Today is...
Friday
3
May
Events on this day
5th week in year
1 February 2024
Important eventsBack
The rescue of Alexander Selkirk1.2.1709
Wikipedia (15 Feb 2013)
Alexander Selkirk (1676 – 13 December 1721), also known as Alexander Selcraig, was a Scottish sailor who spent four years as a castaway after being marooned on an uninhabited island.
An unruly youth, Selkirk joined buccaneering expeditions to the South Seas, including one commanded by William Dampier, which called in for provisions at the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile. Selkirk judged correctly that his craft, the Cinque Ports, was unseaworthy, and requested that he be left there.
By the time he was eventually rescued, he had become adept at hunting and making use of the resources found on the island. His story aroused great interest at home, and Daniel Defoe's fictional character Robinson Crusoe was based in part on him.
