Selkirk's Island

by Diana Souhami

  In 1969 Carlos Munoz Pizzaro gave a paper to the Academy of Science in Chile. He advocated that boundaries for the park be set, that no building or motor vehicles be allowed in it, that cattle, rats, rabbits, coati (Nasua nasua – brought from Uraguay) and blackberry be eradicated and the primary forest restored.

  Four years later CONAF, the Chilean Forestry Commission, took on responsibility for The Island.* Their aim was to preserve it and to restore its endangered species. An administrator and park wardens arrived. Islanders were forbidden to fell trees or take plants. They resented the intrusion. They viewed the wardens as interlopers, were abusive to them and even violent.

  To conservationists The Island’s significance went beyond national territory or local need. In microcosm they saw the world’s problems of land erosion, overfishing, the destruction of species that cannot be reborn, the breakdown of the interdependence of living things.

  In 1977 UNESCO declared The Island a Worldwide Reserve of the Biosphere. The intention was to preserve its generic species and conserve its ecosystem. Holland gave a grant of two and a half million dollars, Czechoslovakia sent germinating chambers, greenhouses and chemicals to kill the blackberry. Chile paid the salaries of CONAF employees. The Island’s boundaries were set: 164 yards up from the village the Worldwide Reserve began. The islanders were allotted 1000 acres of land around San Juan Bautista and the airstrip. The Reserve claimed the rest of the archipelago: 24,000 acres on the two islands and the islet of Santa Clara.

  Year on year the primary forest is extended from high to low altitude. Erosion of the soil is arrested with dams. Cattle and goats may only graze on certain hills, rabbits are shot and money paid for their tails. In the conditions they need, the white flowering shrub Dendroseris neriifolia is germinated, cultivated and protectively replanted, so are spiky leaved Ochagavia elegans, yellow flowering Robinsonia thurifera, the Yunquea tenzii, the myrtle Ugni selkirkii, white and red campanulae, the scarce mauve orchid Herbetia lahue.† The climate favours regeneration. There is plenty of sunshine and rain and no hard winter. Three hundred plants are reintroduced each day in the conditions they need. A centre has been built to teach tourists, islanders and children about The Island’s flora and fauna, its geology and history.

  Man, more pestilential than the rat or rabbit, is banned from living in the Reserve. Islanders are accorded what they are deemed to need. CONAF has planted fast-growing cypress and eucalyptus trees for wood for their boats and houses. They are told that ‘ecotourism’ will bring money. They are employed as park wardens. Young men replant the forests, poison the blackberry and rats and shoot the goats and rabbits.

  The scheme has problems. The Island is not entire of itself. Its seas are plundered, its climate altered. When all the rabbits are killed, so too is the food supply of The Island’s buzzards (Buteo polyosoma exul). When the blackberry is all poisoned, the soil erodes, thrushes are denied their favourite food and the islanders a particular kind of pie. Like Crusoe’s God, CONAF decides what will live and what will die. There is an intangibility in wanting to keep what once was there. The Island might have the last say. Nasturtiums, poppies and amaryllis from South America and South Africa are unwelcome guests. It was not the fault of the rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) that they arrived with such a capacity to reproduce and such voracious appetites, or that they erode the soil by digging burrows. They, like the cattle, goats, rats, dogs and cats, were transported on ships, then abandoned on The Island to adapt as they could.

  Man’s late dream is of more than Crusoe’s market garden. It is of an image of the kind of garden the world might have been. Selkirk was a rough man and as bad and careless as others, but The Island was perforce his world. Though he longed to escape it, though he searched each day for the sail of rescue, he depended on it and was sustained by it. Three hundred years on, it is man’s privilege to leave the seals to graze, arrest erosion, restore the sandalwood trees, extend the forest, guard, protect and preserve the endemic species that net living creatures to their past, that net us all together.* In such intervention there is a dream beyond the pursuit of gold. There is deference to The Island’s grace and to a marooned man’s heart.

  *They were heading for the Peruvian port of Payta, to attack ‘the King of Spain’s ships which sail from Lima to Panama with the King’s treasure’.

  *She published, in 1824, a ‘Journal of a Residence in Chili, and a Voyage from Chili to Brazil in the years 1822–3’.

  *The Islanders doubt that Selkirk hiked up to the Mirador every day.

  *Los Cerillos airport.

  *In the 1950s the rule was that lobsters must have reached a length of 15.5 cms, tail to thorax, before they could be eaten. This was reduced to 13 cms and in 2000, 11 cms. **Empanadas are a sort of pastie.

  *Today there are meat pasties.

  *Corporation National Forestal.

  *Two sandalwood trees have escaped extinction high in the primary forest on the Yunque mountain. Perhaps from these two trees, more will grow.

  ENDNOTES

  Half title: Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote Enoch Arden in the winter of 1861. It is a long narrative poem about lovers, a sea voyage, a desert island and a tragic homecoming.

  2. THE JOURNEY

  page number

  29 An oil portrait of Dampier, c. 1698, by Thomas Murray, is now in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Hans Sloane, Secretary to the Royal Society, commissioned it. For biographical information see Anton Gill, The Devil’s Mariner (1997); B.M.H. Rogers, ‘Dampier’s Debts’ and ‘Dampier’s Voyage of 1703’, Mariner’s Mirror, 25 (1924); Joseph Shipman, William Dampier: Seaman-Scientist (1962); Glyn Williams, The Great South Sea (1997).

  29 See (and following) Dampier’s published journals: A New Voyage Round the World (1697); A Collection of Voyages I-IV (1729) and John Masefield (ed.), Dampier’s Voyages (1906).

  31 See Glyn Williams, The Prize of All the Oceans (1999), an account of Lord Anson’s quest for the Manila galleon.

  33 See William Dampier, Voyages and Descriptions, vol. II (1699).

  36 Papers relating to Dampier’s court martial in 1702 are in the Public Record Office, London (Adm.I/1692).

  36 Dampier to the Admiralty. Abridged in John Masefield (ed.), Dampier’s Voyages, (vol. II).

  36 Meangis is one of the remote Sangihe and Talaud islands, in the Celebes Sea, between Sulawesi and the Philippine island of Mindanao.

  37 From Dampier’s manuscript journal (Sloane MS 3236 f.203v). Hans Sloane acquired this and many other buccaneers’ journals. They now form the Sloane Collection at the British Library.

  38 This poster, with similar advertisements, is in the Manuscripts collection in the British Library (552 d.18 (2)).

  38 See Prince Giolo Son of the King of Moangis or Gilolo: Lying Under the Equator in Long. of 152 Dig. 30 Min. a Fruitful Island Abounding with Rich Spices and Other Valuable Commodities (1692), and Thomas Hyde, An Account of the Famous Prince Giolo (1692).

  39 Basil Ringrose, Bucaniers II, British Library (Sloane MS 48 f.86).

  40 Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World.

  40 See Bucaniers II, British Library (Sloane MS 48 f.87); Glyn Williams, The Great South Sea; and Burg, B.R., Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition (1984).

  42 See John Masefield (ed.), Dampier’s Voyages (vol. I).

  43 Translated in R. L. Woodward, Robinson Crusoe’s Island: A History of the Juan Fernandez Islands (1969).

  45 See ‘Letters and Papers Relating to the Voyage of the St George’, in John Masefield (ed.), Dampier’s Voyages (vol. II); and B.M.H. Rogers, ‘Dampier’s Voyage of 1703’, Mariner’s Mirror, 15 (1924).

  46 Masefield, op. cit.

  46 See the Burney Collection of early newspapers in the British Library

  48 For details of eighteenth-century shipboard life see N.A.M. Rodger, The Wooden World (1988).

  48 A letter from William Price to Edward Southwell, 10 July 1703. Quoted in Anton Gill, The Devil’s Mariner (1997).

  48 There
is disagreement over the size of the Cinque Ports. This description is taken from its Letter of Marque in the Public Record Office (HCA 26/18). William Funnell in his Voyage Round the World (1707) describes it as weighing 90 tons, with 20 guns and 63 men.

  48 For speculation on Selkirk’s rank, see C.D.Lee, ‘Alexander Selkirk and the Last Voyage of the Cinque Ports Galley’, Mariner’s Mirror, 73 (1987).

  49 John Howell, Selkirk’s first biographer, gleaned such anecdotal information from a great-grand-nephew of Selkirk. See The Life and Adventures of Alexander Selkirk (1829).

  50 G.H. Healey (ed.), The Letters of Daniel Defoe (1955).

  50 See Largo Parish Records; R.L.Mergoz, The Real Robinson Crusoe (1939); and A.S.Cunningham, ‘Upper Largo, Lower Largo, Lundin Links and Newburn’ (undated).

  51 John Prebble, The Darien Disaster (1968).

  51 William Paterson, ‘A Proposal to Plant a Colony in Darien’ (1701). And see G.P.Insh, The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies (1932).

  53 Lionel Wafer, A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America (Hakluyt Society, 1934).

  55 See ‘Upper Largo, Lower Largo, Lundin Links and Newburn’.

  56 See his Voyage Round the World (1707).

  57 As well as ‘The South Sea Waggoner’, Selkirk would have referred to Mount and Page, ‘New Sea Atlas’ (1702); by Captain Greenvile Collins (Hydrographer in Ordinary to the King and Queen’s most Excellent Majesties), ‘Great Britain’s Coasting Pilot’ (1693) and John Seller, ‘Southern Navigation’ (1703). Originals of these charts and pilot books are in the National Maritime Museum, London.

  57 See Derek Howse, ‘Navigation and Astronomy in the Voyages’ in Background to Discovery: Pacific Exploration from Dampier to Cook (1990).

  58 Op. cit. And see Dava Sobel, Longitude (1996).

  59 Funnell, A Voyage Round the World.

  59 John Welbe’s accusations and Dampier’s ‘vindication’ of these, are included in John Masefield (ed.), Dampier’s Voyages (vol. II). And see dusty cardboard boxes of unsorted contemporary documents about the voyage, stained with seawater and sprinkled with sand, in Chancery 104/160, in the Public Record Office, London.

  60 Funnell, A Voyage Round the World. And following.

  61 The Wellcome Institute Library, London, has an archive on the history of medicine at sea. For ghoulish detail see John Woodall, The Surgeon’s Mate (1617).

  62 See Francis E. Cuppage, James Cook and the Conquest of Scurvy (1994), and J.J.Keevil, Medicine and the Navy (1958).

  64 Funnell, A Voyage Round the World.

  65 John Welbe, ‘An Answer to Captain Dampier’s Vindication of his Voyage to the South Seas in the Ship St George’, in John Masefield (ed.), Dampier’s Voyages, (vol. II).

  65 Selkirk’s criticisms of the voyage are in a sworn Deposition, dated 10 July 1712, Chancery 24/1321, Public Record Office.

  67 See Funnell, A Voyage Round the World; B.M.H.Rogers, ‘Dampier’s Voyage of 1703’; Welbe’s ‘Answer to Captain Dampier’s Vindication’; and Selkirk’s Deposition.

  68 Eighteenth-century mariners described The Island in their published books. They showed no sparkle in their choice of titles for these journals. As well as Funnell’s Voyage Round the World, see Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage Round the World (1712); Edward Cooke, A Voyage to the South Sea and Round the World (1712); George Shelvocke, A Voyage Round the World by Way of the Great South Sea (1726); and George Anson, A Voyage Round the World (1748).

  68 See Funnell, A Voyage Round the World. And following.

  71 John Welbe, An Answer to Captain Dampier’s Vindication. Depositions corroborating Welbe’s account of Dampier’s behaviour were given in 1712 in the Chancery Courts by Selkirk, William Sheltram and Ralph Clift. Public Record Office (Chancery 24/1321).

  71 Sheltram’s Deposition.

  72 Funnell, A Voyage Round the World.

  73 John Woodall, The Surgeon’s Mate (1617). And see John Kirkup’s introduction and appendix to a facsimile of this (1978).

  74 Welbe’s ‘Answer’ to Dampier’s ‘Vindication’.

  75 See Clift’s Deposition, and those of Selkirk and Sheltram.

  77 Welbe’s ‘Answer’ to Dampier’s ‘Vindication’.

  79 Dampier’s ‘Vindication’.

  80 Welbe’s ‘Answer’, and the Depositions of Selkirk, Sheltram and Clift.

  83 See Selkirk’s Deposition.

  3. THE ARRIVAL

  91 For contemporary accounts of Selkirk on The Island, see Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage Round the World (1712); Edward Cooke, A Voyage to the South Sea and Round the World (1712); and an article by Richard Steele in the Englishman (26), 1–3 December, 1713.

  96 Steele, the Englishman, December 1713.

  99 See John Howell, Alexander Selkirk (1829); Edward Cooke, A Voyage to the South Sea; Woodes Rogers, Cruising Voyage; Richard Steele, the Englishman.

  100 The poet William Cowper (1731–1800) in 1782 wrote Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk, during his solitary abode in the island of Juan Fernandez:

  I am monarch of all I survey,

  My right there is none to dispute,

  From the centre all round to the sea,

  I am lord of the fowl and the brute.

  O solitude! Where are the charms

  That sages have seen in thy face?

  Better dwell in the midst of alarms,

  Than reign in this horrible place.

  Etcetera.

  100 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage.

  100 Steele, the Englishman.

  100 Deposition, 1712.

  101 C.D.Lee, ‘Alexander Selkirk and the Cinque Ports Galley’, Mariner’s Mirror, 73 (1987).

  103 See John Masefield (ed.), Dampier’s Voyages (Vol. II); and the Depositions of Selkirk, Clift and Sheltram.

  105 Funnell, A Voyage Round the World.

  106 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage.

  106 Ibid.

  108 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage

  109 See J.M.Coetzee, Foe (1986); Pat Rogers, Robinson Crusoe (1979); Derek Walcott, The Castaway and Other Poems (1965).

  111 Nicolaus Copernicus, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (1543). Before his time the Earth was thought to be at rest, with the Sun, Planets and Stars circling round it.

  111 See Welbe’s ‘Answer’, Dampier’s ‘Vindication’ and Funnell’s Voyage.

  112 B.M.H.Rogers, ‘Dampier’s Voyage of 1703’.

  113 Dampier’s ‘Vindication’.

  115 See the Depositions of Selkirk, Clift and Sheltram, and the Chancery Papers 104/160 in the Public Record Office.

  4. THE RESCUE

  121 For source material for this 1708 voyage, see the published journals of Woodes Rogers and Edward Cooke; David J. Starkey, British Privateering Enterprise (1990); Glyn Williams, The Great South Sea (1997); B.M.H.Rogers, ‘Woodes Rogers’s Privateering Voyage of 1708–11’, Mariner’s Mirror 19 (1928).

  122 Chancery 104/160, Public Record Office.

  123 HCA 26/18, Public Record Office.

  124 Chancery 104/160, Public Record Office.

  125 Chancery 104/16, Public Record Office.

  125 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage. And following.

  136 Woodes Rogers to owners, February 1708. Chancery 104/160, Public Record Office.

  136 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage.

  139 Edward Cooke, A Voyage to the South Sea.

  140 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage.

  140 Edward Cooke, A Voyage to the South Sea.

  141 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage.

  142 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage; Edward Cooke, A Voyage to the South Sea; Bryan Little, Crusoe’s Captain: Being the Life of Woodes Rogers, Seaman, Trader, Colonial Governor (1960).

  142 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage. And following.

  144 See Chancery 104/160 and 104/61, Public Record Office.

  147 Vanbrugh in a letter to the Bristol owners, 11 December 1710. Chancery 104/160, Public Record Off
ice.

  147 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage.

  149 Richard Hitchman in a statement to Dr Dover, undated, Chancery 104/61, Public Record Office.

  150 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage.

  151 Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859); Nora Barlow (ed.), Charles Darwin’s Diary of the Voyage of HMS Beagle (1933).

  152 See the entry in Captain Courtney’s Committee Book for 29 August 1709. Chancery 104/36 (part 2), Public Record Office.

  152 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage; Edward Cooke, A Voyage to the South Sea; Bryan Little, Crusoe’s Captain.

  153 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage. And following.

  155 Edward Cooke, A Voyage to the South Sea; Bryan Little, Crusoe’s Captain.

  156 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage; Edward Cooke, A Voyage to the South Sea. And following.

  158 Woodes Rogers to Owners, 25 July 1710, Chancery 104/160, Public Record Office.

  158 Thomas Dover to Owners, 11 February 1711, Chancery 104/60, Public Record Office.

  161 Woodes Rogers to Owners, 25 July 1710, Chancery 104/160, Public Record Office.

  161 Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage. And see Bryan Little, Crusoe’s Captain.

  162 See Woodes Rogers, ‘An Abstract of the Most Remarkable Transactions’, 6 February 1711; and Letters to Owners from Stephen Courtney, Edward Cooke, Thomas Dover and Woodes Rogers, all in Chancery 104/160, Public Record Office.

  162 Woodes Rogers to Owners, 25 July 1710, Chancery 104/160, Public Record Office.

  163 See the ships’ Committee Books, parts one and two, Chancery 104/36, Public Record Office.

  164 Thomas Dover to Owners, 11 February 1711, Chancery 104/60, Public Record Office.

  165 James Hollidge, merchant and Mayor of Bristol, to Owners, 18 August 1711, Chancery 104/160, Public Record Office.

  165 See D/19 and E/13, 1711, in the Oriental and India Office Collection at the British Library.