Talk:Alexander Selkirk

message: So there was no Friday character on this island as there is in Robinson Crusoe. —Abdull 16:48, 27 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Sorry, no Friday character. Apart from two brief and unwelcome visits by sailors from Spanish ships, Selkirk lived alone on the island for four years and four months. — Dr.Gulliver (talk) 09:00, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Friday character

message: What did he drink? Where did he get fresh water from? 144.137.118.110 (talk) 11:56, 13 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: He probably drank goat's milk, as well as water. Being of volcanic origin, the island has high enough peaks that it catches significant amounts of rain from warmer moisture-laden air, primarily on its windward slopes. — Dr.Gulliver (talk) 09:00, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Fresh water

message: :This resulted in a major injury wherein he tumbled off a cliff and was rendered unconscious for two days.
Just a question but, if he was the only inhabitant of the island and was unconscious, how could Selkirk possibly know how much time had elapsed between the incident and the time he recovered consciousness? 194.125.98.48 03:28, 3 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for bringing this up.  I checked the first hand sources and found the passing period was an estimated 24 hours. Didn't find any explanation though.  Lotsofissues 13:42, 3 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Many things grow in a linear way with time. The position of the moon, the growth of grass under tropical climate, may help to distinguish between a period of one or two days?  —DLL 12:54, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: "It happened once to him, that running on the Summit of a Hill, he made a Stretch to seize a Goat, with which under him, he fell down a Precipice, and lay senseless for the Space of three Days, the Length of which Time he Measured by the Moon's Growth since his last Observation." Source   88.189.248.66 (talk) 13:27, 25 August 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Cooke merely says he "lay for a considerable time as dead". Rogers writes that Selkirk was "stunned" and "lay there about 24 hours", suggesting he may have come to fairly soon after the fall; although he was immobilised for a time and remained convalescing in his hut for another ten days. Rogers, as the most detailed primary source, probably deserves precedence. — Dr.Gulliver (talk) 09:00, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Period of unconsciousness

message: Back in the early 80's I had a novel which detailed Selkirk's adventures. There's no mention of this book on the wiki page, and I can't find it using Google. I want to buy & read it again but I can't until I ID the title and author. Does anyone know?
—Spacejock 19 July 2006
:Though a work of non-fiction, Marooned: The Strange But True Adventures of Alexander Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe written for young adults by Robert Kraske (2005) may suit your needs. — Dr.Gulliver (talk) 09:00, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Novelization query

message: When I was child i remember my mother showing me a plaque in Queens Gardens, Hull. This plaque declared that this was the loction that the mariner on who Robinson Crusoe had been based, Selkirk, had sailed from that location. Queens Gardens had formerly been a dock. Can anyone shed light on this claim?
Also I have just read Selkirks Island by Diana Souhami. It is a very interesting read with numerous referances to period journals and publications that give further detail of Selikirks life. Christopher Lawson 15:00, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Howell, an early biographer, writes: "On 30 April 1703 the St George sailed from the Downs, and on 18 May anchored at Kinsale, on the coast of Ireland, where, after some delay, she was joined by the Cinque Ports." The plaque located at Queen's Gardens, Hull, refers to the fictional character Robinson Crusoe, likely inspired by Selkirk's experiences but definitely not sharing in all of them. — Dr.Gulliver (talk) 09:00, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Connection with Hull, East Yorkshire?

message: I note with interest that Selkirk was stranded a Scotsman, but rescued as a citizen of the United Kingdom... the Acts of Union having been passed in 1707.  —Johan the Ghost seance 01:00, 2 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Change of Nationality 

message: In Dampier's original publication of these events he refers to Selkirk as a "Moskito Indian".  Does anyone know anything more about this?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zdb236 (talk • contribs) 01:06, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: You may be mixing up Selkirk with an earlier castaway, who was a Moskito Indian described in A New Voyage Round the World by Dampier in 1697. The Indian spent three years alone on the island between 1681 and 1684. Selkirk would no doubt have been aware of this accidental abandonment when his ship, the Cinque Ports, called at the island in September 1704. — Dr.Gulliver (talk) 09:00, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Moskito Indian 

message: The UK Telegraph's Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent, reported 30 Oct 2008 on a dig at Robinson Crusoe Island by Dr David Caldwell, National Museums Scotland, who contends that he has discovered the campsite through the discovery of a fragment of copper alloy reputed to be from a pair of dividers.  He goes on to say that the camp was on the side of a river, consisted of two cabins, and had a view of the harbor. There is slightly more here.  Pendare (talk) 00:16, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: The coordinates of the campsite, given by Takahashi/Caldwell in their report to the Explorer's Club, are . It is located at an elevation of  above sea level on the eastern slope below Mirador de Selkirk (Selkirk's Lookout) at , shown on this relief map. — Dr.Gulliver (talk) 09:00, 3 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Location of campsite

message: The above discussion and the reverts by Gulliver today demonstrate ownership issues, See WP:OWN. It seems to be his way only without reaching any consensus. Message left on Gullivers talk page with these concerns. 172.56.11.89 (talk) 02:59, 29 July 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: The change from having the comments above clearly visible, to a link, whereby the comments are obscured, may cause an eyebrow to raise when the stated motivation is "easier navigation", particularly as the latest comments are but two days old and critical of the editor making the link. Dr.Gulliver, you have employed this method before on this talk page and sometimes simply blanked comments. If you are trying to refute the charge of "ownership issues" here, I'd suggest this is not a convincing way to go about it. Mutt Lunker (talk) 09:52, 31 July 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: My "authorship" of this article has consisted of three whole paragraphs—representing maybe one-quarter of the text—in addition to supplying inline citations, which the article previously lacked. I've also contributed various edits to other sections, in some cases because I was unable to verify the statements using the references I had provided. Many of these edits have subsequently been modified by others. The bulk of the article, including section headings, is the work of other contributors, of which there are literally dozens.—Dr.Gulliver (talk) 05:44, 2 August 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: It is not authorship but ownership which the IP is addressing, per WP:OWN as they state. I am addressing your repeat of talk page edits which blank or obscure comments which take a different position to you, in this most recent case only a couple of days old and directly critical of you. As mentioned, blanking comments goes against WP:ARCHIVENOTDELETE. Removing a long discusssion to a linked page, from a couple of months earlier and which is largely or entirely resolved may serve a valid purpose. It is more difficult to see a valid reason for obscuring fresh comments, particularly ones which are critical of your editing here. (On this general topic your blanking of comments on your own talk page is not prohibited (though archiving is the preferred method)). Mutt Lunker (talk) 07:14, 2 August 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Contentious Editing of Gulliver and [[WP:OWN]]

message: Probably died December 12, 1721. Log entry dated December 13 citing his death probably referred to events of the previous day. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-robinson-crusoe-74877644/ Thisdaytrivia (talk) 20:26, 7 May 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Date of Death 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: An illustration is included in this article purporting to be from the title page of John Howell's The Life and Adventures of Alexander Selkirk. It isn't. The title page of Howell's work is an unillustrated sheet shown here. Checking the source page for the book wrongly attributed to Howell, which shares only part of the full title of Howell's book, I believe you will find it is correctly attributed to Anonymous. I don't think an illustration from this obscure non-fiction work should be included among the significant works of fiction and literature influenced by Selkirk.—69.10.174.245 (talk) 05:23, 15 December 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: It seems that the original book was abridged and reprinted.  I found an article about it along with a different 1941 cover page.  . If the publisher is different on the disputed though.   Technophant (talk) 03:52, 6 January 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Misused Illustration 

message: Selkirk immediately regretted his rashness, but Stradling refused to let him back on board.
:I heard that he yelled out to the departing ship, but they couldn't hear him. Valetude (talk) 07:27, 2 February 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Marooned 

message: " As a Scotsman and a privateer, he would have faced a grim fate if captured and therefore did his best to hide himself."  I can understand the problem he would have faced as a privateer, but what difference would it have made with him being Scottish? Terry Thorgaard (talk) 15:54, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Since Selkirk was a member of the Royal Navy, and since Scotland was by this time rejoined with England to form Great Britain, the long enmity between the two countries in general (and the War of the Spanish Succession in particular) meant Selkirk would have been treated as an enemy combatant. Grandpallama (talk) 16:17, 2 February 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Did Spanish dislike Scotsmen? 

message: Article says he married in 1717, and again in 1720. Was he married to two at the same time, or had the earlier wife divorced or died? AMCKen (talk) 20:42, 2 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Marriages

message: I'm curious if there is any record of Selkirk's thoughts about his stay on the island. FatBear1 (talk) 19:03, 10 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  His thoughts