Stories of real Robinsons. The real story of Robinson Crusoe Examples of Robinson Crusoe
The prototype of Daniel Defoe's novel was Alexander Selkirk. Unlike many Robinsons who became such by the will of a tragic accident, the 27-year-old boatswain of the ship "Sank Port" Selkirk became a victim of his own character.
The very first. Alexander Selkirk
Hot-tempered and capricious, he constantly came into conflict with the ship's captain, Stradling. After another quarrel that occurred 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 led nowhere. The disgraced boatswain spent four years on the island. Here he built two huts and an observation post, and 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 on board the royal ship Weymouth of yellow fever.
Today's. Jose Ivan
In early 2014, on Ebon Atoll, which is part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, two local residents found a man who, according to him, spent about 16 months at sea. His boat was wrecked during this trip 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 to El Salvador. After the accident, they wandered around the ocean for a long time; Jose’s friend 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. The boat capsized while fishing. 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 long buried their daughter in their thoughts, immediately recognized her.
Record holder. Jeremy Biebs
In 1911, during a hurricane in the southern part Pacific Ocean The English schooner "Beautiful Bliss" sank. Get to the shore and escape to desert island Only 14-year-old cabin boy Jeremy Bibs was lucky. The boy was literally saved by literature - he loved and knew the novel by Daniel Defoe by heart. Biebs started keeping a wooden calendar, built a hut, learned to hunt, ate fruit and drank coconut milk. While he lived on the island, two world wars occurred in the world, and a atomic bomb and a personal computer. The Biebs knew nothing about this. We found it by accident. In 1985, the crew of a German ship unexpectedly discovered the record holder among Robinsons, who had already reached 88 years of age, and brought him home.
From brokers to Robinsons. David Glasheen
What does a person do when he loses $6.5 million as a result of a stock exchange transaction? There may be many answers, but David Glasheen came up with his own version: in 1993, he leased 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. David, apparently, had no intention of fulfilling his promise. He pays £13,000 a year and leads a hermit's life here. David earns money by playing the stock market via the Internet. He grows vegetables and brews his own beer. A court order orders him to leave the island, but Robinson the broker returns to Big world doesn't want to. He lives quite comfortably on the island alone with his dog Kwazii.
Dream Island. Brendon Grimshaw
In the early 60s, Brandon went on a business trip to the Seychelles. This work 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 hermitage. Brandon bought the island and began searching for those who lived here before. His search was crowned with success; he found the Creole Rene Lafortuno. He was so imbued with Grimshaw's story that he left his wife and children and kept Brandon company. “Robinson and Friday” not only live on the island, but do their best to support nature; they planted 16,000 trees, 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: in 2008 the island acquired the status national park. Today, Grimshaw's story 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
Masafuni Nagasaki was once a photographer and worked in the entertainment industry, but the norms set by society were against his freedom-loving character. Then he decided to leave the human world. For more than 20 years, Masafuni has lived on Sotobanari Island, west coast Iriomote Islands, Okinawa Prefecture. Volunteer Robinson eats rice and drinks rainwater, which he collects in pots placed throughout the island. Masafuni dresses only once a week, when he has to go by boat to buy rice in 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 is defined extremely simply: “Finding a place where you want to die is very important, and I decided to find peace here.”
The brave Scottish boatswain, who spent 4 years and 4 months on a desert island, managed not only to survive, but also to become the prototype of the legendary Robinson Crusoe.
In April 1703, Alexander Selkirk became a member of the British expedition to the coast South America. In just one year, the Scot, who had an extremely scandalous character, managed to infuriate the entire crew of the Cinque Ports vessel. That is why, when Selkirk, during another quarrel, demanded to be dropped off, Captain Charles Pickering breathed a sigh of relief and immediately granted this desire. Of course, realizing his prospects, Selkirk still tried to take back his words, but it was too late: the team left him in the Pacific Ocean on the uninhabited island of Mas a Tierra (it is now called - long live recursion! - Robinson Crusoe Island).
Before Selkirk, settlers had already lived on the island, leaving behind goats and cats, which, however, had become wild over the years. The Scot had plenty of free time, so he managed to tame goats and get a constant source of fresh meat and milk, as well as skins from which he could make some kind of clothing. Selkirk used cats as protection from rats (and probably for mental relaxation). Among other things, thickets of wild turnips and edible berries were found on the island.
At the beginning of 1709, the British ship Duke anchored off the coast of Mas a Tierra, whose crew discovered and rescued Selkirk, who had already settled on the island. Returning to his homeland, the Scot became a celebrity: articles were written about him in newspapers, and people lined up in pubs to buy him a drink and listen to stories from the hermit’s life. A few years later, Alexander Selkirk joined the royal fleet and sailed to the shores of West Africa, where he died during the yellow fever epidemic.
Pavel Vavilov, 34 days
On August 25, 1942, the crew of the famous icebreaker Alexander Sibiryakov entered into an unequal battle with the fascist cruiser Admiral Scheer in the area of Domashny Island in the Kara Sea. Almost all crew members and passengers died during a fire on board or were captured. Only the fireman Pavel Vavilov managed to avoid the same fate, who ended up in the water and later managed to climb onto the surviving rescue whaleboat. Having found an emergency supply in the boat, consisting of matches, biscuits and a barrel of water, and also having caught a bag of bran and a set of warm clothes from the water, Vavilov went towards the lighthouse that was sending signals and found himself on the uninhabited island of Belukha.
For 34 days, the fireman survived on an island inhabited exclusively by polar bears. Having settled down on the upper platform of the lighthouse, in relative safety, he ate bran stew and drank melt water, fortunately in September it had already snowed in those parts.
By the time the food supplies were almost gone, Vavilova was noticed by the crew of the Sacco steamship sailing past. A seaplane was sent to pick up the survivors, flown by the famous polar pilot Ivan Cherevichny.
After being rescued, Pavel Vavilov, as befits a Soviet man, did not rest on his laurels, but quickly returned to normal life. Until the end of his life, he managed to work on the icebreakers Georgy Sedov and Lenin.
Ada Blackjack, 2 years old
The life of a simple Inuit girl, Ada Blackjack (nee Dalutuk), was not very joyful: two of her three children died in infancy, and her young husband also died a little later. Due to the difficult financial situation, Ada had to temporarily give her only son to an orphanage and go to work. Work was found quickly: Canadian Alan Crawford invited Ada to join the Arctic expedition as a cook and seamstress.
On September 16, 1921, five people - Ada, Alan and American polar explorers Milton Halle, Fred Maurer and Lorne Knight - set off towards Wrangel Island in order to get ahead of the Japanese expedition, who were going to claim ownership of the island. The first winter was too difficult for the team: food supplies quickly depleted, and the hunt, on which great hopes were pinned, did not bring results. In January, Halle, Crawford and Maurer decided to head back home. Ada refused to return and remained on the island with Knight, who was seriously ill and could not move, and an expedition cat named Vitz.
Since the polar explorers heading back disappeared on the way, and Knight died suddenly, Ada and the cat were left alone for a whole year and a half. In August 1923, the girl, who had learned to hunt and survive in extreme cold, was taken from the island by Harold Noyce's rescue expedition. Returning home with the money she earned, Ada took her son from the orphanage and moved with him to Seattle.
Lucy Irvine and Gerald Kingsland, 1 year old
Once on Taina, the couple realized that they had nothing in common, but since there were not only people on the island, but also a registry office where they could file a divorce, they had to learn to get along and endure the hardships of tropical life together. According to Irwin and Kingsland, the lack of mutual understanding was more difficult for them than everyday discomfort.
In 1983, the island was struck by drought, leaving the couple without supplies. fresh water. They were rescued by aborigines from the nearby Badu Island. Returning to Britain, Gerald and Lucy finally divorced and wrote books that became bestsellers: Cast Away (the novel was made into a film in 1986) and The Islander.
The novel “Robinson Crusoe” immortalized the name of Daniel Defoe, and the name of the main character has long become a household name. Any child in childhood imagined how he would end up on a desert island and survive here. What can I say, not only the boy. So, just recently we talked about a bankrupt millionaire who celebrated his 20th anniversary on the island. But what other real Robinson stories are there?
Robinson Crusoe Island, where Alexander Selkirk spent 4 years
Lived on a desert island: 4 years and 4 months
The story of the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk inspired Defoe to write the novel; it was he who became the prototype for Robinson Crusoe. True, the literary hero stayed on the island for 28 years and during this long time, alone with nature and with himself, he grew spiritually. Selkirk stayed on the island for 4 years, and he got there not as a result of a shipwreck, but after a quarrel with the captain. And no friend Friday for you, and, of course, cannibals. However, Alexander managed to survive in harsh conditions, he ate shellfish, tamed feral goats and built two huts. In 1709, the sailor was discovered by English ships. When Selkirk returned to London, he told his amazing story to the writer Richard Steele, who published it in the newspaper.
By the way, the island on which Selkirk lived alone was later named Robinson Crusoe. And 150 kilometers from it there is another island - Alexander Selkirk.
Traveler Daniel Foss
Lived on a desert island: 5 years
The story of another traveler, Daniel Foss, is also surprising. At the end of the 18th century, a man traveled on the ship Negotiant with his crew in the northern seas, where they hunted seals. The ship collided with an iceberg, and 21 people managed to escape by boat. For a month and a half they swam on the waves until two people remained alive. Soon the boat was thrown ashore, where Foss lost his last comrade. But this island turned out to be far from paradise: a small rocky piece of land where there was nothing but a seal rookery. Actually, seal meat helped Daniel survive, and he drank rainwater. Only five years later, in 1809, a passing ship picked up Foss. At the same time, the poor fellow had to swim to him, since the captain was afraid that he would run the ship aground.
Tom Neal - voluntary hermit
Lived on a desert island: approximately 16 years
But there are stories about voluntary hermitage. Thus, for almost 16 years, the coral island of Suvorov became the home of New Zealander Tom Neil. He first visited the island in 1952. The man domesticated chickens, started a vegetable garden, and caught crabs, shellfish and fish. Thus, the New Zealander lived on the island for almost three years, and after a serious injury he was taken out. But that didn't stop him from returning: Tom returned to his paradise in 1960 for three and a half years, and then in 1966 for ten years. After his second stay, Neil wrote a book, An Island to Yourself, which became a bestseller.
Jeremy Beebs - Robinson who managed to grow old on the island
Lived on a desert island: 74 years
In 1911, the ship "Beautiful Bliss" was shipwrecked. Only Jeremy Biebs managed to survive. Then he was only 14 years old. Because of his age, he was very fond of adventure novels, and what book do you think was one of his favorites? Of course, Robinson Crusoe. Here he learned basic survival skills, learning how to keep a calendar, hunt and build huts. The young man managed to grow old on the island: he was taken away only in 1985 as an 88-year-old man. Just imagine, during this time two world wars passed and man mastered space.
Alexey Khimkov and his comrades - polar robinsons
Lived on a desert island: 6 years
This story is even more severe: without tropical forests And warm sea. IN arctic ice the team lived for six whole years. In 1743, led by helmsman Alexei Khimkov, a merchant ship went fishing and got stuck in the ice. A team of four went to the shores of the Spitsbergen archipelago, where they found a hut. Here they planned to spend the night, but fate decreed otherwise: a strong arctic wind carried the ice floes along with the ship into the open sea, where the ship sank. The hunters had only one option - to insulate the hut and wait for rescue. As a result, they lived on the island for 6 years, during which time the team made homemade spears and bows. They hunted bears and deer and also fished. So the harsh Arctic winter was too much for the men. However, there was an outbreak of scurvy in their small camp, and one of the travelers died.
Six years later, a ship sailed past the island and saved the polar robinsons. But they did not board empty-handed: during this long time they managed to obtain about 200 skins of a large animal and about the same amount of arctic fox. The book “The Adventures of Four Russian Sailors Brought to the Island of Spitsbergen by a Storm” was later published about the misadventures of the Russian Robinsons, which was translated into several languages.
I am sure many of you know about the life of Robinson Crusoe. But few people know that Daniel Defoe described a story that is actually real...
When the sailor from Scotland Alexander Selkirk turned 19 years old, he left his family and joined the crew of the ship “Cinque Ports”, which in the Pacific Ocean in 1703 took part in the corsair raid of the pirate Dampier’s squadron. Alexander was treated well, so he was appointed assistant captain. And after the death of the first captain, Thomas Stradling took leadership of the ship. He was a rather tough man and treated everyone badly, including Selkirk.
It was too difficult for Alexander to be on the ship, which went closer to Chile, to the Juan Fernandez archipelago. At this time, he made a conscious decision to leave the ship and remain on one of the islands. Alexander hoped that the British or French would take him away sooner or later, so he took with him only what he considered necessary: a knife, an ax, bullets, gunpowder, navigation instruments and a blanket.
Loneliness on the island did not break Selkirk. And his analytical mind helped him survive among wildlife. He built a home for himself, learned to get his own food (hunted sea creatures, ate plants), and tamed wild goats. This went on for a long time. While waiting for at least some ship, he had to live alone, making various things necessary for existence (clothes, a calendar, for example). One day he saw a Spanish ship sailing near the shore. But, remembering that England and Spain had become rivals, Selkirk decided to hide.
So four years passed. The expedition of Woods Rogers, passing near the island, kindly took Alexander. He looked, of course, wild: long hair, a fairly grown beard, clothes made of goat skins, and had forgotten human speech, which was restored after some time. Defoe, based on the stories of eyewitness Rogers, wrote a novel that is still known today. The island where Selkeers lived until today is called Robinson Crusoe Island, which attracts many curious tourists.
18 March 2014, 21:46I think everyone knows and many love the book by Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe. But does everyone know who became the prototype for the main character of this book?
Alexander Selkirk (1676-1721) - Scottish sailor who spent 4 years and 4 months (in 1704-1709) on the uninhabited island of Mas a Tierra, which is part of the Juan Fernandez archipelago, located in the Pacific Ocean, 640 kilometers from the coast of Chile. It was this man who served as the prototype of the literary hero of the novel.
Alexander came to the island not after a shipwreck, but of his own free will. In 1704, after another skirmish with the captain of the ship, on which Selkirk, being a member of the crew (boatswain), went on a predatory expedition, usual for that time, with the aim of capturing and plundering Spanish ships, he decided to leave the ship, which by that time was already pretty worn out and gave a leak.
Selkirk preferred to entrust himself to fate on a desert island rather than remain on a dilapidated ship under the command of a hostile captain. In his heart he hoped that he would not have to stay on the island for long. After all, ships often came here for fresh water. In the meantime, in order not to die of hunger, he had to take care of food - he was left with food supplies only for one day. And besides, he took with him: a flintlock gun, a pound of gunpowder, bullets and flint, clothes and linen, tobacco, an axe, a knife, a cauldron, and he didn’t even forget the Bible.
In total, Alexander Selkirk spent 4 years and 4 months on the island, and was rescued in January 1709. But only on October 14, 1711, he returned to England, and 8 years later Daniel Defoe wrote the book “The Life and Amazing Adventures of the Sailor Robinson Crusoe,” which has been read all over the world for almost three centuries.
Spanish sailor Pedro Serrano 1540 - 1547:
In 1540, a Spanish galleon was wrecked off the coast of Peru. The only survivor was sailor Pedro Serrano. His salvation was a small piece of land on which there was no water and the only vegetation was dry algae. Also on sand spit there was not a single stone, and in order to get fire the sailor had to search the seabed and get several small stones. The only thing you could eat in this place were turtles. After three years of loneliness, fate gave Serrano a companion - a sailor from a ship that was wrecked off the coast of this island. So these two lived together on the island for another 4 years, until they were rescued by sailors passing by a ship.
English sailor Daniel Foss (late 18th century):
This tragic story began when the ship Negociator, which was hunting seals in the northern seas, collided with an iceberg and sank. 21 crew members managed to lower the boat and escape. After 1.5 months of wandering across the waves, only two remained alive. The boat was thrown ashore, and Foss lost his last comrade. He lived on the island for five years, eating only seals, and rainwater saved him from thirst. After this long time, the poor fellow was noticed on a passing ship, but it was impossible to approach the island. Then, grabbing his oar, the optimistic sailor rushed into the water and swam to the ship.
Four Russian sailors (approximately 1742-1749):
A ship with a crew of 14 people fell into an ice trap near one of the islands of eastern Spitsbergen. There was no point in staying on the ship, and the sailors decided to land on the island and spend the winter here. A wooden hut should have been preserved from previous wintering on the island. The scouts sent to the island discovered it and stayed overnight, and in the morning they hurried to the shore, but to their horror the ship was not there - a storm raged all night and the ship was most likely either broken up or carried out to the open sea.
People ate half-raw meat obtained from hunting, because... were forced to save precious fuel to heat the hut. After seven long years, when only three remained alive - one of the sailors, Verigin, died of scurvy - a ship belonging to a rich merchant approached the island, and he returned them to their homeland. The sailors took with them all their savings, bear and deer skins, arctic fox skins, etc. in September 1749, the Pomors returned to Arkhangelsk.
This story formed the basis of two books - the first (1766) by the French scientist Pierre Leroy, the second by the American writer David Roberts.
Dutch sailor (name unknown):
In 1748, the English captain Mawson discovered human remains and a diary on one of the gloomy islands of the Ascension archipelago, which told the sad story of a Dutch sailor accused of a terrible crime and left on this island. At that time, the island was far from sea routes and was uninhabited.
The convict was left with some equipment and weapons, which were useless because... They forgot to leave the gunpowder. At first the sailor ate birds, which he shot down with stones and turtles. Instead of water, he chewed shellfish. Later, the Dutchman found water, but it was located far from the place where he got his food. Every time, languishing from the heat, he carried water in pots. These journeys took him a whole day, and it all ended with the fact that the source that gave him water dried up, and the man slowly died of thirst and hunger. Plus, he was tormented by remorse and hallucinations appeared, which made his end even more terrible.
Vavilov Pavel Ivanovich, sailor of the Arctic fleet (1942):
On August 24, 1942, the icebreaker “Alexander Sibiryakov” left Dikson, carrying out a voyage with equipment and personnel for a new polar station on Severnaya Zemlya. The next day, near Belukha Island in the Kara Sea, the Soviet icebreaker met the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer. A battle broke out between the ships, the Sibiryakov was sunk, and the surviving part of the crew was taken prisoner by the enemy. Fireman Pavel Vavilov was the only survivor who managed to avoid capture.
After the ship went under water, most of the sailors were pulled into the resulting water funnel; Pavel Vavilov was lucky to grab onto the wooden remains of the ship and remain on the surface. With the last of his strength, he was able to get out onto an empty lifeboat floating nearby and was able to get to the uninhabited Belukha Island. In the boat, the sailor found food, matches, an ax, a loaded revolver, and fished out a sleeping bag and a bag of clothes from the water. There was a lighthouse on the island, in which Vavilov found refuge.
Pavel Ivanovich Vavilov spent, according to various sources, from 34 to 37 days on the polar rocky island. Passing ships did not notice the sailor waving his sweatshirt hopefully on the shore. However, when the food was almost gone and frost was approaching, he was noticed from the Sacco steamship sailing past and a seaplane was sent for the sailor.
Another polar robinsonade is known in history, this time committed alone by a Russian hunter. Yakov Minkov, who lived on Bering Island (from the Commander Islands group) in the Pacific Ocean for seven whole years.
This happened in 1805, when navigator Potapov left him in a yurt on
this island to protect arctic fox skins obtained during the fishing season. The schooner was supposed to return here in a few days. Weeks and months passed, and she was still missing. However, deprived of the most necessary things, Minkov did not lose his presence of mind: his ingenuity and quick wits saved him. There was a river rich in fish nearby. To provide himself with food, Minkov did
hook and started fishing. The fire was mined with flint. It was only in 1812 that Yakova Minkova was taken off the deserted island by a woman passing by.
schooner.
And in 1983, in the jungle of the famous Indonesian island
Sumatra, on the banks of the South Sarmatian river, hunters accidentally met
12 year old girl Imayatu who lived here alone from above
six years old. In February 1977, she and her friends went fishing on the river
ku and did not return. Everyone believed that Imayata had died when the boat carrying the hapless fishermen capsized.
The girl went wild, forgot her native language, but her happy parents immediately
they found out. Interestingly, the girl was found just 20 km from her home
villages This is probably the youngest known modern Robinson.
Several examples of "voluntary Robinsons":
1. Japanese pensioner Masafumi Nagasaki has been living alone on Sotobanari Island (Okinawa) for 20 years without a source of fresh water. The Japanese once worked as a photographer, then he fully experienced the dark side of the entertainment industry. He says he wanted to get away from all this once and for all.
2. David Glasheen and his dog Quasi are the only residents on tiny Recovery Island off Cape York. Glasheen, 65, is a former businessman who sold laptop bags about two decades ago, after the stock market crash in 1987. His first marriage, from which he has two daughters, ended at the same time. The former company executive considers losing his entire fortune one of the best things that happened in his life.
Glasheen moved to the island in 1993. He has improved the island somewhat, but it is still a "wild" place. I liked its simplicity and remoteness Russell Crowe And Daniel Spencer who were staying there for their honeymoon.
Apart from the occasional visit from tourists and passing yachts, he admits that he gets lonely in his little paradise, so the divorced father of three is now advertising for a woman who enjoys a quiet, lonely life with no neighbors.
3. The unusual experience of snowboarder from Switzerland Xavier Rosset - he decided to try to survive on a deserted island in the South Pacific for ten months, with only basic necessities. The island, with an area of 60 km2, lies 1600 km from New Zealand, with active volcano, a rocky shore 20 meters wide and a large crater lake. There are many wild boars on the island and the vegetation is so dense that it is impossible to get through without a machete.
A machete, a knife, a first aid kit and equipment to upload new videos to his website every week are all he has in his backpack.
Rosset says the lonely island project combines his dream of adventure with a strong belief in the ability to live in harmony with nature without harming it. “It’s really important for me to show that I can live 300 days without polluting the environment. But mostly I will do it because it’s beautiful to make your dreams come true.”
4. A mechanic from Munich, disillusioned with life, decided to settle on a small island in the South China Sea, renting the island for 99 years. Friedrich Texter was able to rent this island for as much as 99 years for the amount he paid for the rent of his apartment per year, namely 6,000 German marks. Frederick settled in a small hut made of bamboo. His clothes are all quite simple, made from various pieces of fabric. On the island, Texter has a mini-farm for chickens, numbering about five dozen birds. He grows enough a large number of all kinds of fruits and vegetables. All the food is easily enough for him to live well. By the way, the space owned by Friedrich Texter reaches approximately 5 square kilometers, including only jungle, sand and rocks.
The most important thing is that the temperature here is constantly sunny and warm, it does not fall below 22 degrees. Sometimes this island resident gives special signals thanks to the mirrors and some friends from Palawan come to him. The texter is constantly trading with him. He sells food that he personally grows and buys the most necessary things for his existence.
Thank you all for your attention!