![]() ![]() Alone, save for two cats and a dog, he builds a small shelter, adopts a parrot, grows crops, makes a calendar, and prays to God. Inspired by Selkirk’s experiences, the novel tells the story of a man who spends 28 years marooned on a tropical island off Venezuela and Trinidad’s coasts. Among many other accomplishments, it is considered one of the first examples of the English novel. Ten years later, Defoe published what was to become his masterpiece: The Life and Strange Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. ![]() ![]() On his return to England, Selkirk’s story became celebrated, eventually reaching the writer Daniel Defoe. On this day, after four years of isolation on a Pacific island off the coast of Chile, he was rescued by the Duke, an English privateering ship. If asked what had been the luckiest day of his life, Scottish privateer Alexander Selkirk would probably have said February 2nd, 1709. ![]()
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