A castaway becomes famous
April 12th 2007 07:29
[COLOR=Blue]Alexander Selkirk was a seventh son of a seventh son. He was rowdy and in trouble as a young boy and was in the habit of pestering his father to be able to go to sea. His mother finally relented when he was to be hauled up before the kirk congregation for mouthing off and farting in the local kirk. He never did face the congregation that Sunday and he went off to make a name for himself. His name is not readily recognised but with the whimsy of a writer Defoe turned Selkirk’s tale into Robinson Crusoe.
Once again Dampier emerges as a captain of a ship in a fleet of two that is going to feature in a maroonment. Selkirk is sailing master on board the other ship to Dampier and it has left the “fleet” to go pirating on its own. Selkirk has a stand up argument with the captain about the condition of the ship, It will not last a big blow says Selkirk. It needs to be repaired. The skipper disagrees and Selkirk talks himself into a corner and says he would rather be put off at the nearest island than go another mile on the ship. With that the captain bundles him off in the ship’s boat again marooning someone on Juan
Fernandez islands. As is the way of pirates, he is left with a pistol, shot, one musket ball and his sea chest. Selkirk relents and tries to make up but the captain is happy to get rid of a trouble maker. He sails off into the sunset and just as Selkirk predicts the first storm the ship sinks. The survivors are either hung, handed over to the Inquisition or sent to be galley slaves for the rest of their lives.
Meanwhile Selkirk is making a fist of things. He contemplates topping himself many times. He doesn’t try to make do in the island interior as other’s have and for weeks spends his time beachcombing and living on turtle which gives him the gripes. Eventually he makes his way inland and discovers the vegetable patches and the goats. With just one musket ball he needs to come up with a better way to kill the goats. Here is a remarkable part of his story. Within weeks of being off the horrible diet of the ship’s stores and the grog and smoke his body is detoxified and soon he can actually run down a goat! He is so enraptured with this that he does it even for a sport, running down goats and catching them, bringing them home then letting them free.
He also learns to hunt a kill the huge elephant seals that come to the island each season. He lives a reclusive but very healthy life. He learns to tame the kittens of the feral cats to keep away the rats and soon learns to catch baby kids and cripple them to keep a food source close by. His biggest fear is to become too old to hunt or die in his bed and be eaten by his kittens. So when a British ship appears he is ready for rescue. (He has managed to evade the Spaniards who use the island) The British captain has many sick crew on board and Selkirk helps to bring them back to health. He shows his running prowess to the crew and even out races bulldogs from on board the ship.
Selkirk leaves the island with many misgivings. He is to be richer by eight hundred pounds, (the spoils of the privateer venture the ship is on). When he gets home he is so put off with his fellow man it is reported that he digs a cave on the property owned by his parents and lives there until he is ready to return to society. Strange when you think he has just sailed around the world with the close quarters of a pirate crew.
Always the roving sailor he takes off with one of the local maids and ends up in London married to her. After a few months he is bored and returns home with out Mrs Selkirk. He eventually goes back to sea and when he finally swallows the anchor, comes ashore to live in a quiet manner though he is all for continuing his romping ways. At his funeral there was more than one widow claiming to be the real Mrs Selkirk, though we don’t know if he left any children.
More in the next blog[/COLOR]
Once again Dampier emerges as a captain of a ship in a fleet of two that is going to feature in a maroonment. Selkirk is sailing master on board the other ship to Dampier and it has left the “fleet” to go pirating on its own. Selkirk has a stand up argument with the captain about the condition of the ship, It will not last a big blow says Selkirk. It needs to be repaired. The skipper disagrees and Selkirk talks himself into a corner and says he would rather be put off at the nearest island than go another mile on the ship. With that the captain bundles him off in the ship’s boat again marooning someone on Juan
Meanwhile Selkirk is making a fist of things. He contemplates topping himself many times. He doesn’t try to make do in the island interior as other’s have and for weeks spends his time beachcombing and living on turtle which gives him the gripes. Eventually he makes his way inland and discovers the vegetable patches and the goats. With just one musket ball he needs to come up with a better way to kill the goats. Here is a remarkable part of his story. Within weeks of being off the horrible diet of the ship’s stores and the grog and smoke his body is detoxified and soon he can actually run down a goat! He is so enraptured with this that he does it even for a sport, running down goats and catching them, bringing them home then letting them free.
He also learns to hunt a kill the huge elephant seals that come to the island each season. He lives a reclusive but very healthy life. He learns to tame the kittens of the feral cats to keep away the rats and soon learns to catch baby kids and cripple them to keep a food source close by. His biggest fear is to become too old to hunt or die in his bed and be eaten by his kittens. So when a British ship appears he is ready for rescue. (He has managed to evade the Spaniards who use the island) The British captain has many sick crew on board and Selkirk helps to bring them back to health. He shows his running prowess to the crew and even out races bulldogs from on board the ship.
Selkirk leaves the island with many misgivings. He is to be richer by eight hundred pounds, (the spoils of the privateer venture the ship is on). When he gets home he is so put off with his fellow man it is reported that he digs a cave on the property owned by his parents and lives there until he is ready to return to society. Strange when you think he has just sailed around the world with the close quarters of a pirate crew.
Always the roving sailor he takes off with one of the local maids and ends up in London married to her. After a few months he is bored and returns home with out Mrs Selkirk. He eventually goes back to sea and when he finally swallows the anchor, comes ashore to live in a quiet manner though he is all for continuing his romping ways. At his funeral there was more than one widow claiming to be the real Mrs Selkirk, though we don’t know if he left any children.
More in the next blog[/COLOR]
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