Book 2 – “Selkirk’s Island” by Diana Souhami

As part of the 20 Books of Summer Challenge I decided to read ten fiction and ten non-fiction books. At the moment I am planning to alternate the two lists of ten but it is safe to say that anything could happen in the next three months. My second book, and first non-fiction book is Selkirk’s Island by Diana Souhami who also wrote a very readable biography of Edith Cavell which I review here.

This book, which is not very long, is about the sailor and castaway Alexander Selkirk who spent over four years alone on a small island off the coast of Chile in the very early years of the eighteenth century.

Selkirk had been the master of one of two ships which had sailed from England with letters of commission which allowed them attack and loot enemy ships (mainly Spanish) with a veneer of legality. They were known as privateers and raised money to outfit the ships, recruit the sailors and buy supplies after which they spent some years trying to make their fortunes – the proceeds of the journey were split various ways depending on an agreement drawn up before sailing. The sailors were subject to severe discipline and mutinies on this type of journey were common. Many ships sank and the mortality rate of the sailors was high.

Selkirk was Scottish and a man of short temper who appeared to have been greatly disliked by his shipmates. He attempted to challenge the captain of the ship and was cast ashore, despite him begging for mercy, when no one else would back him up. He spent over four years alone on the island before he was rescued; he returned to England, travelled to Scotland, married twice and then went to sea again. At no point did he write about what had happened to him but others took his story as the basis for fiction, most notably Daniel Defoe who wrote Robinson Crusoe.

Because we have no first-hand knowledge of what happened on the island or how Selkirk felt about it all the author writes more about the voyages, life aboard ship and the actual island’s geography than the four years of Selkirk’s exile. She is also challenged by the fact that Selkirk was never a particularly likeable man (none of the sailors appeared to be) who left a lot of annoyed and hostile people in his wake (including those two wives). Nevertheless I found this an engaging and interesting book which kept my attention all the way through. If you enjoy this book you might also like Mutiny on the Bounty which talks about a situation which is vaguely similar and took place about 80 years after Selkirk’s experiences