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The Man Who Was Robinson Crusoe

Page 18

by Rick Wilson


  Duchess(privateer ship) 4–6, 9, 10, 21–2, 36, 37, 77, 87–9, 101, 102, 104

  Duke(privateer ship) 1, 4–6, 9, 10, 21–2, 36, 37, 41, 77, 85–9, 91, 100–4, 109

  Dutch East India Company 104

  Dykes, Stewart 113

  Eilan Donan castle 146

  Enterprise, HMS 146

  Evans, S. H. 37

  Evening News and Star 119–20

  Fernandez, Juan (the man) 15, 67

  Frye, Robert 7–9

  Gilles, James 118

  Gillies, David 50

  Gillies, David Selkirk 47, 48

  Gillies, Katherine 49

  Gillies, Teresa 50

  Glen Shiel, battle of (1719) 146

  Gray, Muriel 111

  Greystoke Castle, Cumberland 119

  Guayaquil, Ecuador 90, 91–9, 142

  Hamilton, Duke of 40–1, 156–8

  Harford, Henry Charles 36–7, 39

  Harford, Joseph 36, 39

  Heliagos, Antonio 89

  Hill, Peter 119

  Howard, Sir Esme 119

  Howell, John viii, 6, 56, 66, 75, 110, 111, 137, 156

  Hutton, S. 40

  Increase(formerly Santa Josepha) 90, 100, 104

  James, Isaac 39

  Jardine, Allan 47–8, 82, 109, 114, 118

  Jardine, Ivy 47–8, 82, 114, 115, 123–4

  Jardine, Mark 41

  Jervies, William 61

  Joseph(50-tonner) 100, 101, 102, 104

  Juan Fernandez islands

  see Robinson Crusoe island

  Kinsale 5

  Kirkcaldy Museum 113

  Lamond, Dr 137

  Lane, Jeanne 119–20

  Lanning, Ernest 115–16, 117

  Lettice, Lesley-Anne 112

  Llandoger Trow pub, Bristol 33–5

  Lobos de la Mar, island of 89

  Long John Silver Trust, Bristol 35

  Lower Largo, Fife, Scotland ix, xi, 12, 28

  churches 46, 53–4, 113

  ‘Crusoe’ heritage 44–50, 52, 113–14

  modern 43–5

  seen by Selkirk on voyage home 104–5

  Selkirk’s birthplace cottage 48–52

  Selkirk’s return to 132–43

  Lumsdaine, Major John 118

  Lumsdaine, Robert 118

  Lumsdaine, Stamford Robert 118

  Lundine, John 61

  Mackie, Euphan 53

  Makgill, Reverend James 57

  Marquess(formerly Havre de Grace) 90–1, 100, 101, 104

  Martin, John 99

  Mas a Tierra island

  see Robinson Crusoe island

  Mason, Katherine 147

  Mitchison, Amanda 55

  Moncrieff, Reverend Alex 54, 55

  Moncrieff, Reverend William 134

  Mortone, Thomas 61

  Murdoch, Reverend John 53

  museums and exhibitions 79, 110, 112–13, 116, 119

  ‘Alexander Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe’ (1983) 110–11

  Ashmolean 127–8, 129, 131

  British Museum 126, 127, 129–30, 131

  Lower Largo 47, 113–14, 123–5

  National Museum of Scotland 110, 125

  Ness, Thomas 61

  Netherlands 104

  Nettle, John 106

  New York Times,‘Crusoe May Have Owned This Gun’ 126–30

  Novak, M. 40

  Nuestra Senora de Begona(treasure ship) 104

  Osbourn, Florence 122–4

  Parry, Richard Lloyd 80

  The Philadelphia Bulletin 119–20

  Philippines 87

  Pickering, Captain Charles 2, 64

  Powell, Commodore 82

  Reid, Norman 59

  Robb, Louise 52

  Robinson Crusoe(Defoe) 84

  comparisons with Selkirk 24–30, 109

  immediate success of 31, 39, 154

  rescue in 109–10

  setting for 25, 28

  stores retrieved from shipwreck in 109 see also Defoe, Daniel

  Robinson Crusoe island (formerly Mas a Tierra)

  climate and vegetation 15, 74, 79–80

  earlier visitors 15, 65–6, 68, 74

  Selkirk’s refuge found on 80–4 see also Selkirk, Alexander

  Rogers, Captain Woodes 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 21, 22, 42, 100, 104, 108

  Bristol home 32, 35

  A Cruising Voyage around the World 11–17, 32, 37, 40, 42, 136

  Defoe’s opinion of 35, 40

  docking in Erith 105

  Guayaquil raid 90, 91–9, 142

  privateering 86–7, 89, 90–2, 100

  treasure ships 101–4

  wounds suffered by 103, 104

  Rogers, John 90, 91

  Royal Navy xi

  Rymer, Harry and James 158

  St Andrew’s University Library 113

  St George(privateer frigate) 2, 64, 66, 85

  Sawyer, C. J. 116, 117, 130, 131

  Sawyer, Charles 117

  Say, Reverend 158

  Schmidt, Louis 119

  Selcraig, Alexander (nephew) 147

  Selcraig, Andrew (brother) 53, 58, 60–1, 63

  Selcraig, Bruce (American descendent) 50, 77–9, 114

  Selcraig, David (brother) 47

  Selcraig, Eupah (mother) viii, 56–7, 129, 132, 134

  Selcraig, John (brother) 50, 53, 55, 58, 60, 61, 135, 140

  Selcraig, John (father) viii–ix, 55, 56, 58–9, 61, 135, 140, 147

  Selcraig (Selkirk) family 49–50, 53, 57–63, 134–5

  Selkirk, Alexander

  general

  affinity with animals 140

  appearance xi, 110, 129, 132–3, 134

  birthplace cottage 48–9, 51, 52

  Bristol 32–3, 38, 110, 130

  bronze statue of 48–9, 50, 52, 108, 121

  capture of treasure ship 101–3

  character viii–x, 4, 47, 50, 54, 56

  childhood viii–ix

  command of the Increase 90

  command of the Joseph 100

  command of treasure ship 103–6

  death from yellow fever 114, 153–4

  dispute over will 154–8

  drunken brawl 105–6

  Enterprise, HMS 146

  fishing expeditions 137–8

  furious family row 57–63

  Guayaquil raid 90, 91–9

  homesickness for the island 51–2, 137

  marriage to Frances 25, 40, 149–51

  meeting with Defoe in Bristol 30, 32–42

  navigational skills 56, 84, 86, 88

  papers 38–42, 156–8

  privateering xi, 10, 22–3, 85–104

  return home to Lower Largo 132–43

  return to England 105–6

  running away to sea 56–7

  self-made cave in garden 51, 137, 139–40

  seventh son 56–7

  Sophia Bruce 141–3, 145–9, 151–2

  transgressions against local kirk 53–7, 59–63, 113

  treatment of Guayaquil women 96–8, 142

  wealth ix, xi, 32, 132

  Weymouth, HMS xi, 114, 144, 149, 152–4

  will in favour of Frances Candis 150–1

  will in favour of Sophia Bruce 146–8

  island of Mas a Tierra

  ambivalence about leaving 7–8, 10, 21, 22, 29–30, 76–7

  animals 8, 14, 18, 19–20, 23, 25, 28, 68, 72–3, 75

  appearance on vii, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 14–15, 73

  artefacts believed to come from 110–31

  Cowper’s poem about 70–1, 74

  day-to-day life 74–5

  diet 13–14, 18, 22, 67, 68–9, 73

  early optimism of rescue 68, 69

  falling down precipice 13, 20, 74, 75

  fictional island compared with 24–30

  first months on 67–72

  initial visit to 65

  marooning 2–3, 12, 18, 25, 65, 67

  melancholy and homesickness 12, 18, 29, 69
>
  memorial plaques 82

  musket, present-day search for 114–31

  provisions allowed by captain 12, 18, 25, 67, 108–9

  readjustment to people 22

  religion 12, 18, 29, 69, 74–5, 133

  rescue vii, 4–9, 22–3, 77

  running speed 4, 13, 20, 22, 73, 76

  shelters 7–8, 12, 19, 72, 80–4

  Spaniards landing 11–12, 76

  speech 6–7, 9, 15, 20, see also under Robinson Crusoe island

  Selkirk, Frances (wife) 40–1, 149–51, 154–8

  Selkirk, John 49

  Sharpe, Captain 16

  Shepherd, Dorothy 50–1

  Sibbald, Sir Robert 118

  Sim, Adam 112

  Smith, Eric 117

  Smith, James 61

  Smithurst, Peter 125–6

  Sotheby’s auction house, London 116–17, 130

  Souhami, Diana 97

  South Sea Company 106

  Spain 87–8, 104

  Sporting Gun, ‘Desert Island Flintlock?’ 120–2

  Star Inn, Bristol 35, 38, 39, 40

  Steeds, Mark 33, 36, 38

  Steele, Sir Richard ix, 11, 17–31, 32, 108, 136

  Stevenson, Robert Louis 35

  Stradling, Captain Thomas 2, 3, 9, 11, 25, 65, 66, 67, 69–70, 127

  Sunday Times 127

  Takahashi, Daisuke 80–3, 125

  Taylor, William 31

  Texel, island of 105

  The Times

  ‘Crusoe’s Gun’ 130–1

  ‘Selkirk’s Refuge Found’ 80–1

  Tobago, island of 25–6

  Topaze, HMS 82

  Wasse, James 100

  Watkins, Mark 39

  Watlin, Captain 16

  Weymouth, HMS xi, 114, 144, 149, 152–4

  Whyte, Hulda 118–19

  Wilson, Walter 37, 38

  Wilsone, Magnus 61

  Wishart, Drew 51

  Wood, Sir Andrew 53n

  Wood, Stephen 123

  Woodhall, Barry 120

  Wright, Douglas 118–19

  Chapter 2 A Tale of Two Tales

  * The Harfords were a prominent Bristol banking family.

  Chapter 3 The Village he left Behind

  * Grandson of the brother with whom Alexander had a serious quarrel.

  † Left with the family by Selkirk, along with his musket.

  * Another local acknowledged at the Upper Largo kirk is the area’s other well-remembered sailor, Sir Andrew Wood. A handsome model of a 15th-century fighting ship, the Yellow Carvel, sits inside the church a prominent chancel position, a reminder of the Largo-born sea captain who rose to become Lord High Admiral of Scotland. After changing his career from that of merchant trader in Leith, he began his naval career as a privateer under James III and flourished under James IV. By 1489 he owned the Mayflower and the Yellow Carvel, which fought and captured five English ships offshore near Dunbar. In response, the English launched a larger expedition the following year under Stephen Bull, which attacked Wood’s ships in the Firth of Forth. The battle lasted two days and Wood eventually triumphed, despite being heavily outgunned and outnumbered. His victory was so appreciated that he was granted many lands and properties around Largo and knighted by James IV.

  * Appear.

  Chapter 4 Survival on the Island

  * A temporary summer residence for shepherds. Chambers Scots Dialect Dictionary.

  Chapter 5 How he got Rich

  * Flip was made by pouring a gill of rum into a mug of beer that had been sweetened with pumpkin, cream, eggs, molasses (and/or sugar) and then stirred with a red-hot poker.

  Chapter 7 Homecoming and Sophia

  * After she set up a church in Scotland’s ancient capital of Dunfermline, on Fife’s north side of the Forth, the wife of King Malcolm III saw it rapidly become a place of pilgrimage and so set up a ferry for herself and the pilgrims to travel between the river’s south and north banks. Initially operated by monks, the service went on and developed for 800 years thereafter, finally taking on cars – until the road bridge took its place in 1965.

  * As previously mentioned, the 19th-century building of the railway track on the high embankment above the garden would have wiped away any trace of this refuge.

  Chapter 8 London and the End

  * Marriage by cohabitation with habit and repute. Under Scots law, if a couple cohabited for sufficient time they were generally held and reputed to be husband and wife.

  Alexander Selkirk’s statue and plaque at Lower Largo cottage, which replaced the original home of his birth.

  The church at Upper Largo where the Kirk Session’s chastisements forced Selkirk to flee the village. He returned a very wealthy man.

  Extract from the original church papers recording Selkirk’s misdemeanours (St Andrews University).

  The original Robinson Crusoe as portrayed in the first edition of Daniel Defoe’s book

  Allan Jardine, direct descendant of childless Alexander Selkirk’s brother, David.

  Selkirk’s signature from a legal document.

  Selkirk’s powderhorn (St Andrews Museum), his sea chest (National Museums Scotland) and what was once thought to be his musket as traced by the author (above).

  Cumberland Bay, the key feature of the island off the coast of Chile where Selkirk was marooned for four and a half years. It is the largest of the Juan Fernandez archipelago and as such is often called by that name alone. Its other names are Mas a Tierra or nowadays, Robinson Crusoe Island.

  Kincraig Point on the coast of Fife where Selkirk went to remind himself of Juan Fernandez.

  Keil’s Den where Selkirk met Sophia Bruce.

  Selkirk’s Bristol haunts. The still-extant Llandoger Trow (left) and the long-gone Cock and Bottle (right) pub have had competing claims, along with the Star, to be the meeting place of Selkirk and Defoe. Local historians favour the Star.

  The plaque on the site of Captain Woodes Rogers’ house in Bristol’s Queen Square where Selkirk stayed.

  Where Selkirk survived and when he died. Map of Juan Fernandez and the death entry for Selkirk recorded in HMS Weymouth’s log.

  The site of Selkirk’s camp on Juan Fernandez, recorded by Daisuke Takahashi in 2005.

  Rick Wilson was born in Montrose and has been a professional journalist all his life. He started his career on the Montrose Standard before joining The Courier in Dundee. He spent time editing magazines in Holland before returning to Scotland where he worked for The Scotsman. He is the former editor of Scotland on Sunday magazine and former assistant editor of The Herald. His fascination with Alexander Selkirk led him to search for and discover Selkirk’s musket which he returned to his family in Fife. Following that, he decided to fully research the mariner’s life which led to the publication of this book.

  Rick is now semi-retired, but still does some work for The Scotsman and the Mirror Group. He lives in Edinburgh.

  First published by

  Neil Wilson Publishing Ltd

  www.nwp.co.uk

  © Rick Wilson, 2011

  First published in February 2009

  Reprinted in 2010

  The author asserts his moral right to

  be identified as the author of this work

  A catalogue record of this book is

  available from the British Library

  Prine edition ISBN: 978-1-906476-02-1

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-906476-35-9

 

 

 


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