*Ø* Blogmanac February 1, 1709 | Rescue of prototype Robinson Crusoe
1709 Alexander Selkirk, the model for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, was rescued by the ship Duke, after four years on a deserted island four hundred miles west of Valparaiso, Chile, by Captain Woodes Rogers and William Dampier (1652-1715), the pirate and early explorer of Australia.
After his rescue, Selkirk became a crew member in the Rogers/Dampier pirate raids on the coast of South America, preying on Spanish merchant ships, for another two years and did not see the coast of England again until September 22, 1711.
The son of a shoemaker and tanner in Largo, Fife, Selkirk was born in 1676. In his youth he displayed a quarrelsome and unruly disposition, and having been summoned on August 27, 1695 before the kirk-session for his indecent behaviour in church, "did not compear, having gone away to the seas".
At an early period he was engaged in buccaneer expeditions to the South Seas, and in 1703 joined the galley Cinque Ports as sailing master. The following year he had a dispute with the captain, and at his own request was in October put ashore on the archipelago of Juan Fernandez off the Chilean coast. His skipper had gladly obliged, happy to be rid of his trouble-making Scot.
The story of his solitary sojourn on Más a Tierra Island (now Isla Róbinson Crusoe) was told in a number of versions by early 18th-Century writers such as the British essayist Sir Richard Steele. One of the islands of Juan Fernandez has, in tiubute, since been named Alejandro Selkirk. Selkirk, after a troubled marriage in England, went to sea again and died at sea on December 12, 1721 at the age of 45. William Dampier died a pauper in London in 1715.
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
1709 Alexander Selkirk, the model for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, was rescued by the ship Duke, after four years on a deserted island four hundred miles west of Valparaiso, Chile, by Captain Woodes Rogers and William Dampier (1652-1715), the pirate and early explorer of Australia.
After his rescue, Selkirk became a crew member in the Rogers/Dampier pirate raids on the coast of South America, preying on Spanish merchant ships, for another two years and did not see the coast of England again until September 22, 1711.
The son of a shoemaker and tanner in Largo, Fife, Selkirk was born in 1676. In his youth he displayed a quarrelsome and unruly disposition, and having been summoned on August 27, 1695 before the kirk-session for his indecent behaviour in church, "did not compear, having gone away to the seas".
At an early period he was engaged in buccaneer expeditions to the South Seas, and in 1703 joined the galley Cinque Ports as sailing master. The following year he had a dispute with the captain, and at his own request was in October put ashore on the archipelago of Juan Fernandez off the Chilean coast. His skipper had gladly obliged, happy to be rid of his trouble-making Scot.
The story of his solitary sojourn on Más a Tierra Island (now Isla Róbinson Crusoe) was told in a number of versions by early 18th-Century writers such as the British essayist Sir Richard Steele. One of the islands of Juan Fernandez has, in tiubute, since been named Alejandro Selkirk. Selkirk, after a troubled marriage in England, went to sea again and died at sea on December 12, 1721 at the age of 45. William Dampier died a pauper in London in 1715.
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 2:33 PM | Permalink
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