The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodard Page B
Authors: Colin Woodard
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soaked or frozen clothing; others were stricken with scurvy, the disease mariners feared more than any other. An affliction caused by a lack of vitamin C, scurvy is thought to have carried off more mariners in the age of sail than all other causes combined. Without vitamin C, the sailors' bodies could no longer maintain connective tissues, causing gums to turn black and spongy, teeth to fall out, and bruises to form beneath scaly skin. Toward the end, as the sailors withered and wheezed in their hammocks, bones broken long before became unhealed and old scars opened into wounds again. Most mariners believed it was caused by exposure to cold and damp clothing, but Rogers and Dover were aware it had more to do with the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables on long ocean passages. At a time when the Royal Navy had no treatment for the disease, Rogers stocked his ships with limes, which were rich in vitamin C. This supply was now exhausted, so the ships were in a race against time to get fresh produce. The first man, John Veal of the
Duke,
died on January 7 and was buried at sea in the Drake Passage.
From his prior travels, Dampier knew of a sanctuary where they would find ample provisions without alerting the Spaniards of Chile to their presence: the uninhabited island of Juan Fernández, * 400 miles off the coast. By the time the jagged peaks of Juan Fernández were sighted on January 31, more than thirty men were sick and seven men had perished. There, to their surprise, they saw a fire on the shore, an indication that a Spanish vessel was visiting the remote island.
The next morning the
Duke
and
Dutchess
sailed into the harbor entrance, their guns ready for action. It was deserted. Rogers anchored the ships a mile from shore, while Dr. Dover, eager to secure provisions, led a landing party ashore in one of the ship's boats. As they approached the beach, they were shocked to see a solitary man, clad in goatskin, waving a white cloth and yelling exuberantly to them in English. Alexander Selkirk, the castaway whose story would inspire Daniel Defoe to write
Robinson Crusoe,
was about to be rescued.
***
Selkirk had been stranded on Juan Fernández Island for four years and four months, indeed ever since William Dampier's ill-fated privateering mission had passed through these parts in the latter part of 1704. Selkirk, a Scotsman, had been the mate aboard Dampier's consort, the
Cinque Ports,
whose captain and officers had lost faith in their commodore's leadership and sailed off on their own. Unfortunately, the
Cinque Ports'
hull was already infested by shipworm, so much so that when the galley stopped at Juan Fernández for water and fresh provisions, young Selkirk decided to stay—to take his chances on the island rather than try to cross the Pacific in a deteriorating vessel. According to the extended account he gave Rogers, Selkirk spent the better part of a year in deep despair, scanning the horizon for friendly vessels that never appeared. Slowly he adapted to his solitary world. The island was home to hundreds of goats, descendents of those left behind when the Spanish abandoned a halfhearted colonization attempt. He eventually learned to chase them down and catch them with his bare hands. He built two huts with goatskin walls and grass roofs, one serving as a kitchen, the other as his living quarters, where he read the Bible, sang psalms, and fought off the armies of rats that came to nibble his toes as he slept. He defeated the rodents by feeding and befriending many of the island's feral cats, which lay about his hut by the hundreds. As insurance against starvation in case of accident or illness, Selkirk had managed to domesticate a number of goats, which he raised by hand and, on occasion, would dance with in his lonely hut. When his clothes wore out, he stitched together new goatskin ones, using a knife and an old nail, and grew calluses on his feet as a substitute for shoes. He was rarely sick and ate a healthful diet
Duke,
died on January 7 and was buried at sea in the Drake Passage.
From his prior travels, Dampier knew of a sanctuary where they would find ample provisions without alerting the Spaniards of Chile to their presence: the uninhabited island of Juan Fernández, * 400 miles off the coast. By the time the jagged peaks of Juan Fernández were sighted on January 31, more than thirty men were sick and seven men had perished. There, to their surprise, they saw a fire on the shore, an indication that a Spanish vessel was visiting the remote island.
The next morning the
Duke
and
Dutchess
sailed into the harbor entrance, their guns ready for action. It was deserted. Rogers anchored the ships a mile from shore, while Dr. Dover, eager to secure provisions, led a landing party ashore in one of the ship's boats. As they approached the beach, they were shocked to see a solitary man, clad in goatskin, waving a white cloth and yelling exuberantly to them in English. Alexander Selkirk, the castaway whose story would inspire Daniel Defoe to write
Robinson Crusoe,
was about to be rescued.
***
Selkirk had been stranded on Juan Fernández Island for four years and four months, indeed ever since William Dampier's ill-fated privateering mission had passed through these parts in the latter part of 1704. Selkirk, a Scotsman, had been the mate aboard Dampier's consort, the
Cinque Ports,
whose captain and officers had lost faith in their commodore's leadership and sailed off on their own. Unfortunately, the
Cinque Ports'
hull was already infested by shipworm, so much so that when the galley stopped at Juan Fernández for water and fresh provisions, young Selkirk decided to stay—to take his chances on the island rather than try to cross the Pacific in a deteriorating vessel. According to the extended account he gave Rogers, Selkirk spent the better part of a year in deep despair, scanning the horizon for friendly vessels that never appeared. Slowly he adapted to his solitary world. The island was home to hundreds of goats, descendents of those left behind when the Spanish abandoned a halfhearted colonization attempt. He eventually learned to chase them down and catch them with his bare hands. He built two huts with goatskin walls and grass roofs, one serving as a kitchen, the other as his living quarters, where he read the Bible, sang psalms, and fought off the armies of rats that came to nibble his toes as he slept. He defeated the rodents by feeding and befriending many of the island's feral cats, which lay about his hut by the hundreds. As insurance against starvation in case of accident or illness, Selkirk had managed to domesticate a number of goats, which he raised by hand and, on occasion, would dance with in his lonely hut. When his clothes wore out, he stitched together new goatskin ones, using a knife and an old nail, and grew calluses on his feet as a substitute for shoes. He was rarely sick and ate a healthful diet
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