The life and adventures of Alexander Selkirk the real Robinson Crusoe: a narrative founded on facts

Alexander Selkirk (1676 – 1721), also known as Alexander Selcraig, was a Scottish sailor who spent more than four years (1704-1709) as a castaway after being marooned on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean, also known as the South Sea.Selkirk was an unruly youth, and joined buccaneering expeditions to the South Sea. One such expedition was aboard Cinque Ports, commanded by William Dampier. The ship called in for provisions at the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile, and Selkirk judged correctly that his craft was unseaworthy and asked to be left there.By the time that he was rescued, he had become adept at hunting and making use of the resources that he found on the island. His story of survival was widely publicised when he returned home and became a probable source of inspiration for writer Daniel Defoe's fictional character Robinson Crusoe.We are not certain whether Defoe's admirable romance, " The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe," is quite such a favorite with the " rising generation" of the present day as it was with their youthful progenitors. If it is, we feel some misgivings that we undertake a thankless task in directing the attention of the juvenile reader to the real prototype of that most interesting of all imaginary personages. So very much like a true narrative of facts has Defoe contrived to weave his imperishable fiction, that the young mind, if not the old, is unwilling to think of any one having sat for the portraiture save the veritable Robinson Crusoe himself. Nevertheless, such is the fact, and as truth is at all times preferable to fiction, even the most highly wrought, we cannot help embracing this opportunity of thanking honest John Howell for the zeal with which he set about gleaning the history of the bona fide adventurer. This he accomplished with characteristic enthusiasm; yet it is singular that no second edition of his little work, so far as we are aware, has ever been called for—a circumstance which, perhaps, more than anything else, shows that the world did not care to be disabused of its belief in the ideal Robinson. It is true that the fact of Selkirk's having lived alone for four years and four months on an island, was known through the medium of several publications, prior to the fiction of Defoe, and from which he adopted the idea of his future work. Amongst others, it was made the subject of a paper in "The Englishman," by Sir Richard Steele, who saw and conversed with Alexander Selkirk. This account of him was published in 1713, six years before the production of Defoe's work. Still these notices had long been lost sight of by the general reader till Howell again revived them. Even his gathered statements, interesting as they certainly are, seem now in danger of experiencing a similar fate. We shall, however, stir their remembrance once more, that our young readers may have a knowledge of the real as well as the imaginary Robinson Crusoe. There is, besides, a moral to be derived from his eventful life which may be studied to advantage.Howell writes that the breach between the Captain and Selkirk daily becoming worse. At length, while the vessel was getting under weigh, Selkirk was landed, with his chest, and all his effects. It must have been an impressive scene to witness the leave-taking of his comrades, while the surly commander sat in the boat urging their return. Selkirk described his feelings as almost insupportable when he heard the plash of the oars as the boat rowed away, leaving him to solitude and himself on an uninhabited island. His heart literally sank within him.He felt, in short, an entire prostration of his faculties. It was not till the darkness of night overshadowed all things that he closed his weary eyes, and even then not to sleep, so dreadful did he feel the indescribable loneliness of his situation.Originally published in 1812; reformatted for the Kindle; may contain an occasional imperfection; original spellings have been kept in pl