finding SELKIRK

Recent archaeological discoveries shows how Selkirk thrived on the island

To cash in on the popularity of literature’s most famous castaway, the Chilean government renamed Más a Tierra 'Robinson Crusoe Island' in 1966. At the same time, another islet in the same archipelago was renamed 'Alexander Selkirk Island' as a homage to the Scot. So which one did our real-life Crusoe actually live on?

While it’s certain that Más a Tierra was mentioned in Woodes Rogers’s account of Selkirk’s rescue, in 2008 archaeologists found evidence of Selkirk’s campsites to corroborate the story. In particular, Dr David Caldwell, who led the expedition, found a fragment of a pair of navigational dividers, which Selkirk would have used in his role on Cinque Ports. Caldwell told The Telegraph, "I am satisfied in my mind that this is the place where Selkirk set up his camp. I never thought we had a chance of finding it, but the discovery of the divider was crucial". Caldwell also found evidence that Selkirk built shelters near a freshwater stream, and had a lookout for ships.