home Migration Robinson, but not Crusoe. True story

Robinson, but not Crusoe. True story

Who among us did not read in childhood, either voluntarily or “under pressure” (as required by the school curriculum), Daniel Defoe’s adventure novel about Robinson Crusoe? The novel is written in the relatively rare genre of “fictional autobiography” or “Robinzoad”, so it is not surprising that the name of the main character became a household name two hundred years ago. Defoe himself wrote not one novel, but four. Moreover, the latter tells about the adventures of the already elderly Robinson in Siberia... However, the last novels of the series were never fully translated into Russian.

The adventures of Robinson and his faithful companion Friday are written so realistically that no one doubts the reality of the “autobiography”. However, alas, the real Robinson Crusoe never existed.

“Robinson” is a collective image from many stories about sailors surviving on uninhabited islands, of which there were many in that era.

Pirates in Her Majesty's Service

The fact is that, although Defoe avoids this topic in his novel, all (or almost all) real prototypes of his novel were pirates. As a last resort - privateers, i.e. the same pirates, only working under a contract for one of the warring countries (most often they were used by Great Britain to rob Spanish “golden caravans”).

Since pirate ships were not equipped with guardhouses, such sailors were either killed or left behind for their misdeeds. desert island"to God's judgment." In the latter case, the islands were used as "natural prisons". Indeed, you can’t escape from such an island, and it’s not easy to survive there. This was the “divine judgment”: if after a year or a couple of years the sailor remained alive, then he was again taken away by his own “colleagues” in the pirate “workshop”, but if not... No, as they say, there is no trial.

Alexander Selkirk

It is believed that Defoe's greatest influence was the story of the Scot's survival. Alexandra Selkirk. It was a sailor who served on a galley (small warship) " Sanc Por", where he was a boatswain. In 1704, as part of a small privateer flotilla under the leadership of the famous captain Dampierre, he was supposed to rob Spanish ships off the coast South America. However, like a true Scottish privateer, Selkirk had a very bad character and violent disposition, which is why he constantly quarreled with other sailors and superiors (and arguing with pirate captain- more expensive for yourself). Because of one of these quarrels, he was demoted in rank, after which he “in his hearts” declared that he now had no place on this ship. The captain took his words literally and ordered him to land on the nearest uninhabited island...

Despite the fact that the unlucky boatswain repented and asked to cancel the order, the captain equipped the sailor with everything necessary and landed him on the small island of Mas a Tierra, 600 km from the coast of Chile.

A good start to Robinson's story

It must be said that Selkirk received excellent equipment for those times. He was given spare clothes and underwear (a luxury for those times), tobacco, a cauldron for cooking, a knife and an axe. And most importantly, our hero was provided with a flintlock rifle, quite modern at that time, with a pound of gunpowder, bullets and flint. They also included the Bible, without which the “divine judgment” would not have been a trial. 300 years later, archaeologists at the site of his camp in the tropics also found navigational instruments, thanks to which Selkirk probably observed the stars, thus determining the day and month.

Let us note that the boatswain himself was an experienced man, although he was only 27 years old at the time of disembarkation. Alexander, the son of a shoemaker, ran away to a ship as a sailor at the age of 18. However, his ship was almost immediately captured by French pirates, who sold Selkirk into slavery. However, the brave young man escaped, joined the pirates himself and returned home as an experienced sailor with a large wallet full of ill-gotten gold coins...

Finding himself on a desert island, our sailor began a vigorous activity. He built an observation post and two huts: an “office” and a “kitchen”. At first he ate local fruits and roots (he found, for example, a local variety of turnip), but then he discovered a small population of goats, which he hunted with his gun. Then, when gunpowder began to run out, he tamed goats and began to receive milk, meat and skins from them. The latter came in handy when, a couple of years later, his clothes became unusable. Using a nail he found, he sewed himself simple clothes from goat skins. The experience of working in my father's shoe shop came in handy. From half a coconut I made myself a “cup” on a leg, “furniture”, etc. That is, Selkirk has settled down quite thoroughly on the island.

Preserve humanity in solitude

Alexander Selkirk never met his “Friday”, so he suffered most from loneliness. The main tests, by his own admission, were loneliness and the fight against the rats that flooded this island. The rats ate food supplies and spoiled all his other property. Selkirk even made his own chest (which he decorated with carvings) to protect things from the weather and rats.

However, the boatswain found wild cats on the island, which he tamed, and thus protected himself from tailed pests. The presence of goats, rats and feral cats indicated that the island was once inhabited, but Selkirk never found traces of other people. In order not to forget human speech, he talked to himself and read the Bible aloud. Despite the fact that the boatswain was not the most righteous person, it was the Bible, as he himself later admitted, that helped him remain human in a wild environment.

Once upon an island, probably in search of fresh water, two Spanish ships arrived, but Selkirk, who was a British privateer, was afraid to go out to them because. The Spaniards would probably have hanged him on the yards for piracy. The ships left, and the boatswain was again left alone with the goats and cats.

Robinson's rescue and the end of the story

But he was still saved. Four years after he arrived on the island, on February 1, 1709, his own flotilla under the leadership of Dampier returned for Selkirk. However, its composition was already different, and the ship "Saint Port" was not there. It is noteworthy that Woods Rogers, the captain of the Duke, which was directly involved in the evacuation of the Robinson, indicated in his logbook that he was rescuing the “governor of the island.”

Once on civilized land, Alexander Selkirk became a regular at taverns, where he told stories of his adventures on a desert island over a glass of beer. Probably one of the witnesses to his drunken performances was Daniel Defoe. The Scot himself did not stay on land for long. After some time, he returned to privateering again, but ten years later, off the coast West Africa, died of yellow fever and was “buried at sea” (i.e. thrown overboard with full honors). Thus ended the story of the real Robinson.

By the way, the island where Alexander Selkirk lived was named “ Robinson Crusoe", and the neighboring one - " Alexander Selkirk" But this happened after the inglorious death of the brave Scottish boatswain with a bad character, who died without knowing that he had become a legend.

Alexander Selkirk, who is considered the prototype of Robinson Crusoe - the literary hero of the novel by Daniel Defoe, was born in 1676 in the small fishing village of Lower Largo, in the Fife region, Scotland, in the family of a poor shoemaker John Selkreg. As a nineteen-year-old boy, due to constant quarrels with his father and brother, he defiantly changed his last name to Selkirk, left home, after which he served as a sailor on various ships of the English navy.

In 1702, Selkirk was hired as a boatswain on the ship Sanc Port, which was heading on a privateering voyage. The ship's owners received a letter of marque from the Lord Admiral, which not only allowed merchant ships to arm themselves for self-defense against foreign ships, but also authorized attacks on them, especially those sailing under the flags of Britain's enemies.

The fate of the Sanc Port was inextricably linked with another privateering enterprise led by the captain of the St. George, William Dampier. In April 1703, Dampier left London at the head of an expedition consisting of two ships, the second of which was called Fame and was under the command of Captain Pulling. However, even before the ships left the Downs, the captains quarreled, and Fame sailed, leaving St. George alone. Dampier sailed to Kinsale, Ireland, and there rendezvoused with the Sank Pore, commanded by Pickering. The two ships decided to join forces and a new agreement was made between the two captains.

Dampier was hired by Thomas Escort to lead an expedition to the South Sea ( Pacific Ocean) for the purpose of searching and robbing Spanish ships carrying treasure. The two captains agreed to sail along the coast of South America and capture a Spanish ship in Buenos Aires. If the booty amounted to 60,000 pounds sterling or more, the expedition had to immediately return to England. If unsuccessful, the companions planned to sail around Cape Horn to attack Spanish ships transporting gold from the mines in Lima. If this failed, it was agreed to sail north and try to capture the Acapulco, a Manila ship that almost always carried treasure.

In September 1703, the ships set off. The captains and crew quarreled a lot, and then Pickering fell ill and died. He was replaced by Thomas Stradling. The controversy, however, did not stop. The dissatisfaction was caused by the crew's suspicions that Captain Dampier was not decisive enough in making decisions about robbing passing ships and, as a result, a lot of loot was lost. He was also suspected that, after the mission was completed, he would not want to share the spoils with the crew.

In February 1704, during a stop on the island of Juan Fernandez, the crew of the Sanc Port mutinied and refused to return aboard the ship. The crew returned to the ship after the intervention of Captain Dampier. The sails and gear remained on the island after the crew made a hasty retreat after spotting the French ship. As the voyage continued, the means of cleaning and repairing ships needed to prevent worms from damaging the ship were lost, and the ships soon began to leak. By that time, relations between the two crews had reached a point where they agreed to divide the spoils and go their separate ways upon reaching the Bay of Panama.

2 Life on the Island

In September 1704, the St. George sailed and the Saint Port returned to Juan Fernandez in an attempt to recover her sails and rigging, but it turned out that the French ship had taken them. It was here that boatswain Alexander Selkirk rebelled, refusing to sail further. He realized that the condition of the ship was so bad, and his relationship with Captain Stradling so tense, that he chose to try his luck and land on Mas a Tierra, one of the uninhabited islands of the Juan Fernandez group. He was left with a pistol, a knife, an axe, oats and tobacco, as well as a Bible and several navigational instruments.

As it turned out in the end, Alexander Selkirk saved his life. After sailing from Juan Fernandez, the Sanc Pora leak became so strong that the crew was forced to abandon ship and transfer to rafts. Only 18 sailors survived and managed to reach the coast of South America, where they were captured. They were treated harshly by the Spaniards and the local population and the crew were then imprisoned.

Near the shore, Selkirk found a cave where he could live, but in the first months he was so afraid that he rarely left the shore, eating only shellfish. He sat on the beach for days, peering at the horizon with the hope of seeing a ship that would save him. Selkirk came to his senses only when his beach was captured by hundreds of sea lions. There were so many of them, and they were so huge and terrible that he did not dare to approach the shore, where his only source of food was located.

Fortunately, the nearby valley was rich in lush vegetation, particularly cabbage palms, which became one of his main food sources. In addition, Selkirk discovered that the island was inhabited by many wild goats. At first he hunted for them with a gun, and then, when the gunpowder ran out, he learned to catch them with his hands. Once, while hunting, trying to catch a goat, he fell into an abyss and lay there unconscious for three days. Eventually, Alex domesticated several and fed on their meat and milk. He cut the tendons of young goats, after which, without losing their health, they forever lost the ability to run fast.

There were many cats and rats on the island. Selkirk fed the cats so generously with goat meat that over time they got used to him and began to protect his home from harmful rodents. Selkirk produced fire by friction, and sewed clothes from goat skins, using nails instead of needles. He made himself a calendar and many useful household items.

Alexander Selkirk dreamed of salvation and looked out for sails every day and lit fires, but several years passed before the ships visited Cumberland Bay. However, the first visit was not quite what he expected. Selkirk rushed to the shore to signal two ships anchored off the coast. But they turned out to be Spanish. Since England and Spain were at war, Selkirk realized that a fate worse than death awaited him in captivity, the fate of a slave in a salt mine. The search party landed on the shore and, noticing "Robinson", began shooting at him while he ran and hid. In the end, the Spaniards stopped searching and soon left the island.

Selkirk remained alone on the island for four years and four months. He was rescued by a privateer ship led by Captain Woods Rogers. In his ship's log, Rogers described the moment of Selkirk's rescue in February 1709. “We arrived in Juan Fernandez Island on January 31st. Replenishing supplies, we remained there until February 13th. On the island we found one Alexander Selkirk, a Scotchman, who had been left there by Captain Stradling, who had accompanied Captain Dampier on his last voyage, and who survived for four years and four months, without having a single living soul with whom he could communicate, and not a single companion except wild goats.”

Selkirk was appointed mate on Rogers' ship Duke. The following year, after the capture of a Spanish ship carrying gold, sailor Alexander Selkirk was promoted to boatswain of the expedition's new vessel, renamed Batchelor.

3 Return

Woodes Rogers' voyage ended in 1711 with his arrival in the Thames. When Londoners learned about Selkirk's adventures, he became a popular personality. But a man of few words, unable to talk colorfully and vividly about his experiences, he quickly became boring to the public. Then he left for his native Largo. A few years later, Selkirk returned to the navy. During his next voyage to the shores of West Africa in 1720, Selkirk died of tropical fever.

Spent 4 years and 4 months (in 1704-1709) on the uninhabited island of Mas a Tierra (now Robinson Crusoe as part of the Juan Fernandez archipelago) in the Pacific Ocean, 640 kilometers from the coast of Chile.

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✪ True story Robinson Crusoe

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Biography

Island life

Alexander Selkirk had some things necessary for survival: an axe, a gun, a supply of gunpowder, etc. Suffering from loneliness, Selkirk got used to the island and gradually acquired the necessary survival skills. At first, his diet was meager - he ate shellfish, but over time he got used to it and discovered feral domestic goats on the island. Once upon a time, people lived here and brought these animals with them, but after they left the island, the goats went wild. He hunted them, thereby adding much-needed meat to his diet. Soon Selkirk tamed them and received milk from them. Among plant crops, he discovered wild turnips, cabbage and black pepper, as well as some berries.

Rats posed a danger to him, but fortunately for him, wild cats, previously brought by people, also lived on the island. In their company he could sleep peacefully, without fear of rodents. Selkirk built himself two huts from Pimento officinalis wood. His supply of gunpowder ran low and he was forced to hunt goats without a gun. While chasing them, he once became so carried away by his pursuit that he did not notice the cliff from which he fell and lay there for some time, miraculously surviving.

In order not to forget the English speech, he constantly read the Bible aloud. Not to say that he was a pious person - that’s how he heard a human voice. When his clothes began to wear out, he began to use goat skins for them. Being the son of a tanner, Selkirk knew well how to tan hides. After his boots wore out, he did not bother to make new ones for himself, because his feet, hardened by calluses, allowed him to walk without shoes. He also found old hoops from barrels and was able to make something like a knife out of them.

One day, two ships arrived on the island, which turned out to be Spanish, and England and Spain were enemies at that time. Selkirk could have been arrested or even killed, since he was a privateer, and he made the difficult decision for himself to hide from the Spaniards.

Salvation came to him on February 1, 1709. This was the English ship "Duke" under the command of Captain Woods Rogers, who named Selkirk governor of the island. He writes that the boat sent to the island returned carrying with it "a man dressed in goatskin clothes, who looked more wild than their previous owners." Next to Rogers was Selkirk's former commander, William Dampier. The sailor did not like him, and agreed to come on board only after he learned that the expedition was headed not by him, but by Rogers. However, Dampier gave excellent recommendations to Selkirk, so Rogers immediately decided to accept him as an assistant on board the ship.

The life of Robinson Crusoe in Defoe's novel of the same name was more colorful and eventful. After many years of loneliness, the hermit managed to make a friend, which did not happen to Selkirk. Alexander did not meet the bloodthirsty cannibal Indians, as was described in the book, although he almost became a victim of the Spaniards, who, having landed on the island, staged a formal hunt for him. Many researchers note that, despite the similarity of individual episodes of Defoe’s novel with the story of the Scottish sailor, they were too different people, and it is unlikely that Selkirk could have become the prototype for Robinson.

One such book is the famous novel about Robinson Crusoe, written by Daniel Defoe. This story, which tells about the adventures of a man on a desert island, describes their confrontation and the hero’s ability to overcome all difficulties on the way to the goal.

The boatswain's mistake, or how it all began

Not everyone knows that the prototype of the main character, who suffered difficult trials, was a very real person named Alexander Selkirk. He was a simple sailor, a native of the small Scottish town of Largo, located on the coast North Sea. To this day, on one of the streets of the town stands a small old house in which this man with an amazing destiny lived. Tourists often come here to get acquainted with Robinson's life - the chest with the sailor's weapons is still kept in the room, as well as a coconut cup that he made with his own hands.

This story took place at the end of the 17th century. Alexander Selkirk got a job as a boatswain on the ship Sink Pore, owned by William Dampier, an English privateer and explorer. It is known that Alexander had a very quarrelsome character and often came into conflict with the ship’s crew, but at the same time he was a good boatswain who knew his job. One day he got into a verbal altercation with the captain himself, and the quarrel ended with the boatswain being dropped off on a deserted island (allegedly at his own request). Selkirk took with him only a gun and some necessary supplies. That's how it ended.

Life on a desert island

The boatswain did not even suspect that this deserted coast would become his home for several years. The island of Mas a Tierra, on which he was landed, was a small piece of land, no more than 100 square meters in size. km. It has long been known to sailors, who often landed here to replenish their supplies of fresh water. This is exactly what Alexander Selkirk was counting on - he decided to wait for the next ship that would pick him up and take him to the mainland. However, his expectations were not destined to come true.

All ships sailing in these waters have recently chosen another island, where the sources turned out to be even more powerful. For several years, not a single ship moored to Mas a Tierra, and the crew that left the boatswain on the island very quickly forgot about it. Selkirk had no choice but to adapt to new circumstances and survive. By the way, it turned out to be not as difficult as it might have seemed - the island was literally teeming with wild goats and guinea fowl, tropical fruits grew everywhere, and there was fish in the sea. Thus, the boatswain's diet was quite decent.

Soon all the sailor's clothes were worn out, and he had to dress in goat skins. He also learned to constantly maintain the fire necessary for cooking. Identical days followed each other on the island, the boatswain constantly peered into the horizon so as not to miss the ship. She was tested by the unfortunate sailor and, however, no one responded to his messages.

The end of the adventure

Four years later, the boatswain saw the long-awaited sails, but his joy did not last long - the flag of the worst enemy of Britain in those days fluttered on the masts of the ships. Instead of running out to his rescue, the sailor hid deep into the island so as not to reveal his presence to the Spaniards.

Fortunately, the British ship Duke soon approached the shore. The captain of the ship noticed a fire in the distance and sent the sailors to the island. Selkirk, which has almost been lost last hope upon release, joyfully greeted the British sailors. Over the years of loneliness, the boatswain's character has changed greatly; not a trace remains of his former bitterness. Surprisingly, he did not blame anyone for his misfortune and simply rejoiced at his long-awaited release.

Ironically, Dampier, the owner of the ship that left Selkirk on the island, was on the Duke. He told the boatswain about an Indian whom he had discovered on another uninhabited island - the poor fellow had been forgotten there by pirates. Later, when Alexander was writing his memoirs, he remembered this incident. Perhaps it was this Indian who served as the prototype for Friday, Robinson's faithful friend.

It is known that Selkirk’s memoirs were used by various authors. Echoes of his memories can be found in the novels of Jonathan Swift and Walter Scott, but it was Daniel Defoe who made full use of the boatswain's notes. This happened after their personal acquaintance in an ordinary pub. Thanks to the writer, the whole world learned the story of Alexander Selkirk.