Selkirk, Alexander

Selkirk, Alexander

▪ Scottish sailor
Selkirk also spelled  Selcraig  
born 1676, Largo, Fife, Scot.
died Dec. 12, 1721, at sea

      Scottish sailor who was the prototype of the marooned traveler in Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe (1719).

      The son of a shoemaker, Selkirk ran away to sea in 1695; he joined a band of buccaneers in the Pacific and by 1703 was sailing master of a galley on a privateering expedition. In September 1704, after a quarrel with his captain, he was put ashore at his own request on the uninhabited Más a Tierra Island in the Juan Fernández cluster, 400 miles (640 km) west of Valparaíso, Chile. He remained there alone until February 1709, when he was discovered and taken aboard an English ship commanded by Woodes Rogers. They arrived in England in October 1711, and Rogers' Cruising Voyage Round the World, which includes a description of Selkirk's life on the island, was published the following year. Selkirk was a master's mate on a British ship when he died.

      Selkirk's story was also told by the essayist Richard Steele in The Englishman of Dec. 3, 1713. Defoe evidently drew inspiration from these accounts for his Robinson Crusoe, as did the poet William Cowper in his “Lines on Solitude,” beginning “I am monarch of all I survey.”

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  • Selkirk, Alexander — Selkirk, Alexander, s. Robinson Crusoe …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Selkirk,Alexander — Sel·kirk (sĕlʹkûrk ), Alexander. 1676 1721. Scottish sailor who was marooned (1704 1709) on an island off Chile and is thought to have inspired Daniel Defoe s Robinson Crusoe (published 1719). * * * …   Universalium

  • Selkirk, Alexander — ► (1676 1721) Marino británico. Sus aventuras inspiraron a Defoe el argumento de Robinson Crusoe …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Selkirk — Selkirk, Alexander …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Alexander Selcraig — Alexander Selkirk (oder Selcraig) (* 1676 in Lower Largo, Fife, Schottland; † 13. Dezember 1721) war ein schottischer Seefahrer und Abenteurer. Er gilt gemeinhin als Vorbild für Daniel Defoes Figur Robinson Crusoe aus dem gleichnamigen Roman… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Selkirk [2] — Selkirk, Alexander, s. Robinson Crusoe …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Selkirk [2] — Selkirk, Alexander, schott. Matrose, ließ sich, mit seinem Kapitän Dampier verfeindet, 1705 auf der damals unbewohnten Insel Juan Fernandez aussetzen, wurde 1709 von einem engl. Schiffe aufgenommen. Seine Erzählungen gaben Stoff zum Robinson… …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • Alexander Selkirk — Libro de 1835 inspirado en la vida de Selkirk. Alexander Selkirk, nacido Alexander Selcraig, (1676–13 de diciembre de 1721) fue un marinero escocés que estuvo durante cuatro años y cuatro meses como un náufrago en una isla desierta; es probable… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Alexander-Selkirk-Insel — Lage der Insel im Pazifik Alejandro Selkirk (dt. Alexander Selkirk Insel), span. Isla Alejandro Selkirk, früher Isla Más Afuera („weiter weg“), ist die westlichste und zweitgrößte der im Pazifischen Ozean gelegenen Juan Fernández Inseln. Die… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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