In Search Of History - The Real Robinson Crusoe (History Channel Documentary)

comes alive the History Channel stories from the pages of time stories of triumph and tragedy adventure and achievement as we go in search of history [Music] October 17:04 Alexander Selkirk is marooned upon the island of one fernandes off the coast of Chile armed with little more than a small sea chest of supplies he must now face the dangers of the uninhabited Isle alone Selkirk's adventures would become the basis for one of the most memorable characters in literature [Music] as we go in search of history we examine the amazing story of the real Robinson Crusoe in April of 1719 the coffee houses and pubs of London were abuzz with talk of novelist Daniel Defoe's newest work the life and strange surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe the groundbreaking novel introduced the world to life as a castaway on an exotic desert island the hero of Defoe's epic tale was Robinson Crusoe a man marooned on an island for 34 years Robinson Crusoe and his adventures were fictional but rumors abounded that they were based on a very real person who had himself survived the rigors of life alone on an uninhabited island hundreds of miles from civilization who was this man that inspired Daniel Defoe to create a literary masterpiece his name was Alexander Selkirk the fishing village of Largo lies in County Fife along the rugged shores of Scotland's eastern coast it was there in 1676 that Alexander Selkirk was born the seventh son of John and you fan Selkirk Alexander grew up with high expectations placed upon him Selkirk being a seventh son and apparently his father was a seventh son as well and this made him somewhat special [Music] his mother was determined that the seventh son which is a tradition in Scotland would be one that would succeed one would eventually become famous she didn't know what was in store but she knew he would be different in some way and he proved to be different during his childhood it appeared unlikely that Alexander would achieve greatness of any kind in school he was considered a bright but unruly pupil and was known to be quite high-spirited the restless Alexander longed for adventure and rebelled against the constraints placed on him in Largo in the late 17th century the surest means of escape from the drudgery of a quiet village life was to go to sea Sir Francis Drake the original English privateer had proved that beyond the sullen skies and dark waters of the British Isles lay exotic mysterious lands and untold riches Francis Drake captured a treasure galleon and it had on board 26 tons of silver and the I think the overall value of something like 68 million pounds it caused a sensation I mean a ship arriving from having traveled all around the world with this piles and piles of of silver and gold on board made a big impression and certainly influenced an other seamen by the time Alexander reached the age of 18 he was convinced that a staid life in Largo could never fulfill his dreams of adventure he was brought up and all the famous stories of people who had gone before him you can imagine his story's been handed down and Selkirk healing them and it also heard that there was a lot of money to be made on privateering ships more often the life of a merchant sailor in the late 17th century was a harsh one being on a ship in those days was very tough they were at the mercy of storms and scurvy which many people suffer from them because he didn't have that lime juice and all that sort of thing and they could fall out of the rigging and so they frequently got injured there was no attraction really apart I suppose from wanting to see the world [Music] Alexander Selkirk set out for London and life aboard a merchant ship despite his high spirited ways Alexander adjusted well to the rigors of life at Smee [Music] little is known of his first six years on the ocean except that he rose from a mere deckhand to the rank of officer the proclivity Alexander had shown from mathematics as a child made him an excellent navigator on the open sea Alexander returned home to Largo in 1701 once again his hot temper drew the ire of village elders his transgression a fight with two of his brothers over a practical joke they played upon him the Kirk session record of the fight was dated November 29th 1701 Alexander Selkirk scandalous for contention and disagreeing with his brothers and be in question concerning the tomb Oh that was in his house he confessed that having taken a drink of salt water his brother and who laughing at him for it he did beat twice with a staff the following day on November 30th 1701 Alexander publicly apologized for the outburst against his brothers it was to be the last time his name appeared in the Kirk session minutes he abruptly left Largo once again for the only place he felt truly at home the sea by 1701 the roar of ships cannons was a familiar sound as the war of the Spanish Succession broke out on the Atlantic Ocean England under the rule of Queen Anne was now at war with France and Spain louis xiv had tremendous ambitions for for france and he was perpetually rampaging across europe England and Holland at a critical point in 1702 just got fed up with his ambitions for overseas and the fact that he was extending his influence across Spain as well and so a war began which lasted really for the whole of Queen Anne's reign in an effort to bolster the forces of the Royal Navy Queen Anne offered seamen letters of marque which entitled them to raid enemy ships in the name of the crown known as privateers these men were entitled to four-fifths of any treasure or loop they captured during their raids with the remaining fifth going to England's war chest [Music] privateering was basically legalized piracy yet it was seen as patriotic since it was done in the Queen's service attacking the Swift merchant fleets of Spain and France was a deadly business but the potential for wealth and riches was virtually limitless this opportunity attracted some of the top mariners in England among them was Captain William Dampier he sailed around the world three times he visited almost every country you can think of including Australia but in a way the most interesting thing about Gambia is his writings he was a natural writer he had a tremendous curiosity about everything about him his books were tremendously valued by travelers because he talked about the countries he visited he talked about how you got to them about navigational problems so he was an explorer Dampier was in London readying two ships the st. George and the Cinque Ports for a privateering expedition to Buenos Aires upon arrival in the Spanish controlled Pacific then known as the South Seas Dampier expected to capture treasure galleons which he believed would yield 600,000 pounds worth of loot each Alexander Selkirk was certain Dampier would lead his men to adventure and riches he signed on with the expedition and was made sailing master of the Cinque Ports under the command of Captain Charles Pickering the two ships departed for the Pacific on April 30th 1703 the ships had only been at sea for a few months when Dampier revealed a surprising weakness he was a terrible leader morale on board the st. George and Cinque Ports quickly eroded when Dampier secretly marooned an insubordinate officer at a Portuguese penal colony in the ensuing months several more sailors were marooned at their own request on board the Cinque Ports captain Pickering who was well liked by his crew died suddenly of a tropical fever and was replaced by lieutenant Thomas straddling Stradling was a man that was very disagreeable to get along with he had a bad temper and he got into frequent arguments with Selkirk over how to run the ship how to run those navigation he also is frequently in great odds with the crew on board the ship adding to Alexander's worries was the poor condition of the Cinque Ports worms had eaten holes through the planks and seams and the leaks on the ship drew worse each day the leaky ship and ongoing discord with lieutenant straddling proved to be among the least of Alexander's concerns for on the very night that captain Pickering died in October 1703 Alexander had a premonition of death and disaster it would be needs on his mind that the ship was neatly and he'd be worried that the ship wasn't safe he seemed to have a dream really saw the ship foundering and sailors being drowned [Music] [Music] following his vision Alexandre secretly promised himself that at the next available opportunity he would abandon ship having already been at sea for six months the shaken scotsman only hoped he would live long enough to escape for the Cinque Ports and st. George were rapidly approaching Cape Horn the most storm ridden stretch of Ocean January 17 Oh for the privateering expedition led by captain william dampier had reached the dangerous waters of Cape Horn true to their reputation the Cape storms battered amperes two ships the st. George & Seek ports for four days straight it appeared that Alexander Selkirk spre monition of destruction was coming to pass the way that was so dreadful that listen George captain Dampier ship got separated from sank ports with the result but seamen all thought that sank ports had gone under and all the men drowned and what a surprise they got ten days later when the phone that the sight ports were still here that just got separated they were reunited at the remote island of won Fernandez 400 miles off the coast of Chile everybody knew 1 Fernandez island because it was a watering hole for ships in the Pacific everybody that wanted to give water and fresh supplies went to one Fernandez island and stayed there as long as they could to resupply get the crew that was on board healthy again the crews of both ships enjoyed the tropical climate and meals of wild goat and sea lions yet trouble was brewing the mutinous seed sown under the poor leadership of Dampier and lieutenant straddling came to fruition Alexander Selkirk and 42 sailors from the Cinque Ports went ashore and refused to work under the irascible lieutenant straddling straddling was desperate to get on and I think he was just purely for the money and he took no notice of what sail kept trying to tell him that the ship was leaking Dampier interceded and convinced the disgruntled sailors to come back aboard and the expedition left 1 Fernandez to resume the hunt for Spanish and French merchant vessels [Music] in the ensuing months the st. George was soundly routed by a 30 gun French merchant ship to make matters worse forces led by Dampier and straddling botched a raid on the Panamanian mining town of Santa Maria and were forced to beat a hasty retreat tensions between Dampier and straddling escalated to the point that they acrimoniously agreed to part ways after almost a year of sailing together now on his own straddling decided to make sail for Juan Fernandez where the Cinque Ports could replenish her dwindling provisions way that most of the year was quite mailed it was never too hot never too cold and there was a lot of fish to be had wild goats you know you could get the meats of the whale goats it was a Spaniard called Juan Fernandez five hundred years ago that had come on the island and he had brought wild goats certain that one Fernandez would make a comfortable resting place until he was picked up by another ship Alexander approached a lieutenant straddling after the Cinque Ports dropped anchor in Cumberland Bay in October of 1704 I waited until the opening of October when captain Stradling spoke of sailing to acquaint him with my intention to go immediately on shore with all my effects I was half afraid he would order me restrained by force I found him as glad to be rid of me as I was of him but one matter we had in common being our mutual dislike once he had gathered his belongings little more than a sea chest of supplies a musket and a Bible Alexander was rode to one Fernandez by a long boat as the rowing boat that puts him ashore rose back to the ship Alexander Selkirk suddenly has a complete change of mind and thinks oh my god what am i down and he starts running up and down screeching at the ship and straddling he was obviously not a nice fellow decides well you know you've made your bed and you can lie on it so he leaves in there Alexander Selkirk was now utterly alone when he got ashore he really was in a terrible state of mind actually he contemplated suicide several times but the first thing he did was to find try to find a place to live he found a cave which was close to the beach and he decided that was cave was going to be his home mired in a deep depression Alexander spent the first few weeks on one fernandes forlornly wandering the beach in hopes of spotting a passing ship during that time he subsisted on a meager diet of shellfish he plucked from the surf in the evenings Alexander returned to the shelter of his nearby cave scarcely a night went by that he wasn't tormented by the strange and terrifying sounds of Juan Fernandez Island one particular evening Alexander was awakened by something he later described as dreadful howlings and voices that seemed too terrible to be made for human years the sounds continued unabated throughout the night but Alexander dared not investigate until daylight when he did venture outside his cave the sight he encountered was truly amazing the shore of Cumberland Bay was black with hundreds and hundreds of migrating sea lions Alexander was cut off from his main source of food the ocean initially bewildered by this turn of events Alexander was shaken from his melancholia he would now have to move inland and search for new sources of food and shelter he discovered if the island was overrun by goats by feral goats also was overrun by feral cats and wild rats he also discovered that the Pirates and the Buccaneers and their privateers had planted gardens and fortunately for him there was a plentiful water supply to day by day Alexander grew bolder and ventured further into the islands interior by May of 1705 he decided to build a home in the shelter of the densely wooded valley he hoped this secluded location would protect him should the dreaded Spanish come to the island I chose to risk dying alone on the island rather than fall into the hands of the Spaniards in these parts because I pretended they would murder me or make a slave of me but I feared they would spare no stranger that had proved capable of discovering their South Sea his spirits lifted by his new surroundings Alexander built two Hut's of sandalwood and pampas grass one of the dwellings was used as a kitchen while the other served as his home and Chapel he read the Bible aloud on a daily basis in order to maintain his ability to speak Alexander was equally diligent in his watch for passing ships he climbed up to a point of the middle of the island where there was a flat spot and he carried a lot of firewood up there and he built fires every night he'd build a fire and this fire would burn all night long and sometimes during the day he figured the ship came into the harbor eventually they'd see the fire and come ashore to investigate and see who was there and why were they were there Alexander soon acquainted himself with his neighbors on the island the island of Quan Fernandez was absolutely swarming with cats and rats and the first few nights he went to sleep he found the rats actually gnawing his toes and eating his clothes so what he did he tamed the cats and encouraged the cats to sleep around him and apparently there were hundreds of them so he was surrounded by cats who cos kept the rats at bay realizing he would need food milk and clothing Alexander learned to run down the wild goats that lived on the island on one particular occasion he narrowly escaped death when a goat he was chasing ran off a cliff Alexander followed but miraculously survived when his fall was broken by the gold during his stay on the island Alexander's appearance had grown quite barbarous he dressed in goat skins from head to toe but his fiery spirit had at last found peace I was a better Christian while in solitude than ever I was before all I am afraid ever was again and once reconciled to my disengagement from the world my being under a constant cheerful sky became as joyful as it had in the months before been irksome unlike the fictional Robinson Crusoe who had the companionship of Friday Alexander had no one to combat his loneliness he turned to his animal friends he thought well I'll teach these cats and the goats how to dance he's singer Denny and he danced around with the goats and the cats [Music] I think the idea of considering goats as almost people I I suspect that he almost could remember dancing with girls back in Scotland Alexander and his beloved animals shared the tropical breezes and quiet tranquility of Juan Fernandez Island for three years [Music] they're dreamlike existence was brought to an abrupt halt when Alexander spotted the masts of two ships anchored in Cumberland Bay South got run down to seashore and realized it was a Spanish ship it was too late the Spaniard saw him however when I went to chase him he thought outrun them and climbed up a tree the Spaniard was actually having a pier a pest wherever the call at nowadays they would actually do now the bottom of the tree and self-care atop the tree keeping quiet Alexander watched anxiously as the Spaniard circled the tree in which he was hiding they'd only stopped to make water they never once looked up but citing several goats just by killed them and being thus distracted and off again without ever discovering me at the same time Alexander Selkirk was hiding from Spanish sailors on Juan Fernandez a new privateering expedition was being outfitted thousands of miles away in Bristol England two ships the Duke and Duchess were being readied for a trip to the Pacific Ocean or the Spanish lake as it was also known [Music] this voyage to the Pacific would be much different than the one upon which Alexander Selkirk had embarked four years of earlier the man in charge was captain woods Rogers an expert Mariner and natural leader woods Rogers was a very different sort of person from Dampier he proved rather like Drake an absolutely brilliant commander he overcame endless mutinies he had a natural knack of cutting off trouble before it became a trouble a syndicate of Bristol businessmen was eager to back the expedition once they learned of Rogers plans the Duke and Duchess would round Cape Horn and head up the coast of South America from there they would raid coastal towns and eventually go after the richest prizes upon the seven seas the coveted Manila galleon the Manila galleons were famous treasure ships that had acquired a sort of aura about them there was simply huge Spanish ships that went out from Mexico out to the Orient as it was then called and they picked up treasure in the form not a bunch of gold but precious stones silks spices that sort of thing which cross noses worth a huge amount of money the Duke and Duchess made sail for the Pacific on August 2nd 17:08 the head of their leg mutinies storm-tossed seas disease and a chance encounter with a wild man on tiny juan fernandez island christmas 1708 the privateering expedition led by captain woods Rogers had been at sea for five months thus far Rogers had successfully quelled a mutiny and had kept his men in good health but his toughest challenge was yet to come as just after the new year the ships approached the stormy seas off Cape Horn almost immediately the vessels were set upon by gale force winds which drove them much further south than they had planned nearing the Antarctic Peninsula temperatures dropped below freezing complicating matters further Rogers supply of lemons had run out and nine of his crew had succumbed to scurvy despite this horrible turn of events the expedition rounded Cape Horn and reached the Pacific in mid-january Rogers knew the expedition was dangerously low on provisions On January 26th 17:09 he wrote of his plans to gather meat and vegetables at the remote island of won Fernandez we're very uncertain of the latitude and longitude of one Fernandez island the books laying it down so differently that not one chart agrees with another and being such a small island we're in some doubts about striking it with a beard now down to his waist Alexander Selkirk had been alone on Juan Fernandez Island for almost four and a half years though he'd all but resigned himself to spending the rest of his life on the island he continued to light signal fires every evening an everyday cell cat would do all these little jobs that have to do and feed himself and everything but he spent the rest of the day up there looking out for a friend a passing ship on the afternoon of February 1st 17:09 Alexander sat perched atop his lookout with little expectation of seeing anything different from what he'd seen for the past four years he was shocked when he spotted the sails of two ships on the horizon fearful the vessels would pass out of sight without seeing him Alexander rushed to the beach and lit signal fires not caring who the ships belong to the ships were the Duke and Duchess under the command of captain woods Rogers they saw a fire on the beach and they thought it must be it was either French or Spanish anyway enemy ships at anchor and so he ordered the ship to be cleared for action and he sent an armed rowing boat ashore when the sailors reached one Fernandes island they were stunned by the sight that greeted them a bearded wild man clad in animal skins from head to toe the men rode back to their ship with Alexander Selkirk Captain Rogers wrote of his first meeting with a Wildman of Juan Fernandez Island immediately our pinnace returned from the shore and bought an abundance of crawfish with a man clothed in goat skins who looked wilder than the first owners of them he had been on the island for four years and four months being left there by Captain straddling in the ships ink ports his name was Alexander Selkirk he had so much forgot his language for want of use that we could scarce understand him for he seemed to speak his words by Harv's whose speech was all broken up because he wasn't used to speaking continuously and it apparently took him several days to get used to speaking again so even though he must have spoken to the goats it obviously wasn't very very effective Alexander was shocked to find that Captain Rogers navigator was none other than William Dampier the leader of the ill-fated voyage that had left him marooned on one fernandes island but Dampier vouched for Alexander's skills as sailor and navigator Captain Rogers took the recommendation to heart and made Alexander a mate aboard the Duke for the next 11 days the Duke and Duchess were repaired and their crew members many suffering from scurvy regained their strength meanwhile captain Rogers and his men were amazed at Alexander's stealth and agility we had a bulldog which we sent with several of our Nimbus runners to help him catch goats but he distanced and tired both the dog and men catched the goats and brought him to us on his back On February 12th 17:09 Alexander Selkirk said goodbye to the island that had been his home for over four years there was little time for melancholy however as he got caught up in the task at hand the hunt for Manila galleon unit you captured him in illa galleon in you were a millionaire for life but they were not easy to capture they were very very heavily armed and only three or four were ever in fact attacked successfully in capture during their first three months at sea captain Rogers and his men captured several smaller vessels including the asunción a 16-ton trader the asan seolin's captain had interesting news for Alexander Selkirk his foreboding premonition of the Cinque Ports destruction had come to pass she went down off the coast of Columbia all hands were lost except for Captain straddling and six of his crew over the next seven months the expedition looted several French and Spanish ships and raided the Ecuadorian town of Gaea keel in his journal Captain Rogers commanded Alexander Selkirk for his actions during the raid in which he had to relieve several women of their valuables a boat was also sent higher up the river in quest of treasure there above a dozen handsome genteel young women well-dressed and their hair tied with ribbons very neatly from whom the men got several gold chains and coins but were otherwise so civil to them that the ladies offered to dress them Vittel and brought him a cask of good liquor this I mention as proof of our sailors modesty and out of respect to mr. colony and mr. Selkirk the late governor of one Fernandes following the raid of Gaia keel the expedition headed north december 1709 found Captain Rogers Alexander Selkirk and their small Armada of ships off the coast of Baja California the known route of the famed Manila galleons for three weeks they waited anxiously scanning the horizon on December 21st they spotted a large ship in the distance [Music] the ship was the 500 ton nuestra senora de la encarnación descent on a Manila galleon the Duke and Duchess gave chase and soon caught up with her and opened fire Rogers superior seamanship overwhelmed the Spanish vessel and she struck her colors after only an hour and a half the victory was costly as Captain Rogers had been shot in the face shattering his jaw despite his grave injury he remained in command and made Alexander Selkirk master of their newest prize after many months of hardship Woodes Rogers privateering expedition returned home to London on October 14th 17:11 tremendous crowds of people gathered at the docks to gaze in awe at the 500 tonne Manila galleon that voyage of his came back rather like Francis Drake's with the ship absolutely laden with tons and tons of gold and treasure and it made a sensation of course when he arrived Bank Woods rogers voyage around the world garnered an amazing 170 thousand pounds roughly 23 million dollars of current value Alexander Selkirk share was eight hundred pounds nearly 100 thousand dollars today the high-spirited Scotsman from Largo had finally attained the riches he had dreamed about as a young boy Alexander's joy was to be short-lived for he would now have to adjust to an existence even more strange than that of his early days on on Fernandez Island the life of a celebrity in 18th century London following his historic trip around the world with captain woods Rogers Alexander Selkirk returned to London he had been away for nine years not surprisingly the sights and sounds of the city were strange to him nevertheless Alexander found himself much in demand in London's many coffee houses and pubs he was written up by the newspaper people and then of course he was entertained and some of the very finest homes in London and people were interested in this creature who had lived marooned for four years and four months so that it was just to them almost like a wild man ironically the more his celebrity grew the more uncomfortable Alexander became famed essayist Sir Richard Steele interviewed the former monarch of juan fernandez island in 1711 there was a strong but cheerful seriousness in his look and a certain disregard of the ordinary things about him as if he had been sunk in thought the man frequently bewailed his returns of the world which could not and he said restore him to the tranquility of his island solitude it was Steele's account of Selkirk in it came out in a journal called Englishmen which was a fairly popular journal would have read been read by everybody in London certainly which would have made Selkirk famous and made the story famous that made the story of a castaway seaman something that later Defoe was to use as the basis for Robinson Crusoe [Music] life among the masses had a horrible effect on Alexander he began drinking and reverted back to his quick-tempered old self after a run-in with authorities in Bristol for fighting he returned home to Largo hoping to find peace of mind arrived in Sunday morning and he went to the door of his father mother's house and it was nobody in and he remembered it was Sunday the Sabbath day so he went up to the church and there he stood in the church drooled when he was dressed in fine clothes and his father mother and his brothers hadn't seen in three years and they all thought it was dead so I just stood at the door and the congregation people all turn round and looked at him and nobody recognized him at first then his old mother suddenly recognized him and she ran across to welcome him the family was overjoyed to see him and very impressed with the fact that he was dressed like a gentleman they looked at him with a considerable amount of respect because they recognize this as a man who tells something it at least achieved was his mother's hope for the seventh son had had a fine uniform fine clothing and he had money but it didn't fit into Selkirk's plan of living at all he didn't realize how happy he'd been in Ireland until he left it and regretted it and so he left in Largo for some time a few months but he never settled and there's a lovely beauty spot and it's very rugged and it's just like what his Island was only it's much smaller and every day he would draw out there and just sit alone and he would sit there and you know maybe think about his beloved a land is a corner [Music] the call of the sea proved too much for Alexander he enlisted in the Royal Navy and served there for several years in 1720 he was appointed master mate of a ship assigned to intercept pirates and slave traders on West Africa's Gold Coast [Music] he died on board of a tropical fever on December 13th 1721 the ship's log simply reads Alexander Selkirk died during Alexander Selkirk slash years at sea novelist Daniel Defoe was hard at work on his own castaway story Robinson Crusoe he used the elements of a Selkirk story and maybe Arthur marooning stories it's basically a great work of imagination based on a true incident it's no surprise really that it becomes a best-seller because it's a gripping story about a subject that everybody finds fascinating there are many English professors who maintain and I see no reason to doubt this that the story of Robinson Crusoe is the first great novel the strongest parallel between Alexander Selkirk and Robinson Crusoe was the theme of a man coming to peace with himself far away from the complicated trappings of civilization Woodes Rogers echoed this belief while describing Alexander Selkirk in his own best-selling work a cruising voyage around the world solitude and retirement from the world is not such an insufferable state of life as most men imagine especially when people are fairly cold or thrown into it unavoidably as this man was we may perceive also by his story the truth of the maxim that necessity is the mother of invention since he found means to supply his wants in a very natural manner so as to maintain life they're not so conveniently yet as effectually as we are able to do with help of all our arts and society for Alexander Selkirk the voyage to self-discovery was more precious than Spanish treasure a valuable lesson we can only learn when we go in search of history [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Peter David Documentaries

Views: 461,573

Rating: 4.739666 out of 5

Keywords: History Channel Documentary, Alexander Selkirk, Daniel Defoe, Juan Fernández Islands, Castaways, History's Mysteries

Id: twJ_RW4Yq7M

Length: 42min 28sec (2548 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 15 2019