Did alexander selkirk have children

Alexander selkirk movie

Alexander Selkirk — 13 December was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway — after being marooned by his captain, initially at his request, on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean. He survived that ordeal, but died from a tropical illness most likely yellow fever [ 1 ] years later while serving as a lieutenant [ 2 ] 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. Selkirk's suspicions were soon justified, as Cinque Ports foundered near Malpelo Island km 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 reputed sources of inspiration for the English writer Daniel Defoe 's fictional character Robinson Crusoe.

Alexander Selkirk was the son of a shoemaker and tanner in Lower Largo , Fife , Scotland, born in He was summoned before the Kirk Session in August [ 4 ] for his "indecent conduct in church", but he "did not appear, being gone to sea". He was back at Largo in when he again came to the attention of church authorities for assaulting his brothers.

Early on, he was engaged in buccaneering. In , he joined an expedition of English privateer and explorer William Dampier to the South Pacific Ocean , [ 6 ] setting sail from Kinsale in Ireland on 11 September. In February , following a stormy passage around Cape Horn , [ 10 ] the privateers fought a long battle with a well-armed French vessel, St Joseph , only to have it escape to warn its Spanish allies of their arrival in the Pacific.

Dampier took off some much-needed provisions of wine, brandy, sugar, and flour, then abruptly set the ship free, arguing that the gain was not worth the effort. In May , Stradling decided to abandon Dampier and strike out on his own.