Description
pp. 246, color illustrations, “Alexander Selkirk was marooned on an uninhabited island in 1704, 300 miles off the coast of Chile and not rescued until 1709. His story inspired Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe.” From the dj flap: “In 1703 Selkirk, a Scottish privateer, joined and expedition, captained by William Dampier, to plunder French and Spanish ships off the coast of South America. Conditions on board were appalling: there was scurvy and dysentery and an acute shortage of food and fresh water. Many of the crew died or mutinied. When the ship began to leak, the hope was to refit it on the remote and uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez, 360 miles off the coast of Chile. But the ship’s timbers had been ‘eaten to a honeycomb’ by worms. Selkirk chose to maroon himself rather than continue on a doomed voyage. Alone on the island he at first thought often of suicide and dared not sleep for fear of being devoured by wild animals.”