Alexander Selkirk
Selkirk (or Selcraig), Alexander (1676–1721), a Scottish sailor. His adventures as a castaway inspired the plots of many tales, of which the best known is Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719).
Selkirk, who first went to sea as a youth, joined a privateering expedition to the South Pacific in 1703. A year later Selkirk was marooned on one of the Juan Fernandez Islands. The circumstances are not entirely clear. According to one account, the crew deserted ship but later reboarded, except for Selkirk. According to another story, Selkirk quarreled with the captain and asked to be put ashore. Both accounts agree that Selkirk changed his mind and begged to be taken aboard again but was left behind. He spent more than four years alone on the island before being rescued. Selkirk died at sea, struck by tropical fever while serving as an officer in the Royal Navy.