15. Alexander Selkirk and yellow fever
Alexander Selkirk served as the basis of Daniel Defoe’s fictional castaway, Robinson Crusoe. Selkirk’s career included time as a naval officer, a privateer, and as an outright pirate. In 1704, while on a voyage as a privateer, Selkirk argued with his commanding officer over the seaworthiness of their vessel, the Cinque Ports. When the vessel lay off Juan Fernandez Islands the argument grew impassioned, and Selkirk rashly announced he would remain on the island alone rather than sail further. The captain took him up on the offer, and Selkirk found himself marooned, alone on the island, with meagre supplies. Cinque Ports did sink on the ensuing voyage, though the crew survived to be imprisoned by Spanish troops in Lima, Peru.
Selkirk was eventually rescued by a privateer expedition in 1709, after four years and four months of living alone on the island. He did not return to England until 1711, and the following year published an account of his adventures as a privateer and castaway, gaining a measure of celebrity. In 1717 he returned to the sea, probably to escape legal authorities, by joining the Royal Navy. In 1721 he served aboard HMS Weymouth on an anti-piracy cruise off the western coast of Africa. Frequent landings on the coast for firewood and water exposed the men to hordes of mosquitoes, and yellow fever outbreaks ravaged the crew. Selkirk joined the growing list of victims, dying on December 13, 1721, according to the ship’s log.