Robinson Crusoe Island formerly Isla Mas a Tierra was where Fife sailor Alexander Selkirk survived in solitude for more than four years, inspiring Daniel Defoe to write his famous novel. Earlier this year the island was struck by a tsunami that swept away the island’s only school. Now those near Selkirk’s hometown of Lower Largo are being urged to contribute to the rebuilding effort.
In October 1704, fearful the vessel he was on would sink, Alexander Selkirk asked to be put ashore on Mas a Tierra, an uninhabited speck of land 400 miles off the coast of Chile, where he was to spend the next four years and four months alone.
Selkirk always had a knack for getting into trouble, and by the time he was 19 had forged a reputation as a troublemaker throughout the Fife fishing village of Lower Largo.
It came as no surprise when he got into a family fight after his brother tricked him into drinking seawater and he was called before the Kirk Session.
However, to escape punishment he went to sea, where he hoped to make his fortune as a bucaneer off the coast of South America.
At sea he discovered a skill for navigation, and within a few years he was a sailing master on the 90-ton privateer, the Cinque Ports.
However, after several naval battles the ship was in bad shape, but the captain, Thomas Stradling, refused to stop for repairs.
Convinced the ship would sink, Selkirk demanded to be put ashore, and in October 1704 he got his wish and was put off the ship with a few clothes, bedding, a musket, some tools, a bible and tobacco.
He was finally rescued on February 2, 1709, when The Duke, another privateer whose pilot, William Dampier, recognised Selkirk from his time on the Cinque Ports.
Newspaper reports of Selkirk’s exploits made him famous, and in 1719 his story was fictionalised in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.
Selkirk, who died of yellow fever in 1721, is commemorated with a bronze statue outside his former home on Lower Largo’s Main Street.TsunamiIn 1966 the government of Chile renamed Ms a Tierra, which has a population of 650, Robinson Crusoe Island.
Earlier this year an earthquake hit Chile, creating a tsunami that swept across the South Pacific and slammed into the tiny island, where it destroyed many buildings, including the school, which the Gabriela Mistral Foundation is trying to raise $500,000 to rebuild.
MEP Struan Stevenson hopes people living near Selkirk’s home town will make a contribution to the rebuilding effort.
“Jon Benjamin, the British Ambassador to Chile, recently agreed to a suggestion by the mayor of Isla Robinson Crusoe to become patron of the project to rebuild the school,” he said.
“Apart from the Alexander Selkirk and Largo connection, he was hugely attracted to the project because, he says, it has good people behind it, it has a defined, achievable and affordable plan, and, most of all, because it will make a huge real difference to real people currently in great difficulty particularly to a group of children eager to resume their interrupted education.
The ambassador made contact with Largo area community council, which has now set up an appeal.
The community council chairman Peter Aitken said, “We hope to involve both Lundin Mill and Kirkton of Largo primary schools in the project to rebuild the school on the island.
“At a public meeting I asked the audience to imagine the situation if this disaster had befallen Largo how grateful we as a community would be to have the support of the islanders of Robinson Crusoe Island, in the rebuilding of our community.
“With this picture in our minds I would ask the community to support the appeal in any way they can. It is hoped that a number of local groups will hold fund-raising projects, Lundie Theatre Group have already pledged their support and will donate the proceeds of their recent raffle to the project.”
To find out more or to donate to the rebuilding project, visit www.colegioinsularrobisoncrusoe.com. Donations can also be made to the Largo Twinning Association and can be placed in the collecting boxes in Premier Stores, Lundin Links and Lower Largo and Upper Largo Post Office or sent to Largo Area Community Council, 55 Largo Road, Lundin Links, KY8 6DH.
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user Nick Bramhall.TsunamiIn 1966 the government of Chile renamed Ms a Tierra, which has a population of 650, Robinson Crusoe Island.
Earlier this year an earthquake hit Chile, creating a tsunami that swept across the South Pacific and slammed into the tiny island, where it destroyed many buildings, including the school, which the Gabriela Mistral Foundation is trying to raise $500,000 to rebuild.
MEP Struan Stevenson hopes people living near Selkirk’s home town will make a contribution to the rebuilding effort.
“Jon Benjamin, the British Ambassador to Chile, recently agreed to a suggestion by the mayor of Isla Robinson Crusoe to become patron of the project to rebuild the school,” he said.
“Apart from the Alexander Selkirk and Largo connection, he was hugely attracted to the project because, he says, it has good people behind it, it has a defined, achievable and affordable plan, and, most of all, because it will make a huge real difference to real people currently in great difficulty particularly to a group of children eager to resume their interrupted education.
The ambassador made contact with Largo area community council, which has now set up an appeal.
The community council chairman Peter Aitken said, “We hope to involve both Lundin Mill and Kirkton of Largo primary schools in the project to rebuild the school on the island.
“At a public meeting I asked the audience to imagine the situation if this disaster had befallen Largo how grateful we as a community would be to have the support of the islanders of Robinson Crusoe Island, in the rebuilding of our community.
“With this picture in our minds I would ask the community to support the appeal in any way they can. It is hoped that a number of local groups will hold fund-raising projects, Lundie Theatre Group have already pledged their support and will donate the proceeds of their recent raffle to the project.”
To find out more or to donate to the rebuilding project, visit www.colegioinsularrobisoncrusoe.com. Donations can also be made to the Largo Twinning Association and can be placed in the collecting boxes in Premier Stores, Lundin Links and Lower Largo and Upper Largo Post Office or sent to Largo Area Community Council, 55 Largo Road, Lundin Links, KY8 6DH.
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user Nick Bramhall.