398 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



double the usual number of officers, in order to prevent the 

 mutinies so common in privateers. 



Nothing of moment occurred till the vessels anchored at Isola 

 Grande, off the coast of Brazil. Here two men deserted, but 

 were so frightened in the night by tigers, as they supposed, but 

 in reality by monkeys and baboons, that they took refuge in the 

 sea and shouted till they were taken on board. The two ships 

 passed through Lemaire's Strait and doubled Cape Horn, and, on 

 the 31st of January, 1709, made the island of Juan Fernandez. 

 During the night a light was observed on shore, and Captain 

 Rogers made up his mind that a French fleet was riding at 

 anchor, and ordered the decks to be cleared for action. At day- 

 light the vessels stood in towards the land; but no French fleet — 

 not even a single sail — was to be seen. A yawl was sent forward 

 to reconnoitre. As it drew near, a man was seen upon the shore 

 waving a white flag ; and, on its nearer approach, he directed 

 the sailors, in the English language, to a spot where they could 

 best effect a landing. He was clad in goat-skins, and appeared 

 more wild and ragged than the original owners of his apparel. 

 His name has long been known throughout the inhabited world, 

 and his story is familiar in every language. We need hardly 

 say that his name was Alexander Selkirk, and that his adven- 

 tures furnished the basis of the romance of Robinson Crusoe. 



Alexander Selkirk was a Scotchman, and had been left upon 

 the island by Captain Stradling, of the Cinqueports, four years 

 and four months before. During his stay he had seen several 

 ships pass by, but only two came to anchor at the island. They 

 were Spaniards, and fired at him ; but he escaped into the woods 0 

 He said he would have surrendered to them had they been 

 French; but he chose to run the risk of dying alone upon the 

 island rather than fall into the hands of Spaniards, as he feared 

 they would either put him to death or make him a slave in their 

 mines. " He told us," says Rogers, a that he was born in Largo,, 

 in the county of Fife, and was bred a sailor from his youth. 



