A
castaway is a person who is cast adrift
or ashore. While the situation usually
happens after a shipwreck, some people
voluntarily stay behind on a deserted
island either to evade their captors or
the world in general. Alternatively a
person or item can be cast away, meaning
rejected or discarded. The provisions
and resources available to castaways allow
them to live on the island until other
people arrive to take them off the island.
However, such rescue missions may never
happen if the person is not known to still
be alive, the fact that they are missing
is unknown or if the island is not mapped.
These scenarios have given rise to the
plots of numerous stories in the form
of novels and film. The earliest recorded
occurrence of a castaway is from 1681,
when a Miskito named Will was sent ashore
as part of an English foraging party to
Más a Tierra. The ship left after
spotting the approach of enemies, leaving
Will behind to survive until he was picked
up in 1684.
The
Juan Fernández Islands, to which
Más a Tierra belongs, was to have
a more famous occupant from October 1703
when Alexander Selkirk made the decision
to stay there. Selkirk was concerned about
the condition of the Cinque Ports, on
which he was sailing, and remained on
the island – the ship did later
sink with most of its crew being lost.
Being a voluntary castaway, Selkirk was
able to gather numerous provisions to
help him to survive, including a musket,
gunpowder, carpenter's tools, a knife,
a Bible, and his clothing. He survived
on the island for four years and four
months, building huts and hunting the
plentiful wildlife before his rescue on
2 February 1709. His adventures were a
direct inspiration for Robinson Crusoe,
a novel by Daniel Defoe first published
in 1719 and sometimes regarded as the
first novel in English. Más a Tierra
was later renamed Robinson Crusoe Island.
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