Clad in goatskins, Selkirk awaits rescue in a sculpture by Thomas Stuart Burnett (1885)
Born
1676
Lower Largo, Fife, Scotland
Died
13 December 1721 (aged 45)
Cape Coast, Gold Coast
Nationality
Scottish and British (after 1707)
Occupation
Sailor
Known for
Inspiring Robinson Crusoe
Parent(s)
John Selcraig, Euphan Mackie
Alexander Selkirk (1676 – 13 December 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704–1709) after being marooned by his captain, initially at his request, on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean. He survived but died from tropical illness years later while serving as a lieutenant[1] aboard HMS Weymouth off West Africa.
Selkirk was an unruly youth and joined buccaneering voyages to the South Pacific during the War of the Spanish Succession. One such expedition was on Cinque Ports, captained by Thomas Stradling, under the overall command of William Dampier. Stradling's ship stopped to resupply at the uninhabited Juan Fernández Islands, west of South America, and Selkirk judged correctly that the craft was unseaworthy and asked to be left there. Selkirk's suspicions were soon justified, as Cinque Ports foundered near Malpelo Island 400 km (250 mi) from the coast of what is now Colombia.
By the time he was eventually rescued by the privateer Woodes Rogers, who was accompanied by Dampier, Selkirk had become adept at hunting and making use of the resources that he found on the island. His story of survival was widely publicized after his return, becoming one of the sources of inspiration for the English writer Daniel Defoe's fictional character Robinson Crusoe.
AlexanderSelkirk (1676 – 13 December 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704–1709)...
Afuera (Farther Out (to Sea)) and renamed after the marooned sailor AlexanderSelkirk, is the largest and most westerly island in the Juan Fernández Archipelago...
being rescued. The story has been thought to be based on the life of AlexanderSelkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island...
Selkirk may refer to: AlexanderSelkirk, Scottish castaway who formed the basis for the novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Selkirk (surname), surname...
as the captain of the vessel that rescued marooned Scottish sailor AlexanderSelkirk, whose plight is generally believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe's...
have a more famous occupant in October 1704 when AlexanderSelkirk made the decision to stay there. Selkirk, a sailor with the William Dampier expedition...
footballer Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915), Russian composer and pianist AlexanderSelkirk (1676–1721), Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer Alexander Semin...
Fifae Descriptio. Lower Largo is famous as the 1676 birthplace of AlexanderSelkirk, who provided inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. The...
1704 to 1709, the island was home to the marooned Scottish sailor AlexanderSelkirk, who at least partially inspired novelist Daniel Defoe's fictional...
request, was that of the sailor AlexanderSelkirk on Juan Fernández Island off the coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean. Selkirk, a sailor with the Dampier...
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that Defoe took inspiration for Crusoe from a Scottish sailor named AlexanderSelkirk, who was rescued in 1709 after four years on the otherwise uninhabited...
before being court-martialed for cruelty. On a later voyage he rescued AlexanderSelkirk, a former crewmate who may have inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe...
an example from William Cowper's "Verses Supposed to be Written by AlexanderSelkirk" (1782), composed in anapaestic trimeter: I must finish my journey...
the film is based on an actual case in 1703, when Scottish sailor AlexanderSelkirk argued with the captain of his ship and was abandoned for more than...
influenced by the work as well as by the memoir of the Scottish castaway AlexanderSelkirk. In the Muslim world, the book is an honored Sufi text. The story...
assumed to be based in part on the story of the Scottish castaway AlexanderSelkirk, who spent four years stranded in the Juan Fernández Islands, but...
of Work for royal buildings for James V and Mary, Queen of Scots AlexanderSelkirk, seafarer and inspiration for Robinson Crusoe Jimmy Shand, accordion...
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