In 1704, Alexander Selkirk was voyaging across the South Pacific when, after arguing with the ship’s captain, he was put ashore— alone—on an uninhabited island. Equipped with little more than a musket and his wits, Selkirk not only survived in complete solitude for more than four years, but to came to be quite comfortable and happy. After being rescued by a British privateer in 1709, he took a leading role in several dramatic captures of merchant ships. Although he returned to civilization a rich man, he couldn’t find a place in society and always longed to return to the paradise of his island. Selkirk’s well-documented adventures so inspired Daniel Defoe that they became the basis for his perennial classic, Robinson Crusoe. In an account that is every bit as fascinating as Defoe’s novel, Robert Kraske provides vivid descriptions of Selkirk’s days on the island and aboard ship, including details of the violent, bloody, and legally sanctioned pirating that went on in the early 18th century. Author’s note, glossary, bibliography, index.

When Alexander Selkirk was abandoned by his shipmates on the remote island of Juan Fernandez in 1704 he could not have know that he wouldn't see another human soul for four long years, could not have anticipated the lonely and fierce existence to which he had been condemned, nor could he have ever guessed that his plight - recreated in the form of Robinson Crusoe - would be immortalised by Daniel Defoe. In this startlingly original book, award-winning author Diana Souhami brings new life to this story, evoking the abandoned sailor's struggle with solitude, God and the savage new home into which he had been so brutally thrust.

This book seeks to discover the actual man and the true adventures behind the life of Alexander Selkirk, the real-life Robinson Crusoe.

Excerpt from The Life and Adventures of Alexander Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe: A Narrative Founded on Facts Having quarrelled with his captain, and having had a dream that his ship would be wrecked, be resolved to quit it, and was set on shore at the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez. He had scarcely left the boat, when he sorely repented, and he never heard a sound more dismal than their parting oars. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Almost 300 years ago this fascinating novel was published with probably the most long title: The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who Lived Eight and Twenty Years, All Alone in an Un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, Near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having Been Cast on Shore by Shipwreck, Wherein All the Men Perished but Himself. With an Account how he was at last as Strangely Deliver’d by Pyrates. Written by Himself. For hundreds of years this book impresses the imagination by displaying of courage, ingenuity, vitality of the person, caught in such a binding that it is difficult to imagine. But still it is so exciting to imagine, while reading a book in a cozy room. Pretty illustrations by Vladislav Kolomoets provide you with new impressions from reading this legendary story.