Alexander Selkirk was the sailing master aboard the Cinque Ports, an English privateer galley tasked with attacking Spanish galleons returning from Buenos Aires during the War of Spanish Succession. Selkirk was convinced that the ship was not seaworthy, and demanded to be put ashore on the small island rather than suffer the fate he foresaw, which turned out to be quite prescient.
The ship's captain, 21-year-old Lieutenant Thomas Stradling, was only too happy to oblige, as he had grown weary of Selkirks complaints and criticisms. Soon after, the ship did indeed sink, near Malpelo Island about 250 miles off the coast of Colombia. Stradling and company were then taken prisoner by the Spanish, while Selkirk would spend the next 4 years in (mostly) blissful solitude among the goats and sea lions of Más a Tierra.
Statue of Selkirk.
