, whose adventures have given rise to the popular romance of Robinson
, whose adventures have given
rise to the popular romance of Robinson Crusoe, was born
at Largo, in Fifeshire, in Scotland, about 1676, and was
bred a seaman. He left England in 1703, in the capacity
of sailing-master of a small vessel, called the Cinque- PortsGalley, Charles Pickering captain and in the month of
September, the same year, he sailed from Cork, in company with another ship of 26 guns and 120 men, called the
St. George, commanded by captain William Dampier, intended to cruise against the Spaniards in the South sea. On
the coast of Brasil, Pickering died, and was succeeded in
the command by lieutenant Stradling. They proceeded
round Cape Horn to the island of Juan Fernandez, whence
they were driven by the appearance of two French ships of
36 guns each, and left five of Stradling’s men on shore,
who were taken off by the French. Hence they sailed to
the coast of America, where Dampier and Stradling quar^
relied, and separated by agreement. This was in the month
of May 1704; and in the following September, Stradling
came to the island of Juan Fernandez, where Selkirk and
his captain having a quarrel, he determined to remain there
alone. But when the ship was ready to sail, his resolution
was shaken, and he desired to be taken on board; but now
the captain refused his request, and he was left with hm
clothes, bedding, a gun, and a small quantity of powder
and ball, some trifling implements, and a few books, with
certain mathematical and nautical instruments. Thus left
sole monarch of the island, with plenty of the necessaries,
of life, he found himself at first in a situation scarcely supportable; and such was his melancholy, that he frequently
determined to put an end to his existence. It was full
eighteen months, according to his own account, before he
could reconcile himself to his lot. At length his mind became calm, and fully reconciled to his situation: he grew
happy, employed his time in building and decorating his
huts, chasing the goats, whom he soon equalled in speed,
and scarcely ever failed of catching them. He also tamed
young kids, and other animals, to be his companions. When
his garments were worn out, he made others from the skins
of the goats, whose flesh served him as food. His only
liquor was water. He computed that he had caught, during his abode in the island, about 1000 goats, half of which
he had suffered to go at large, having first marked them
with a slit in the ear. Commodore Anson, who went there
30 years after, found the first goat which they shot, had
been thus marked; and hence they concluded that it had
been under the power of Selkirk. Though he constantly
performed his devotions at stated hours, and read aloud,
yet when he was taken from the island, his language, from
disuse of conversation, had become scarcely intelligible.
In this solitude he remained four years and four months,
during which only two incidents occurred which he thought
worthy of record. The first was, that pursuing a goat eagerly, he caught at the edge of a precipice, of which he
was not aware, and he fell over to the bottom, where he
lay some time senseless; but of the exact space of time
in which he was bereaved of his active powers he could not
ferm an accurate estimate. When, however, he came to
himself, he found the goat lying under him dead. It was
with difficulty that he could crawl to his habitation, and it
was not till after a considerable time that he entirely recovered from his bruises. The other event was the arrival
of a ship, which he at first supposed to be French, but,
upon the crew’s landing, he found them to be Spaniards,
of whom he had too great a dread to trust himself in their
hands. They, however, had seen him, and he found it
extremely difficult to make his escape. In this solitude
Selkirk remained until the 2d of February, 1709, when he
saw two ships come to the bay, and knew them to be English. He immediately lighted a fire as a signal, and he
found, upon the landing of the men, that they were two
privateers from Bristol, commanded by captains Rogers and
Courtney. These, after a fortnight’s stay at Juan Fernandez, embarked, taking Selkirk with them, and returned byway of the East Indies to England, where they arrived on
the 1st of October, 1711; Selkirk having been absent eight
years. The public curiosity being much excited, he, after
his return, drew up some account of what had occurred
during his solitary exile, which he put into the hands of
Defoe, vvho made it the foundation of his well-known
work, entitled “Robinson Crusoe.
” The time and place
of Selkirk’s death are not on record. It is said, that so
late as 1798, the chest and musket, which Selkirk had with
him on the island, were in possession of a grand nephew,
John Selkirk, a weaver in Largo, North Britain. Such are
the particulars of this man’s history as recorded in “The
Englishman,
” No. 26, and elsewhere, but what credit is
due to it, we do not pretend to say.