in honor of the English sailor Alexander Selkirk, who in 1704, after a quarrel with the captain of the ship, was landed on this island and spent five years on it. Adventures… … Toponymic dictionary

    Selkirk is a polysemantic term: Selkirk is a town in the south of Scotland. Selkirk is a city in western Canada. Selkirk Indian community in Yukon Territory, Canada. Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. See also Selkirk,... ...Wikipedia

    Each country, each land area has its own characteristic flora, that is, its own set of families, genera and species, which is more or less different from the flora of other countries. Floras (like faunas) are never exactly the same in... ... Biological encyclopedia

    Selkirk, Alexander Statuette depicting Alexander Selkirk Alexander Selkirk, obsolete. Selkirk (English: Alexander Selkirk, Selcraig, 1676 December 13, 1721) Scottish sailor who spent several years (released in 1709) ... Wikipedia

    Robinson Crusoe- an island in the group of Juan Fernandez Islands, Pacific Ocean, possession of Chile. Named in 1960 in honor of the hero of the famous work by Daniel Defoe, although the events described in the novel took place on the neighboring island. Alexander Selkirk. Until 1960, the island was called Mos... ... Toponymic dictionary

    This term has other meanings, see Robinson Crusoe (meanings). The first edition of the novel, with ... Wikipedia

Books

  • Misadventures of famous travelers. Who was Robinson, Balod Alexander. Robinson Crusoe is a literary character well known to most of us since childhood. But few people know that Defoe’s famous book is based on the fates of real people -...

Thanks to the writer Daniel Defoe, everyone knows Robinson Crusoe, the conqueror wildlife uninhabited island, where he ended up due to a shipwreck. Much less famous is its real-life prototype - the Scot Alexander Selkirk, who spent almost five years on the same piece of land after he, not getting along with the captain, was decommissioned from the ship “of his own free will” - right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.


Filibusters and adventurers

Now it is difficult to understand which of them is more real: Robinson, a native of the city of York, the darling of the family, or Alexander, the son of a shoemaker from the town of Largo on the North Sea. The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Chile and Scotland are fighting for the right to be called the place where the original Robinson spent his years alone.


But let's go back to basics.

The Scot, like his literary counterpart, according to Defoe, undoubtedly had a “passion for wandering” and “a desire to get rich sooner than circumstances allowed.”

Having listened to stories of experienced sailors, filibusters and other merry rabble in the local tavern “Red Lion” about storms, distant countries, adventures and how easy it is to mine gold, Alexander left home at the age of 18. Well, there were plenty of adventures: sailing to Africa, pirates, captivity, slavery...
There is a gap here in Selkirk’s stories, but he returned home, it seems, on horseback - with a gold earring in his ear and with money.

At home, in Largo, everything seemed bland and boring to Alexander, and there was an opportunity to continue full of adrenaline life soon turned up: William Dampier, a hydrograph scientist, corsair, and author of travel books, set off on two ships to the West Indies for gold.

England then encouraged attacks on Spanish merchant ships in southern seas and allowed privateers (private individuals using armed vessels) to rob the enemy, using the “right of war” - for this there was a permit from the authorities.

Thus, in 1704, Selkirk, from a sea robber operating at his own risk, turned into a completely legal representative of Great Britain - the boatswain of the 16-gun galley "Sank Port", which accompanied the 26-gun frigate "St. George", where Dampier himself was the captain.

Rebels - get into the boat!

With varying degrees of success, they boarded ships, plundered coastal cities, attacked, ran away, swore and suspected each other of hiding booty. We left the Atlantic and entered the Pacific Ocean. They hit a big jackpot - a Spanish ship, full of brandy, flour, sugar, fabrics, surrendered without resistance.

But luck did not unite the corsairs - discontent and distrust grew more and more mature, and after a year and a half of joint sailing, the ships went in different directions: Dampier, still hoping to capture the Manila galleon with gold, remained in the Gulf of Panama, and Selkirk's galley headed for the deserted islands of the archipelago Juan Fernandez, where the crew was going to stock up on fresh water and firewood.

It was then that a scene played out that later gave us the opportunity to read about the amazing adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Over the years, it is impossible to know whether the captain of the galley was such a tyrant, as some claim, or, as others insist, the boatswain turned out to be unbearably stubborn, but the result is obvious: an entry appeared in the ship’s log that Alexander Selkirk was written off the ship “at his own request” directly in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Among the corsairs, who were not particularly sensitive to feelings, resolving misunderstandings that arose in this way and getting rid of unwanted ones was in the order of things. The necessary things were loaded into the boat: luggage, a flintlock gun, gunpowder, tobacco, an axe, a bowler hat, a Bible, and the Scot set off on the most important journey of his life - to the rocky island of Mas a Tierra, located 670 km west of Chile and part of the Juan Fernandez archipelago.

The hot-tempered boatswain hoped that he would soon be picked up by some ship that had come to replenish fresh water supplies. In the meantime, it was worth examining your temporary place of residence.

He became hardy, agile and wild

The archipelago, consisting of three islands: Mas a Tierra (“closer to the land” - Spanish), Mas a Fuera (“further from the land”) and Santa Clara, was discovered by the Spanish navigator Juan Fernandez in 1574 and named after him. In memory of this event, Fernandez, who himself lived on Mas a Tierra for three years, left specially brought goats there as a living supply of food for random guests. And guests came to visit. Once upon a time, an Indian, forgotten by pirates, lived here, and as many as nine sailors, thrown off the ship for their love of gambling, were swam by corsairs for fresh water... In a word, not an island, but a passage yard. But by the time Selkirk appeared there was not a single living soul there. Including in real story There was no Robinson and Friday - he was later invented by Defoe.

Our hero's main enemy was fear - the fear of loneliness that will never end. At first, he climbed every day to the very top high peak and peered into the horizon, even settled in a cave on the shore, so as not to miss a random ship. It took about a year and a half, as Alexander later recalled, to get used to his position and somehow come to terms with it. The rest, as it turned out, was surmountable.

He made himself a sleeping hut and a kitchen hut, learned to make fire, and make dishes from coconuts. In the coastal waters there were seals and lobsters, turtles laid eggs, and galloped along mountain paths Fernandez's feral goats - Alexander was clearly not in danger of dying of hunger. When the gunpowder ran out, he tried to catch goats with his hands, fell into a crevice and spent three days unconscious. Since then, he has been cutting the tendons of the kids so that they become easier prey. The clothes were worn out, and then I had to remember the skill learned in my father’s house - dressing skins, and then the outfit itself was sewn with a rusty nail. During the four and a half years of his island life, Selkirk became hardy, agile and wild, like those very goats. In order not to go completely wild and forget human speech, he read the Bible aloud to himself every day.

How the glory came

Salvation came on February 1, 1709 in the form of the English ship Duke. Its captain Woods Rogers subsequently described this meeting as follows: “At seven in the morning we approached the island of Juan Fernandez. Together with a huge amount crayfish, our boat delivered a man in goat skins to the ship.<…>It was a Scotsman named Alexander Selkirk. Due to lack of practice, he forgot his language so much that we could hardly understand him; he seemed to pronounce words halfway.” Only once on board did the boatswain somehow find the gift of speech and talk about what happened to him. The saviors had their own plans, and Selkirk, before returning to the mainland, had to make a long and dangerous raid with them across the seven seas, so he came home only in October 1711 - already as the captain of a sailing ship captured during the campaign.

After the publication of Woods Rogers’ book “A Voyage Around the World,” in which he described the story of Alexander, the Scot, as they say, woke up famous. An interview with him was published in a London newspaper that caught the eye of Daniel Defoe. What I read became the impetus for the birth of the idea for a book, which would later be called the prototype of the newest European novel. So at one point, at the peak of fame, the destinies of an English writer, a Scottish boatswain and an island lost in the ocean converged.

Then everyone's life went on as usual. Defoe, on the wave of success, published “The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe,” and a year later, a collection of essays, “The Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe,” which, however, did not arouse much reader interest. Selkirk, unable to find a place for himself in a “peaceful” life, returns to the fleet as captain of the ship Weymouth, which belongs to the British Navy. In 1720, while sailing to West Africa, he dies of tropical fever. It is said that the Scotsman's last words were: “My dear island, why did I leave you?”

Landing on solidified lava

Residents of three islands on Earth consider themselves direct descendants of Robinson: Largo, where Alexander Selkirk was born, Tobago, where, by all accounts, Defoe placed his hero (“off the coast of America near the mouths of the Orinoco River”), and, finally, Mas a Tierra, where "Robinson" Selkirk is a direct prototype of the famous hermit. For the right to be called Robinson Crusoe Island there was a stubborn struggle between Mas a Tierra and Tobago - it is clear that not only out of love for art, but also with the hope of attracting more tourists.


Tobago suited everything, except for its uninhabitation: when Robinson “set foot on this shore on September 30, 1659,” there were already two colonies on the island - Courland and Dutch. So half a century ago, Mas a Tierra won and was officially renamed Robinson Crusoe Island, and the smaller one next door began to bear the name of Alexander Selkirk.

Settlers landed on the island at late XIX centuries and formed the settlement of San Juan Bautista, which, the only one in the entire archipelago, exists to this day. To travelers coming from big cities, the island may even now seem almost uninhabited: only 630 inhabitants (almost all bearing the names Robinson, Friday and Daniel) on 96 km² of land, two dirt roads and at most two dozen cars.


Otherwise, little has changed over several centuries: still the same land, rugged mountain ranges, palm-tree-sized ferns, giant turtles, hummingbirds, seals and small brown goats of Juan Fernandez habitually jumping around the mountains - this is the official name of this subspecies. Residents catch lobsters every day. Visiting treasure hunters scour the island from time to time in search of pirate treasures.

Getting to Robinson Crusoe is not easy. The 10-seater plane does not fly regularly from a private airfield in Santiago, only when fully loaded. After three hours of hovering over the ocean, the aircraft lands on a strip laid in solidified lava between mountain peaks. This place is not connected to the rest of the island by any communications, except for the mountain goat trail. A waiting jeep will take things and people down the serpentine road to the water, where guests will be greeted by a crowd of fur seals. Now into the boat, and then another two hours along the coast, to the inhabited part of the island.

By the way, in 2008, archaeologists discovered the site of the original Robinson: the remains of two huts located near fresh water, navigation instruments and other artifacts. The story of the real Robinson lives on. This would undoubtedly have pleased the wild pride of the son of a Scottish shoemaker.

Surprisingly, Alexander Selkirk served as a real prototype for the story of Daniel Defoe - “The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.”

Four years and four months, or almost 1600 days, Scotsman Alexander Selkirk spent alone. On small island Mas a Tierra, about 20 kilometers long and five wide, differing from others only in its kind climate, he landed of his own free will.

The amazing story of the Scottish boatswain from the high-speed galley "Sank Port" began in 1704.

A new captain, Thomas Stradling, arrives on the galley, and the boatswain’s relationship with the captain is not the best. Both had a strong character, defending their own opinions to the end. It comes to the point that, as evidenced by the ship's log, the boatswain Selkirk decides to leave the galley.

He himself chooses an uninhabited island, where sailors replenish fresh water, and lands on it. At the same time, the boatswain is well provided with food supplies. Unlike Robinson Crusoe, he has a flintlock gun, gunpowder, flint, a supply of tobacco, an axe, simple kitchen utensils and a Bible.

Did you talk? that having reached the island, Alexander changed his mind to stay and asked the captain to allow him to stay on the ship, but he was firm in his decision.

Landing on the uninhabited Mas a Tierra island in the Pacific Ocean, which lies 640 kilometers from Chile, the boatswain thought that they pass here quite often sea ​​vessels. And his loneliness will not last long. However, boatswain Selkirk was wrong, and spent 4 years and 4 months.

Having explored the mountainous island he inherited, the boatswain found out that it was covered with dense vegetation and wild goats lived here. And on the shore there are many turtles laying eggs. So the boatswain was not in danger of starvation.

Thus began the four-year adventure of Selkirk, who became the sole owner of the island. From scrap materials, logs and leaves, he built two huts. One served him as a kitchen, and the other as a bedroom, and he built an observation tower on which he spent time waiting for ships.

Over time, the pangs of loneliness and the inability to exchange a few words with anyone receded. Selkirk learned to catch goats with his hands, the supply of bullets and gunpowder ran out, and fire had to be produced by rubbing wood against wood. And in place of the shabby, decayed clothes, the boatswain sewed new ones for himself. From goat skins, using a simple nail.

A serious danger overtook the boatswain during a hunt; he managed to catch a goat, and then fell into the abyss with it. For a long time Selkirk lay unconscious at the bottom of the abyss. However, the strong body survived the incident safely.

By this time, the boatswain had already come to terms with the idea that he would spend his life completely alone, on a deserted island, completely alone. But fate smiled on the prisoner of loneliness, on January 31, 1709, he saw a sailboat on the horizon heading towards the island.

A boat headed from the sailing ship to the island - the sailors were going to replenish fresh water supplies on the uninhabited island. What a surprise the sailors were when they were met on the shore by a wild man! And this is exactly what 31-year-old Alexander Selkirk looked like by this time.

Overgrown with a beard, wearing goat skins, and at first unable to say a word. The boatswain was able to remember the forgotten ability to speak only on the ship "Duke" - that was the name of the ship.

The captain of the Duke, Woods Rogers, was well acquainted with the pirate admiral William Dampier, in whose flotilla the boatswain Selkirk once sailed. He listened to the story of the poor boatswain and accepted him into his team. Where Selkirk served for another 33 months, and participated in pirate attacks on Spanish and Portuguese sailors.

Selkirk returned to England in October 1711, already the captain of the captured sailing ship Increase, and a well-to-do man. The story of his adventures, and the glory of his pirate raids, brought him popularity among the upper echelons of London society.

Selkirk, a good storyteller, was gladly invited to the houses of aristocrats, and newspapers did not forget to write about him. But alas, the money runs out, and after some time Selkirk enters the Royal Navy. Where the ship Weymouth is placed under his command.

The Story of Alexander Selkirk, breaks off in 1721, during a trip to the shores West Africa. In December 1721, Selkirk dies on board the ship, the cause of death apparently being a tropical fever he contracted.

As historians mention, they said that before his death Selkirk whispered, “my dear island, why did I leave you.” Subsequently, the island of Mas a Tierra was named Robinson Crusoe.
***
-from "" - Alexander Selkirk 1676-1721. A person who actually existed and lived through the story described above. Probably during one of the meetings, Daniel Defoe heard the story of Alexander, and Defoe was also familiar with the notes of Captain Rogers, which reflected the history of Selkir. Defoe published his novel in April 1719, without attribution.
In 2008, an expedition of British archaeologists discovered the place where Alexander Selkirk spent more than four years.

 

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