Alexander Selkirk was a Scottish Royal Navy officer who was ‘marooned’ by his captain on a remote uninhabited island in 1704. Selkirk worried most about his hundred cats.
Tom visits Largo, home to the celebrated Scottish Admiral Sir Andrew Wood and the 'real life Robinson Crusoe' Alexander Selkirk.
Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor, was left stranded on a deserted island in 1704, but survived for over 4 years, partly by using feral cats to protect him from ravenous rats that attacked during the night. For example, when his clothes wore out, he made new ones from hair-covered goatskins using a nail for sewing.
It was September of 1704 and Selkirk was officially a castaway on the island of Más a Tierra, which is known as 'Robinson Crusoe Island' today.In the beginning, little did he realise that it would be four years until he would finally be rescued, and so quietly proceeded to pass the time by reading his Bible. Fellow crewmember Edward Cooke mentioned Selkirk's ordeal in a book chronicling their privateering expedition, After a few months in London, he began to seem more like his former self again.These passengers, by reason of their clinging to a mast,Selkirk has been memorialised in his Scottish birthplace. He declared that he would rather stay on Juan Fernández than continue in a dangerously leaky ship.At first, Selkirk remained along the shoreline of Juan Fernández. The island he found himself on was Más a Tierra, the largest island of the Juan Fernández group of islands, around 400 miles west of South America. A sense of horror must have dawned when no rescue party showed up.With only rats, goats, and cats as his only company on the otherwise-lonely island, he prepared for a long-haul stay as the realisation of his potentially-long-term isolation took hold.During his inhabitation of the island, there were at least two ships that pulled in to the island's bay. In 1712 Rogers wrote a book about their privateering odyssey, A Cruising Voyage Round the World, in …
In 1869 the crew of Clad in goatskins, Selkirk awaits rescue in a sculpture by They were so tame that they were semi-dependent on the goat meat he fed them and he knew they could not all survive without him. "Selkirk returned to privateering with a vengeance. The would-be captors then gave up and sailed away.Selkirk's long-awaited deliverance came on 2 February 1709 by way of Captain Rogers was impressed by Selkirk's physical vigour, but also by the peace of mind that he had attained while living on the island, observing: "One may see that solitude and retirement from the world is not such an insufferable state of life as most men imagine, especially when people are fairly called or thrown into it unavoidably, as this man was. Unfortunately for Selkirk, he had already came out to greet them when he realised that they were actualy Spanish vessels and not friendly comrades.
The goats served as food sources for Selkirk—he hunted them at first with his pistol, and once the gunpowder ran out, on … As his shoes became unusable, he … In 1704, Scottish Sailor Alexander Selkirk found himself marooned on a remote deserted tropical island in the Pacific for four years.
Luckily for Selkirk, Más a Tierra hadn't always been uninhabited, and previous Spanish sailors had left rats, feral cats, and a handful of wild goats on the island. By the time he was eventually rescued by English privateer Alexander Selkirk was the son of a shoemaker and tanner in In February 1704, following a stormy passage around In September 1704, after parting ways with Dampier,Selkirk had grave concerns about the seaworthiness of their vessel, and wanted to make the necessary repairs before going any farther. When the sailors finally convinced him to leave the island, it broke his heart to leave his cats and he cried like a baby until the island was out of sight. In September 1704, after parting ways with Dampier, Captain Stradling brought Cinque Ports to an island known to the Spanish as Más a Tierra located in the uninhabited Juan Fernández archipelago 670 km (420 mi) off the coast of Chile for a mid-expedition restocking of fresh water and supplies. During this time he ate Selkirk proved resourceful in using materials that he found on the island: he forged a new knife out of Childhood lessons learned from his father, a tanner, now served him well. The archeologists discovered a fragment of a navigational divider, something which must have belonged to a ship's master or navigator. Alexander Selkirk : biography 1676 – 13 December 1721 The lessons he had learned as a child from his father, a tanner, now served him well. It sounds eerily reminiscent of the famous noel Robinson Crusoe, which is thought to be based on Selkirk's real life story.Selkirk was born in 1676 and was the seventh son of a cobbler. The sailors manning the vessels opened fire on Selkirk, but he managed to evade their shots and subsequent search parties before they continued on their voyages.It was only on the 1st of February, 1709, when two British privateers anchored off shore, that Selkirk was finally rescued.
When his clothes wore out, he made new ones from hair-covered goatskins using a nail for sewing. The Scotsman is also remembered in his former island home.
Once, he was spotted and chased by a group of Spanish sailors from one of the ships.
This Day In History: February 1, 1709.