A Scottish Loner....

Alone on a Foreign Shore….

Alexander Selkirk was born in Lower Largo, Fife, Scotland in 1676 and as he was ‘the seventh son’ – Celtic folklore foretold that he would be ‘someone special’. His father was a shoemaker and although Alexander wanted from a young age to go to sea, he instead served his time at his father’s trade. However when he was aged nineteen, he was summoned to attend his Church court for ‘indecent conduct in church’. It is uncertain what exactly he did to earn the summons but as he did not intend to find out, he ran away to sea.............

Within eight years he became Sailing Master of a ship, the ‘Cinque Ports’ and as Britain was at war with the Spanish, he plied his trade by plundering their ships and ports on the Pacific coast of South America. 

Selkirk began to have a rough time with his Captain - a man called Straddling – and as he, Selkirk, did not believe that his ship was seaworthy enough to return to England, he asked to be put ashore on one of the nearby uninhabited islands. He had more or less agreed and expected that he would be joined by some of his crew.

Straddling thought differently and when the time came, he ‘castaway’ Selkirk on his own with nothing more than a musket, some bullets, gunpowder, some carpenters tools, clothing, bedding, tobacco, a hatchet and a Bible.

Alexander knew that the islands were regularly used by other ships to obtain fresh water and supplies so he hoped to be rescued quickly. Like most sailors of the day, he was extremely superstitious and believed in the myth of sea-monsters. He was also scared of the noises that came from inland on the island so spent most of his time in the early days sitting on the beach reading his Bible.

Soon though, he was forced by events to vacate the beach. The seal breeding season began which frightened the life out of him even more than the other noises.  The island was also overrun by rats, which escaped from passing ships. There were many nights when he could not sleep due to their gnawing on his feet. He soon discovered that there were also feral cats on the island, also escapees from ships. Wild goats would provide him with sufficient meat.

He moved inland and began to domesticate some goats, train some cats to keep away the rats, build a home and in fact settle in for the duration. He was fully satisfied that he would be rescued in a short time.

As his clothes wore out, he used the goatskins to make new ones. As he had trained in the leather tanning process, this presented him with little or no problems. He had a site from which he could see the main inlet on the foreshore and he would visit it daily to check for ships arriving.

In was a couple of years in fact before he saw any sign of life when he saw two ships that were in fact Spanish. He feared for his life and was for many days chased by some of the crew who tried to capture him. He, however, knew the island like the back of his hand and succeeded in evading them.

He ended up spending in all four years and four months on his ‘Island’.

On 1^st February 1709 he saw two British ships enter the inlet. He built a fire as a signal to those on board and was soon rescued. The ship was in fact a British privateer, for all intents and purposes a legalised Pirate craft, and was engaged in an expedition against the Spanish.

The Captain informed him that Straddling’s ship had sunk and that the Spanish had captured him and seven of the crew.

Selkirk was soon promoted to Mate on one of the ships and joined in the plunder and attacks on the Spanish. They were quite successful and on their return to London, Selkirk’s share of the spoils was £800, a lot of money in those days.  He opened a harbour tavern.....

It was around this time that he met and became acquainted with Daniel Defoe, a noted writer of the time....................

Selkirk could not settle down and preferred to be on his own. He married a widow but soon returned to sea. He died of fever aboard ship off the coast of Africa in 1721.

Years later, Daniel Defoe used the stories told to him by Selkirk as the basis for that wonderful story ‘Robinson Crusoe’. The Chilean Government also named ‘His’ island, one of the Juan Fernandez Islands, Robinson Cursoe Island and a nearby one, Alexander Selkirk Island.

Although Selkirk was not the only castaway to have been so punished by their captains for causing problems on board ship his story is the most likely basis for Defoe’s narrative.   However, Robinson Crusoe’s island in the book is in the West Indies whilst Selkirk’s was thousands of miles away.

So, the Seventh Son did in fact turn out to be ‘someone special’ – albeit not in his own name…………..

---------Mike--------