Robinsons: five real stories. Modern Robinsons The most famous Robinsons
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 were unsuccessful. 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. While fishing, the boat capsized. 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. Only 14-year-old cabin boy Jeremy Bibs was lucky enough to get to the shore and escape on a desert island. 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, which is near the north, for 43 years. east coast Australia. 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.”
It is widely known that the English writer Daniel Defoe (c. 1660-1731), the author of the novel about Robinson Crusoe, did not invent the story of his hero. The prototype of the latter was the Scottish sailor, boatswain of the English ship Cinque Ports, Alexander Selkirk, who lived alone on the island of Masa Tierra for 1580 days, or 4 years and 4 months (from 1705 to 1709)
However, not many people know that A. Selkirk had a predecessor who, more than half a century earlier, managed to live on a barren piece of land off the coast of Peru for 7 long years - from 1540 to 1547. It turned out to be the Spanish sailor Pedro Serrano. This brave man, showing will, perseverance, and courage, defeated death and emerged with honor from combat with nature. And it was extremely difficult to do this.
The island he ended up on after a shipwreck was a long 8-kilometer sand spit. There was absolutely no vegetation of any kind here and there was not a drop of fresh water. The sailor's plight was also aggravated by the fact that, of the most necessary things, he had at his disposal only a knife and the clothes he was wearing.
By the way, A. Selkirk, when he left the ship, had clothes, a gun, gunpowder, bullets, a knife, a flint, a pot, as well as a compass, a pickaxe and a Bible. In addition, on his island he did not lack either drinking water or food. Boatswain Robinson ate fish, lobster, goat meat, and even diversified his diet with cabbage, which grew in abundance on Mas a Tierra.
Pedro Serrano could only dream of all this. He was tormented by hunger, thirst, and the cold at night caused suffering. Although there was a lot of dry seaweed and wood fragments all around, there was nothing to light a fire with. The sailor was close to despair, as he well understood that he was doomed to starvation. And then one day, exploring his “possessions” for the umpteenth time, he noticed turtles climbing up the dry sand to the island.
P. Serrano turned several of them onto their backs, then cut the throat of one animal and pressed his dry lips to the wound... The blood of the reptile quenched his thirst, it was fresh and somewhat reminiscent of fish juice. The turtle meat turned out to be edible, and most importantly, quite nutritious. Later, Pedro prepared it for future use - cut it into small pieces and dried it in the hot sun.
Animal shells also came in handy. The sailor made vessels from them into which he collected heavenly moisture. The unfortunate man was saved.
There were a great many turtles on this piece of land lost in the ocean, but eating their raw meat was disgusting. Fire was needed. You can cook hot food on the fire, and the smoke rising to the sky gave hope for salvation. As already mentioned, there was plenty of fuel. Threads from dry clothes could well have served as tinder, a metal knife could have served as a knife, but there was not a single stone around. Perhaps they can be found underwater? During a calm sea, the sailor dived near the shore until exhaustion, trying to find even small stones...
Finally he was lucky, and with the help of the found “flint” the fire blazed with a bright flame. To prevent the rain from extinguishing the hard-won fire, Serrano built a canopy over it from turtle shells. As it turned out, animals came in handy for all occasions.
Three years have passed. All attempts to attract at least some vessel to the island with the smoke of the fire were in vain. Every day for long hours, Robinson peered at the horizon until his eyes hurt, but the snow-white sails, appearing in the distance, invariably “dissolved” in the vast expanses of the ocean.
One morning during breakfast, an unwitting settler of the island saw a two-legged creature heading towards his fireplace. At first the man did not notice the hermit... but when he saw the overgrown Robinson, he screamed and rushed away. Serrano did the same, for he thought that the devil himself had visited him. Without stopping, he shouted at the top of his lungs: “Jesus, deliver me from the devil!” Hearing this, the stranger stopped and shouted: “Brother, don’t run from me! I am a Christian, just like you! Serrano didn't stop. Then the stranger began to read a prayer loudly. The sailor turned back. He walked up to a man dressed in blue pants and a shirt and pulled him into his arms.
The unknown person said that his ship was wrecked, and he himself, grabbing a piece of the mast, reached the island. Unfortunately, the annals of history did not preserve the name of the second Robinson. Serrano offered everything he had - water, meat, fish, which he now obtained with a harpoon made from a piece of wood with a tip made of a sharp fish bone.
Now there were two of them, and they lived in friendship and harmony. The household was carried out jointly: one watched the fire, collected dry seaweed or fragments of wood thrown up by the sea, the other got food. IN free time had long conversations, telling each other about their past lives. However, then the topics of conversation were exhausted. People barely exchanged a few sentences. Then came reproaches, anger, and absolute silence. Often, due to grievances, even fights arose over insignificant reasons...
They broke up. Now everyone hunted turtles, fished, and maintained a fire on their own territory of the island. Time passed and reconciliation arrived. One of the sailors had the determination to be the first to take a step forward. Tears of shame flowed down their faces, their lips trembled, but there was also boundless joy - the joy that they were together again.
And finally, a ship approached the island. The boat was lowered into the water, and the sailors unanimously leaned on the oars. Approaching the shore, the rowers saw two hairy “fiends of hell” standing on the sand. Frightened, muttering prayers, they immediately turned back. At any moment the thread of hope for salvation could break...
Serrano and his comrade shouted as loud as they could: “Come back, we are people!” But the boat was still moving towards the ship. Driven to despair, the Robinsons loudly sang a prayer. The boat again turned its nose towards the sand spit.
The sailors with undisguised fear examined and felt the shaggy creatures, and then took them to the ship, where the companion Pedro Serrano, unable to withstand the excitement, died of a broken heart. The survivor was taken first to Spain and then to Germany to show it to the emperor. To prove his story, Serrano did not cut his hair, and during the trip, like an exotic animal, he was shown to everyone for a certain bribe.
The emperor granted the brave “Robinson” enormous wealth - 4000 ounces (1 ounce = 29.86 g) of gold. Using this gift, the sailor wanted to settle in Peru opposite the island where he spent 7 years, but he died on the way there.
Australian hermit
Are modern “Robinsons” known, after reading these lines, the reader will ask? Yes, they are known. And the fate of the Australian hermit James Carol developed most dramatically. This happened in 1926. One day, Doctor Korlyand and his friends went hunting in that part of the Green Continent where villages of cannibals still remained. Having entered into friendly communication with them, the traveler learned that a white man lived nearby. A company of hunters became interested in this “dark-skinned” savage and decided to visit him...
Approaching the cave that the aborigines pointed to, they suddenly heard the growl of an animal. A few minutes later, a shaggy head emerged from her womb. Korlyand ran towards the gorilla-like creature, but as soon as it noticed the stranger, it attacked the stranger with such force that the hunter fell. The doctor's companions rushed to the rescue and grabbed the furry creature. They tried to speak English, French, German and Dutch, but in response the savage only growled and tried to bite people. They tied him up and only then did they enter the cave.
To the greatest surprise, they discovered a thick notebook-diary, which this man-beast had kept for a number of years. From the manuscript it turned out that the stone dwelling was inhabited by Dr. James Karol, who 25 years ago killed his wife out of jealousy and ran away out of despair and fear to an unknown destination. In his diary, he wrote about his experiences in the wilderness, surrounded by dangerous beasts and poisonous animals. Over time, the fugitive turned into a beast. Karol was placed in a sanatorium near Sydney. His further fate is unknown.
Yes, not everyone who found themselves cut off from people managed to remain human. After all, man is a social being, and the most terrible punishment for him is the oppressive fear of Loneliness.
Disappointing experience
In 1962, French radio reporter Georges de Caunes decided to experience first-hand what it was like for Robinson Crusoe on a desert island. For his experiment, he chose the deserted island of Henao in Polynesia, which had once served as a place of exile for convicts, and decided to live on it in complete solitude for a year. The reporter took with him a large supply of canned food, medicines, tools, as well as a radio transmitter, which he could use for 5 minutes every day.
The experience ended badly. After a 4-month stay on the island, having lost 15 kg in weight, he was taken to a hospital in the Marquesas Islands. De Con admitted that he could not stand the loneliness and gave up in front of mosquitoes and sharks, which did not allow him to fish.
Robinsons against their will
But under what circumstances did 44-year-old civil aviation pilot Henri Bourdin and his wife Jose begin their Robinsonade. At the end of 1966, they set off on a months-long journey on their yacht, Singa Betina, from Singapore to their homeland. The storm that broke out severely damaged the fragile boat of the sailors, knocked it off course, and after many weeks of drifting, the broken yacht was brought to the shores of the small Bathurst Island, 5D miles north of the Australian port of Darwin.
The travelers were so confident that they would be quickly discovered that they did not bother with worrying about storing food for a long time. They carried only a little rice, flour and canned food from the yacht. But days and weeks passed, and the Bourdains realized that they were isolated.
When food supplies ran out, the couple began to eat crabs, lizards, and snails. “The island was swarming with poisonous snakes,” said Jose. “I was so afraid that they would bite us.” We listened to music - we had a portable radio and a transistor tape recorder, which survived on the yacht. Bach and Mozart were our true friends. They kept us sane." Two long months passed, but the worst was ahead.
“My husband made a raft from the wreckage of a yacht. We decided to get to the mainland...” However, the wood from which it was built quickly swelled and lost its buoyancy. Alone among the endless water desert, without food - only a pot of fresh water - slowly, very slowly, they began to drown. It is unclear how miraculously the tree that had absorbed the moisture could still withstand their weight. The endless hours passed like this. It seemed to people that death itself had turned away from them. The couple still had some remnants of strength, they stood waist-deep in the water, and the raft slowly moved across the ocean...
It was the fourth day. Jose and Henri were still alive. The celestial body was approaching sunset, a little more and it would go beyond the horizon. “I raised my head,” the woman continued, “and saw a ship... Mirage? Hallucination? No! It seems that it noticed us too, I screamed. My husband had the strength to light a smoke bomb - I don’t know how he managed to keep it dry.” The unfortunates were rescued by an Australian patrol boat.
In 1974, four shipwrecked young adventurers were stranded for 42 days. coral reef in the Tasman Sea. Only when the seventh week of their “imprisonment” began did the fishing trawler manage to break through the storm and take on board people completely exhausted by thirst and hunger.
Frivolous travelers braved the elements of the sea by sailing on a small yacht from the New Zealand city of Auckland to the Australian port of Sydney. They had to overcome 1280 miles. As experts from the sea rescue center in Canberra later stated, this was one of the most unprepared trips. The ocean, however, accepted a daring challenge: 350 miles from the east coast of Australia, the treacherous Middleton Reef awaited the yacht...
This underwater shoal, completely hidden under water during high waves, has gained the sad fame of a ship graveyard. Among its victims were a cargo ship with a displacement of 13.5 thousand tons and a fishing schooner, in the wreckage of which the unfortunate Robinsons took refuge from the scorching rays of the sun, wind and rain.
In the same year, members of the crew of an American warship, having landed on the Polynesian island of Anto-rage in the Cook Archipelago, which was listed as uninhabited in the sailing directions, discovered there... a Robinson. It turned out to be New Zealander Tom Neil. He said that he had been living on this piece of land for two years, having become disillusioned with the “delights of a capitalist society of equal opportunities.”
On the island he raised chickens, pigs and pigeons. Neil had only his faithful dog with him. The hermit responded with a categorical refusal to the offer to return home. And when the sailors offered him American newspapers and magazines, he said: “Your world doesn’t interest me!” The path of voluntary solitude he chose continues to this day.
Concluding the story, one cannot help but dwell on the amazing fate of another modern Robinson - the 14-year-old boy Sasha Barash, who lived with his father in the village of one of the Soviet oceanographic stations in Primorye.
In 1977, while sailing on the Burun research boat, he was washed overboard. The boy swam to an uninhabited island. All the victim’s wealth consisted of: the clothes he was wearing, a penknife, two large safety pins, a pencil stub, a two-meter piece of nylon cord and sneakers. He ate seagull eggs, mussels, and edible wild plants. A little over a month later, the boy was rescued by Soviet border guards.
After his safe return, in a conversation with a correspondent of the newspaper Pacific Komsomolets, the young Robinson said: “One evening, for the umpteenth time, I remembered the islands described in the books of Jules Verne and Defoe. I suddenly felt funny. How inventive these writers were! None of the methods (of survival) described in " Mysterious island" and "Robinson Crusoe", was never useful to me."
And indeed, as we see, each Robinson found his own way to survive, each followed his own path to salvation.
The Real Robinson Crusoe - Alexander Selkirk
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.
Traveler Daniel Foss
Lived on a desert island: 5 years
At the end of the 18th century, Foss traveled on the ship Negociant 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.
He was only 14 years old then. 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.
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 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. He was only 14 years old then. 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 seas. The team lived in the Arctic ice 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.
The fictional hero of Daniel Defoe's novel spent 28 years on a desert island. This record was broken in real life.
World map with marked points where the Robinsons were
1. 1515, Portuguese, 30 years old
In 2000, historian Fernanda Durao Ferreira discovered references in 16th-century chronicles to Fernao Lopes, a soldier in the Portuguese colonial contingent in India. He defected to the enemy during the siege of Goa and allegedly converted to Islam. When the Portuguese caught the defector, they cut off his right hand, ears, nose and landed him on the island of St. Helena - after 300 years Napoleon Bonaparte would end his life there.
Like the literary Robinson, Fernao had his own Friday - a Javanese survivor of a shipwreck. Instead of a parrot there is a trained rooster.
Ships occasionally landed on the shores of St. Helena to replenish fresh water supplies. The sailors knew about the hermit and considered him a saint. Realizing his ugliness, Fernand did not want to leave the island. He was persuaded to board the ship only after 10 years. The soldier received a pardon from the King of Portugal and an indulgence from the Pope, but chose to return to the island and lived there for another 20 years.
Liberation from punishment for sins.
Admiral di Albuquerque recaptured Goa from Adil Shah, founder of the Bijapur Sultanate, in 1510. The former owners made several attempts to return it.
View of Saint Helena from space. Photo: NASA
2. 1540, Spaniard, 10 years old
Sailor Pedro Serrano was the only survivor of the sinking of a Spanish galleon off the coast of Peru. The island was unlucky: only 8 kilometers long, with a minimum of vegetation and no sources of fresh water. But there were a lot of turtles on it.
Pedro made fire by hitting stones, burning seaweed and pieces of wood washed ashore. The turtles provided food, their shells served as bowls for collecting rainwater and made it possible to make a canopy from the sun.
Three years later, another sailor sailed to the island, also a victim of the crash. They lived together with Serrano for 7 years, until the smoke of their fire was noticed by a passing sailboat.
Aerial view of Serrano Bank Island, where Pedro Serrano lived for 10 years. Source: militar.org.ua
During the wars of that time, private shipowners received official permission to plunder enemy merchant ships. These were called privateers. At the beginning of the 18th century, the War of the Spanish Succession took place. The famous English navigator (who was the first to circumnavigate 3 times around the world) William Dampier equipped two ships for the expedition. One of them was Cinque Ports.
3. 1704, Scotsman, 4 years old
The navigator of the galley “Cinque Ports” (“Five Ports”), Alexander Selkirk, had a difficult character even by the standards of privateers. The captain got rid of him while staying on the island of Mas a Tierra off the coast of Chile, leaving him on the shore with a musket, a blanket, an ax, a knife and a telescope.
After the discoverers of Mas a Tierra, feral goats remained there. They became a source of milk and meat for Selkirk. The sailor built a hut from trunks and leaves and learned how to make fire. He often saw sails on the horizon, but these were the Spaniards, from whom the British pirate could not ask for help. His compatriots rescued him after 4 years and 4 months - they were again privateers led by William Dampier. The ship's commander was impressed by Selkirk's physical fitness and peace of mind:
“We have seen that loneliness and separation from the world are not as painful as people believe, especially if the person in this situation had no other choice, just as this person did not.”
The rescued man continued to sail with the pirate crews. The island of Mas a Tierra is now named after Robinson Crusoe - according to one version, the story of the Scot formed the basis of the novel by Daniel Defoe. In 2007, archaeologists found the remains of Selkirk's hut and his navigational instruments on the island.
Selkirk awaits rescue, sculpture by Thomas Stewart Burnett. Photo: Herbert A. French/Library of Congress
4. 1742, Russians, 6 years old
A fishing vessel with a crew of 14 people was locked in ice near one of the islands of eastern Spitsbergen. The sailors sent four people ashore to find a wooden hut left over from previous wintering quarters. The scouts found her and stayed overnight, but in the morning they did not find the ship, which was carried away and broken by the waves. Thus began the misadventure of Alexei Khimkov and his comrades.
The sailors made spears and bows, caught fish, ate half-raw meat of fur-bearing animals - in the Arctic there was a tight supply of wood, and driftwood thrown out by the waves was used to heat the hut. One sailor died of scurvy, three were picked up by a merchant ship. They returned home wealthy people, because they brought about 200 skins of hunted bears, deer and arctic foxes.
A disease caused by acute deficiency of vitamin C.
Spitsbergen Archipelago. Photo: ashokboghani/Flickr
5. 174?, Dutch, 6 months
In 1748, the crew of an English ship discovered human remains and a diary with the history of a Dutch sailor on Ascension Island in the Atlantic. Leendert Hasenbosch was the ship's purser. He was accused of homosexuality and sentenced to marooning, given various equipment, a Bible, a gun without gunpowder, a tent and writing materials.
The Dutchman knocked down birds with stones, ate turtles, and went to the other end of the island for fresh water. The diary tells of desperate daily attempts to get food. Six months later, the water source dried up, the prisoner drank the blood of birds and turtles, then urine, then died of thirst. A permanent settlement was established at Ascension only in the 19th century.
Punishment by landing on desert island.
Ascension Island in the Atlantic. Photo: Drew Avery/Flickr
6. 1805, Russian, 7 years old
Yakov Minkov was a hunter on a fishing vessel. He was landed on Bering Island near Kamchatka for fur harvesting and was promised to be picked up in two months. But the ship did not return. Yakov ate fish and animal meat, built a yurt, and sewed clothes from the skins of fur seals and arctic foxes. In 1812, it was taken by a passing schooner.
Steller Arch on Bering Island. Photo: Chuyan Galina Nikolaevna / CC BY-SA 4.0
7. 1809, American, 5 years old
When the brig Negotiant collided with an iceberg in the South Pacific, 21 crew members managed to get into a lifeboat. For a month and a half, the boat was carried along the waves, people died.
Only sailor Daniel Foss made it to land. A rocky piece of land inhabited by seals became his home. Robinson ate their meat and made clothes from their skins. Collected from cavities in stones fresh water. Five years later, the man was spotted from a passing ship. Because of the shoals, the ship could not land, and Foss got to it by swimming.
Seal rookery. Photo: Judith Slein/Flickr
8. 1835, Indian, 18 years old
St. Nicholas Island off the coast of California was inhabited by Indians. By 1835, there were about two dozen of them left, and the Catholic mission decided to take the survivors to mainland. In a hurry due to a storm, one woman was forgotten on the island.
Only 18 years later, fur hunters found the lost one; she was in good health. The islander lived in a hut made of whale bones, wore clothes made of seal skin and seagull feathers, and wove baskets from bushes and seaweed. She could not communicate with anyone - the tribe died out, and no one understood her language. The woman was named Juana Maria. Two months later she died of dysentery.
Possible photograph of Juana Maria. Photo: Edwin J. Hayward and Henry W. Muzzall/Southwest Museum of the American Indian
9. 1921, Eskimo, 2 years old
Ada Blackjack joined a Canadian Arctic expedition as a cook and seamstress to earn money and cure her son, who had tuberculosis. Five polar explorers reached Wrangel Island and stayed for the winter. But supplies quickly depleted, and the hunt was unsuccessful. Three members of the expedition decided to return. Ada remained in the hut with the seriously ill Lorne Knight and the cat Vitz. The departed companions disappeared along the way, and Knight died soon after.
The woman learned to survive in extreme cold, and a year and a half later a rescue expedition stumbled upon her. Ada took the skins of the hunted animals home, sold them at a profit, and cured her son. The fate of the cat is unknown.