Which of us did not read in childhood, voluntarily or "under duress" (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 protagonist 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 have not been fully translated into Russian.

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

"Robinson" is a collective image of many stories about survivors on uninhabited islands of sailors, 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. In extreme cases - by 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 the Spanish "golden caravans").

Since pirate ships were not equipped with guardhouses, for misconduct such sailors were either killed or left on desert island"to the judgment of God." 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 court”: 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 “shop”, if not ... No, as they say, there is no court.

Alexander Selkirk

It is believed that the story of the survival of the Scot had the greatest influence on Defoe. Alexandra Selkirk. It was a sailor who served on a galley (small warship)" Sank Por", where he was a boatswain. In 1704, he, as part of a small privateer flotilla under the leadership of the famous captain Dampier, was supposed to rob Spanish ships off the coast. South America. However, like a true Scottish privateer, Selkirk had a bad temper and violent temper, because of which he constantly quarreled with other sailors and superiors (and arguing with pirate captain- more expensive). 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 to land on the nearest uninhabited island ...

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

A good start to Robinson's story

I must say that Selkirk received excellent equipment for those times. He was given spare clothes and underwear (a luxury for those times), tobacco, a cooking cauldron, a knife and an axe. And most importantly, our hero was supplied with a completely modern flintlock gun with a pound of gunpowder, bullets and flint. They also included the Bible, without which "God's judgment" would not have been a judgment. After 300 years, 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.

Note that the boatswain himself was a seasoned man, although he was only 27 years old at the time of the landing. Alexander is the son of a shoemaker, at the age of 18 he fled to the ship as a sailor. However, his ship was almost immediately captured by French pirates, who sold Selkirk into slavery. However, the brave young man fled, joined the pirates himself and returned home as an experienced sailor with a voluminous wallet full of gold coins obtained by unrighteous means ...

Once on a desert island, our sailor started a stormy 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 the gunpowder began to run out, he tamed goats, began to receive milk, meat and skins from them. The latter came in handy when a couple of years later his clothes fell into disrepair. Using the found nail, he sewed himself simple clothes from goatskins. The experience of working in my father's shoe shop came in handy. From half a coconut he made himself a “cup” on a leg, “furniture”, etc. That is, Selkirk settled down on the island quite thoroughly.

Keep humanity in solitude

Alexander Selkirk never met his "Friday", so he suffered most from loneliness. The main tests, by his own admission, were precisely loneliness and the struggle with the rats that flooded this island. The rats ate food and ruined everything else in his possessions. Selkirk even made a chest (which he decorated with carvings) on his own to protect things from bad 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 suggested that this 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 a man in a wild environment.

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

Saving Robinson and the end of the story

But he was still saved. Four years after he hit the island, on February 1, 1709, his flotilla under the leadership of Dampier returned for Selkirk. However, its composition was already different, and the Sank Por ship was not there. It is noteworthy that Woods Rogers, the captain of the Herzog ship, which was directly involved in the evacuation of the Robinson, indicated in his ship's log that he was rescuing the "governor of the island."

Once on civilized land, Alexander Selkirk became a regular in taverns, where he told stories of his adventures on a desert island over a mug of beer. Probably one of the witnesses of his drunken speeches was Daniel Defoe. The Scot himself did not stay long on land. After some time, he again returned to the craft of marque, 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 called " Robinson Crusoe", and the neighboring -" Alexander Selkirk". But this happened already after the inglorious death of the brave Scottish boatswain with a bad character, who died without knowing that he had become a legend.

If someone has not read the book by Daniel Defoe "The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Robinson Crusoe", then he certainly heard about it. And about the fact that Defoe, on the crest of a wave of his own popularity, hastily writes its continuation? About how his hero in old age again leaves quiet house to in last time wander around the world, how does one get to Russia? From China, through the Argun post. With extraordinary adventures, Robinson gets through Nerchinsk (here he and his companions burn a pagan idol, hastily flee, fleeing the revenge of the natives, and the governor of Udinsk allocates fifty guards to foreigners), Yeravna, Udinsk, Yeniseisk to Tobolsk. Here he spends the long Siberian winter, and in the summer again on a dangerous journey. Through Tyumen, Solikamsk to Arkhangelsk and from there, finally, sail to his homeland.

Defoe does not always indulge readers with details. For example, we will not know how his hero got from Udinsk to Yeniseisk. But that's why there is not a word about Baikal in the novel, which the traveler could not avoid by any means?! Maybe Defoe did not know about the existence of the lake?

It turns out he couldn't help but know. Studying the famous author's novel, Academician Mikhail Alekseev discovered back in 1924 that, describing Robinson's journey through Siberia, Defoe used maps and a whole library of books on geography. And he singled out from this list the travel diary of the Russian envoy Izbrandt Ides, who was heading to China. Robinson repeats the path of the envoy, only in reverse order.

There is a rather vivid episode in the diary related to Baikal. Ides had to cross the lake on a sleigh, on ice, since it was winter. Local residents warned him that Baikal should be treated with respect, called it only the sea, so as not to cause anger and perish. Idee stopped the sleigh, uncorked a bottle of wine and, pouring a glass, exclaimed: “Before God and my companions, I affirm that Baikal is a lake.” And Baikal took this insult! We crossed in clear weather.

Could Defoe not notice such an episode while reading the diary? The issue is most likely something else.

Robinson enters Russia on April 13, 1703. According to calculations, his caravan to Baikal would have approached by the beginning of summer, when the lake is free of ice and presents a serious obstacle: there was, of course, no convenient road around Baikal then. Defoe, always striving for plausibility, understood that as soon as he mentioned the crossing, it would immediately be necessary to lay out at least some details that would give the event credibility: the type of ship, pier, their names. And he did not have any information about Baikal shipping.

But there is a blessing in disguise, Academician Alekseev believes. With a hasty description of Robinson's path, Defoe managed to achieve a curious effect: his hero does not travel, but literally runs through Siberia, which, obviously, seemed to the author himself to be a huge, wild, deserted space.

From the magazine "BAIKAL"

Which of us did not read in childhood, voluntarily or "under pressure" (as required by the school curriculum), Daniel Defoe's adventure novel about Robinson Crusoe? The novel was written in the genre of "fictitious autobiography" (1719), which was relatively rare in those days.

The fact that the biography is fictitious did not immediately reach the readers, and many believed that everything in the novel was the pure truth from beginning to end: the adventures of Robinson and his faithful companion Friday are so realistically written that the reality of the "autobiography" does not cause anyone doubt.

As the years passed, when there were more and more books in the style of "Robinsonade", and the name of the protagonist became a household name (two hundred years ago), it became more and more difficult to believe in the truth of the adventures of numerous Robinsons.

However, interest in this work, which in four years will "knock" three hundred years, does not decrease. Therefore, it is not surprising that the question - did Robinson Crusoe really exist - pops up again and again.

Various versions are being put forward. However, it should be said right away: the Robinson Crusoe described in the novel, alas, never existed ... However, there were prototypes.

The hero of the novel "Robinson Crusoe" is a collective image of many stories about sailors who survived on uninhabited islands, of which there were many in that era.

The fact is that, although Daniel Defoe avoids this topic in his work, all (or almost all) of the real prototypes of his novel were pirates.

As a last resort - privateers, that is, essentially the same pirates, only not "wild", but "working" under a contract for one of the warring countries (they were most often used by Great Britain to rob Spanish "golden caravans").

Since a guardhouse was not provided for on pirate ships in principle, for misconduct such sailors were either killed or left on a desert island "for the judgment of God."

In the latter case, the islands were used as "natural prisons". (In that era of uninhabited islands, as they say, you could eat at least with a spoon ...) Indeed, you can’t escape from such an island, and it’s not easy to survive there. This was the "divine court": 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", if not ... No, as they say, there is no court.

It is believed that Daniel Defoe's greatest influence was the story of the survival of the Scotsman Alexander Selkirk. This was a sailor who, since 1703, sailed on the galley (small military vessel) "Cinque Ports", where he served as a boatswain (according to other sources, as an assistant to the captain).

In 1704, he, as part of a small flotilla of marque under the leadership of the famous pirate captain William Dampier, was supposed to rob Spanish ships off the coast of South America. The captain treated him very well. However, after the death of the captain, Thomas Stradling became the head of the ship.

He was a very tough person. And apparently not very smart. And if we also take into account the fact that Selkirk - like a true Scottish privateer - had a nasty character and violent temper, because of which he constantly quarreled with other sailors, then the picture emerges disappointing. It would be fine with the team, but Selkirk argued with the captain. And to quarrel with the captain of the pirates is more expensive for yourself.

Due to one of these quarrels (Selkirk urged the captain to fix a hole in the hold by landing on one of the islands, and the captain claimed that this required a dock), he was demoted.

Selkirk called Stradling "the devil's captain" and said that he would feel safer on a deserted island than on a ship commanded by such mediocrity. The captain took his words literally and ordered to land on the nearest uninhabited island...

The ship at that time was sailing closer to Chile, to the Juan Fernandez archipelago. Despite the fact that the unfortunate boatswain repented and asked to cancel the order, Stradling equipped the sailor with everything necessary and landed on the small island of Mas a Tierra, 600 km from the coast of Chile. Smiling wickedly, the captain wrote in the ship's log that Alexander Selkirk was missing...

I must say that Selkirk received excellent equipment for those times - even despite the quarrel with the captain. He was given spare clothes and underwear (a true luxury for those times), a blanket, tobacco, a cooking cauldron, a knife and an axe.

And most importantly, our hero was supplied with a completely modern flintlock gun with a pound of gunpowder, bullets and flint. They also included the Bible, without which "God's judgment" would not have been a judgment.

Three hundred years later, archaeologists also found navigational instruments at the site of his camp in the tropics, thanks to which Selkirk probably observed the stars, thus determining the day and month.

It should be noted such an important fact: the equipment was equipped, but the boatswain himself was an experienced person, although he was only 27 years old at the time of the landing (people in those days grew up much faster). Selkirk was the son of a shoemaker, but a quiet quiet life did not satisfy him, he raved about the sea and at the age of eighteen he ran away from home and got hired as a cabin boy on a ship.

However, he did not sail long: his ship was almost immediately captured by French pirates, who sold Alexander into slavery. Nevertheless, the brave young man fled, then joined the pirates and returned home as an experienced sailor with a voluminous purse full of gold coins obtained by unrighteous means ... However, in our modern opinion, unrighteous. In those days, they thought quite differently ...

Once on a desert island, our sailor started a stormy activity, although he hoped that sooner or later the British or French would take him away. To begin with, he examined his possessions and almost immediately discovered a source of fresh water.

Then he built an observation post and two huts: an "office" and a "kitchen". Of course he had to rely on own forces and learn everything: and build, and get food ...

At first, he ate local fruits and roots (he found, for example, a local variety of turnip), hunted marine life, turtles, crabs and shellfish.

So only a very lazy person could die of hunger here. Moreover, a little later, Selkirk discovered a small population of goats, which he hunted with his gun.

Then, when the gunpowder began to run out, he tamed goats, began to receive milk, meat and skins from them. The latter came in handy when a couple of years later his clothes fell into disrepair. Using the found nail, he sewed himself simple clothes from goatskins: his experience in his father's shoe workshop came in handy.

From half a coconut he made himself a "cup" on a leg, "furniture", etc. In other words, Selkirk settled down on the island quite thoroughly. Although, no doubt, his life is on the verge of insanity...

Here, however, Selkirk never met his “Friday” (or was it his? Here the opinions of researchers differ regarding the sex of Defoe’s Friday), so he suffered most from loneliness.

The main tests, by his own admission, were precisely loneliness. But it didn't break him. And his analytical mind helped him survive in the wild.

The second problem was the fight against the rats that infested this island. The rats ate food and ruined everything else in his possessions. Selkirk even made a chest (which he decorated with carvings) on his own to protect things from bad weather and rats.

However, the boatswain found wild cats on the island, which he tamed, and thus protected himself from tailed pests. Some researchers believe that the presence of goats, rats and feral cats indicated that this island was once inhabited, but Selkirk never found traces of other people.

The statement is controversial: rats could sail on the wreckage wrecked ships or on ships that stopped at the island of ships; cats and goats were originally wild animals, so why shouldn't they also live on this island?

In order not to forget human speech, Selkirk 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 a man in a wild environment.

One day, two Spanish ships arrived on the island, probably in search of fresh water, but Selkirk, who was a British privateer, was afraid to go out to them, since the Spaniards would probably hang him on yardarms for piracy. The ships left, and the boatswain was again left alone with the goats and cats.

However, fate was merciful to him: he was still saved. Four years after he hit the island, on February 1, 1709, his own flotilla returned for Selkirk. However, its composition was already different, and the vessel "Cinque Ports" was not there: it soon fell into a storm and sank.

According to some reports, the team died, according to others, it was picked up by the Spaniards and was put on trial for piracy. So, in the end, Selkirk won by not staying on this ship and ended up on a desert island. But, of course, he could not know this at the time of landing, and he repented because of a quarrel with the captain.

It is noteworthy that Woods Rogers, the captain of the ship "Duke", which was directly involved in the evacuation of the prototype of the hero "Robinson Crusoe", indicated in his ship's log that he was saving the "governor of the island". And which, in principle, did not greatly sin against the truth ...

Although the sight of the "governor" was still the same: a thoroughly feral man in excellent physical shape (running for food and constant physical labor on fresh air contributes greatly to this) with long hair and a beard in clothes made of goat skins with a thoroughly forgotten speech. Speech, however, quickly recovered.

Arriving two years later in his native place (he sailed on the "Duke" until 1711), the former "Robinson" Selkirk became a frequenter of taverns, where he told stories of his adventures on a desert island over a mug of beer. Probably one of the witnesses of his drunken speeches was Daniel Defoe.

So the novel was based on the life of Selkirk. How truthfully did the Scot tell about what happened to him? After all, it is known that sailors, pirates, fishermen have always considered it simply necessary to brag. What a holy thing! Who will check something?

However, it is most likely that Defoe read Woodes Rogers' book "A Journey Around the World", published in 1712 in London, where Rogers described his meeting with Selkirk.

It must be said that after his release from the uninhabited island, Selkirk did not stay long on land. Some time later, he returned to privateering, but ten years later, off the coast of West Africa, he died of yellow fever and was "buried at sea" (that is, thrown overboard with all honors). Thus ended the story of the real Robinson.

By the way, the island where Selkirk lived was called "Robinson Crusoe", and the neighboring one - "Alexander Selkirk". But this happened already after the inglorious death of the brave Scottish boatswain with a bad character, who died without knowing that he had become a legend. Nowadays, many curious tourists come to these islands.

In conclusion, I would like to note one fact that is not directly related to the story about the prototype of the hero of the novel: Daniel Defoe wrote not one novel, as is commonly thought, but four.

Moreover, the latter tells about the adventures of the already elderly Robinson in ... Siberia! Unfortunately, the latest novels in the series have not been fully translated into Russian.

Daniel Defoe's novel was inspired by Alexander Selkirk. Unlike many Robinsons, who became so by the will of a tragic accident, the 27-year-old boatswain of the Sankpore Selkirk became a victim of his own character.

The very first. Alexander Selkirk

Hot-tempered and wayward, he constantly came into conflict with the captain of the ship, Stradling. After another quarrel that took place near the island of Mas a Tierra, Selkirk demanded to be dropped off. No sooner said than done, the brawler's request was granted. Attempts to return to the ship came to nothing. The disgraced boatswain spent four years on the island. Here he built two huts and an observation post, hunted wild goats. Upon returning home, he talked a lot about his adventures. Selkirk was again drawn to the sea, he entered the Royal Navy with the rank of lieutenant and died aboard the royal ship Weymouth from yellow fever.

Today's. Jose Ivan

In early 2014, on the Ebon Atoll, which is part of Marshall Islands in the Pacific, two local residents found a man who, according to him, spent about 16 months at sea. His boat during this trip was wrecked and lost its propeller. It was possible to find out that Jose Ivan and his friend sailed from Mexico in the fall of 2012 and headed for El Salvador. After the accident, they wandered the ocean for a long time, friend Jose died a few months ago. They ate fish, birds, drank rainwater and turtle blood. The found sea robinson now looks appropriate: he has long hair and a beard.

The youngest. imayata

In February 1977, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the girl Imayata went with her friends to fish in the river. While fishing, the boat capsized. The girl did not return home. Everyone believed that Imayata was dead. She was met by chance already in 1983. A twelve-year-old girl, who lived alone for more than six years, even forgot her native language. The parents, who had buried their daughter in their thoughts for a long time, immediately recognized her.

Record holder. Jeremy Beebs

In 1911, during a hurricane in the southern part Pacific Ocean The English schooner Beautiful Bliss sank. Only 14-year-old cabin boy Jeremy Beebs was lucky enough to get ashore and escape on a desert island. Literature literally saved the boy - he loved and knew by heart the novel by Daniel Defoe. Beebs kept a wooden calendar, built a hut, learned to hunt, ate fruit and drank coconut milk. While he lived on the island, two world wars took place in the world, the atomic bomb and the personal computer were created. Biebs knew nothing about it. Found it by accident. In 1985, the crew of a German ship unexpectedly discovered a record holder among Robinsons, who had already reached 88 years old, and delivered him to his homeland.

From brokers to Robinsons. David Glashin

What does a person do when he loses 6.5 million dollars as a result of an operation on the stock exchange? There may be many answers, but David Glashin came up with his own version: in 1993, he rented a third of Restoration Island, off the northeast coast of Australia, for 43 years. Under the terms of the deal, he must establish fishing and tourism infrastructure here. Apparently, David was not going to fulfill the promise. He pays £13,000 a year and leads a hermit life here. David earns money by playing on the stock exchange via the Internet. He grows vegetables and brews his own beer. By court order, he is ordered to leave the island, but Robinson the broker returns to Big world does not want. He lives quite comfortably on the island alone with his dog Quasi.

Dream Island. Brandon Grimshaw

In the early 60s, Brandon went on a business trip to the Seychelles. This working trip changed his life forever - he decided to stay on the uninhabitable island of Moyen. Grimshaw was an entrepreneur and had enough money to provide a legal basis for his recluse. Brandon bought the island and started looking for those who lived here before. His search was crowned with success, he found the Creole Rene Lafortuno. He was so imbued with the history of Grimshaw that he left his wife and children and kept Brandon company. "Robinson and Friday" do not just live on the island, but support nature with all their might, they planted 16,000 trees each, breed turtles and create all the conditions for a comfortable life for birds. To do this, Brandon even brought water to his island. Their efforts were appreciated according to their merits: in 2008 the island acquired the status national park. Today, the history of Grimshaw is widely known and the island is constantly visited by tourists. As a memory of those days when Brandon's hermitage was just beginning, he wrote the book "The Story of a Man and His Island".

In harmony with nature. Masafuni Nagasaki

Once Masafuni Nagasaki was a photographer, worked in the entertainment industry, but the norms established by society disgusted his freedom-loving character. Then he decided to leave the human world. For more than 20 years, Masafuni has been living on the island of Sotobanari, west coast Iriomote Islands, Okinawa Prefecture. Volunteer Robinson feeds on rice, drinks rainwater, which he collects in pots placed throughout the island. Masafuni dresses only once a week, when he has to go by boat for rice to the nearest settlement (an hour's journey across the ocean). His family sends him money. The purpose of his voluntary imprisonment on the island of Nagasaki defines very simply: "Finding a place where you want to die is very important, and I decided to find peace here."

Scottish sailor, born in 1676 in the village of Lower Largo, now Lundin Lynx. Alexander Selkirk was the son of a tanner. He was a naughty child and in his youth showed a quarrelsome and rebellious disposition.

Selkirk decided to become a sailor, a craving for adventure beckoned him. He participated in pirate expeditions South Seas and in 1703 he joined the famous corsair William Dampier, who was the captain of the Five Ports. On board this ship were 26 guns, and the crew consisted of 120 people. Selkirk served in the ship's galley.

In October 1704, Alexander Selkirk quarreled with Captain Dampier because of his bad temper and left the ship. He was put into a boat, given some equipment and pointed to the ground. It was in the archipelago of Juan Fernandez Mas Afuera (Mas-a-Tierra), which translates as "the most remote."

The island is indented mountain ranges, and its highest point is Mount Cerro de los Innocentes (1329 m). The island, however, is not at all like those islands that are usually shown to us in films about Robinson Crusoe - with an abundance of vegetation and paradise beaches. Alexander had to live on this island for 4 years and 4 months in complete solitude until he was rescued. It was Alexander Selkirk who became the prototype of the well-known hero of Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe. Having met Selkirk and inspired by his experience, the famous writer wrote his best work, which thundered all over the world.

Alexander had some things he needed to survive: he had an axe, a gun, a supply of gunpowder, and more. Selkirk suffered from loneliness, 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 found his neighbors on the island - wild goats. Once upon a time, people lived on this island and brought goats here, but after they left, the goats became wild. He hunted them, thereby adding much-needed meat to his diet. He tamed goats and received milk from them. From vegetable crops, he found wild turnips, cabbage and black pepper, as well as some berries.

The danger for him was represented by rats living on the island, but for his happiness, wild cats, previously brought by people, also lived on the island. In their company, he could sleep peacefully without fear of rats.

Cave of Alexander Selkirk

Island today

Alexander Selkirk built himself two huts from pimento officinalis and used them for his needs. His supply of gunpowder was running low and he was forced to hunt goats without it. He chased the goats on foot, chasing them all over the island, and once he was so carried away by the chase that he did not notice the cliff, after which he fell and lay like that for some time. He miraculously survived.

In order not to forget the English speech, he constantly read the Bible aloud to himself, not to say that he was a devout person, just because he heard at least some kind of speech. When his clothes began to wear out, he began to use goatskins. He was the son of a tanner and therefore knew well how to dress skins. After his shoes were worn out, he did not make himself new ones, because his feet, rough with calluses, allowed him to walk without them. He also found old barrel hoops and was able to make something like a knife out of them.

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

Salvation came to him on February 1, 1709, it was the English vessel "Duke" with captain Roger Woodes, who named Selkirk the governor of the island.

The island where Alexander Selkirk lived was named Robinson Crusoe Island, also named after him neighboring islands archipelago of Juan Fernandez.