Question: castaway whos story led to the novel robinson crusoe
Answer: There were many stories of real - life castaways in Defoe 's time , most famous , Defoe 's suspected inspiration for Robinson Crusoe is thought to be from Scottish sailor , Alexander Selkirk , who spent four years on the uninhabited island of Más a Tierra ( renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966 ) in the Juan Fernández Islands off the Chilean coast .