An 1835 book inspired by Alexander Selkirk's life

Alexander Selkirk (1676-1721) was born in Largo, Scotland. He became a seaman under Capt. William Dampier. In 1704 objecting to the condition of the ship he was on , Selkirk asked to be put ashore on Mas a Tierra, a tiny deserted island in the Pacific Ocean off of S. America.

He lived completely alone on this island for four years, and four months before being returned to England. A free-lance writer Daniel Dafoe read about him, and may have met him, and in 1719 published a book based on Selkirk entitled The Life And Strange Surprising Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner.

Around 2000 an expedition led by the Japanese Daisuke Takahashi, searching for Selkirk's camp on the island, found an early 18th (or late 17th) century nautical instrument that almost certainly belonged to Selkirk.

For further reading please see Alexander Selkirk wiki entry.