THE REAL CRUSOE

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 June 1939, Page 8

THE REAL CRUSOE

LIGHT ON SELKIRK’S LIFE. Five out of every six schoolboys who have read “Robinson Crusoe” probably know that the book was largely founded on fact, its real life hero being one Alexander Selkirk, writes a correspondent in the London “Daily Mail.”

Of late years Selkirk’s island, Juan Fernandez, has become, owing to world cruises, less remote. I have been there myself—it is a somewhat gloomy spot, with a village, a population of between 200 and 300, a supply of excellent lobsters, and a monument to Selkirk, erected in 1868 by the officers of H.M.S. Topaze, with the date of his death wrong.

But what are known only to the few are the facts of Selkirk’s life. Points which are still debatable, and likely always to remain so. are the relations between the real Crusoe and the fictional one —i.e., to what extent Defoe drew on Selkirk’s adventures for his famous romance.

Mr. R. L. Megroz throws considerable light on the whole question, which is quite a fascinating one, in his “The Real Robinson Crusoe.” The prevailing impression in my mind, after reading this book, is that Defoe omitted a. vast amount of useful material; if it is permissible to criticise an established masterpiece, I will venture to suggest that he could either have made “Crusoe” an even better book or have turned him into a Sherlock Holmes or a Sanders of the River and run him profitably for years in a whole series of full-length productions.

A feature of Crusoe, it will be recalled, was his piety. Selkirk, in spite of having been horn in a small Fifeshire village (where there are still Selkirks), was the reverse of pious. It is true that, like Crusoe, he read the Bible a good deal on his island—l ; doubt whether there was much else to read —but as a lad he fell foul pf the elders of the kirk, became a buccaneer who buccaneered good and hard for many years, eloped with a beautiful Scots girl to London, let her down rather badly, married another woman, and let her down, too. There is no suggestion, of course, that Selkirk was an utter blackguard. Yet, on second thoughts, I think that perhaps Defoe was right in not giving us the complete “Crusoe”; for that volume would certainly not have been on the shelves of worthy households and handed out by bland bishops at school prize-givings for a couple of centuries.

Selkirk was put ashore—a not infrequent punishment—in 1704, and was rescued in February, 1709, and was therefore luckier than Crusoe, who had 28 years of solitude.

Captain Edward Cooke, who was a member of the rescuing expedition, and wrote a book about it, declares, after explaining his fear lest a garrison of Spaniards should he on the island: “All this stir and apprehension arose, as we afterward found, for one pool’ naked man."

Mr. Megroz adds (from information based on other accounts): “Naked was scarcely the word for the Crusoe costume of tho excited Selkirk, who from (ho beach gesticulated his welcome to the approaching boat. Those on board the ships were still anxiously waiting, having no idea of the extraordinary scene on shore, as a wild-looking Scotsman. dressed in goat-skins, fetched them fresh water and crawfish, and invited them to eat of the stew of goatflesh he had prepared. Then he ran on bare feet, up the mountainside, and, to their astonishment, caught them a goat, which he carried back slung over his shoulders.” Selkirk “died wretchedly at sea” at the age of 47. .