You say you do not know who Alexander Selkirk is. Well, fair enough, I did not know either. But if Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe comes to mind then you have hit a home run. Defoe based his most famous character on the Selkirk. This fact caused Defoe some grief as many people felt he had plagiarized or inappropriately borrowed Selkirk’s story.
Selkirk was born of Scottish working class parents. Not being enthralled with the family business of shoe making, he joined buccaneer expeditions into the South Seas. The expeditions were not particularly successful. Selkirk argued extensively with one of his superiors, and finally asked to depart from the ship. They dropped him off on Juan Fernández Island off the coast of Chile. He immediately regretted his decision. He spent the next 4 plus years living alone on the island. He survived mainly on goats left there by pirates. He would actually run them down as he had used all his gun powder. There was also a large population of cats on the island, some of which he tamed. Some goats that he kept close this hut, and the cats, were his only companions.
He had but a few books with him, one being the Bible and the others, books on navigation. As is Robinson Crusoe, this book is in some aspects a proponent of Christianity. The author details that the longer Selkirk was on the island, the more despondent he became. Finally, he turned to his Bible. This troubled young man had a religious epiphany that seemed to last all his life.
A few years later a ship came by and he rejoined civilization, but was never happy in it again.
The book does not spend a lot of time on his island adventures. It does trace his life. It is also a good picture of the sailing and buccaneering life of the early 1700s. It is worth reading for that aspect alone.
As a side note the Juan Fernández Islands are a district of Chile. They have recently renamed one of the islands to Robinson Crusoe Island to promote tourism. Here is the official site : Isla Robinson Crusoe
This book is in the public domain and can be downloaded for free.
Audio book from LibriVox.org : The Adventures of Alexander Selkirk
It is also available from Google Books: The Adventures of Alexander Selkirk
Also as a “real” book from AbeBooks.com: The Adventures of Alexander Selkirk
For the Wikipedia article : Alexander Selkirk (1676 – 13 December 1721)