of his ship's rudder and sails. In 1666, Searle, in company
with a Captain Stedman and a party of only eighty men, took the Island of
Tobago, near Trinidad, from the Dutch, destroying everything they could
not carry away.

SELKIRK, ALEXANDER. The original Robinson Crusoe.

Born in 1676 at Largo in Fifeshire, he was the seventh son of John
Selcraig, a shoemaker. In 1695 he was cited to appear before the Session
for "indecent conduct in church," but ran away to sea. In 1701 he was back
again in Largo, and was rebuked in the face of the congregation for
quarrelling with his brothers. A year later Selkirk sailed to England, and
in 1703 joined Dampier's expedition to the South Seas. Appointed
sailing-master to the _Cinque Ports_, commanded by Captain Stradling.

In September, 1704, he arrived at the uninhabited island of Juan
Fernandez, in the South Pacific. Selkirk, having quarrelled with the
captain, insisted on being landed on the island with all his belongings.
He lived alone here for nearly four years, building himself two cabins,
hunting the goats which abounded, and taming young goats and cats to be
his companions.

On the night of January 31st, 1709, seeing two ships, Selkirk lit a fire,
and a boat was sent ashore. These ships were the _Duke_ and _Duchess_ of
Bristol, under the command of Captain Woodes Rogers, while his old friend
Dampier was acting as pilot. Selkirk was at once appointed sailing-master
of the _Duchess_, and eventually arrived back in the Thames on October
14th, 1711, with booty worth L800, having been away from England for eight
years. While in England he met Steele, who described Selkirk as a "man of
good sense, with strong but cheerful expression." Whether Selkirk ever met
Defoe is uncertain, though the character of Robinson Crusoe was certainly
founded on his adventures in Juan Fernandez. In 1712 he returned to Largo,
living the life of a recluse, and we must be forgiven for suspecting that
he rather acted up to the part, since it is recorded that he made a cave
in his father's garden in which to meditate. This life of meditation in an
artificial cave was soon rudely interrupted by the appearance of a certain
Miss Sophia Bonce, with whom Selkirk fell violently in love, and they
eloped together to Bristol, which must have proved indeed a sad scandal to
the elders and other godly citizens of Largo. Beyond the fact that he was
charged at Bristol with assaulting one Richard Nettle, a shipwright