Imagine you were standing in knee-deep water on the shore of a small island, watching your ship and only salvation slowly disappearing over the horizon.

And no matter how loud you screamed and how desperately you cried out, there was no chance of it coming back.

Now imagine, this island was remote, completely uninhabited, and in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Would you be able to survive?

And if you were able to survive, how long do you think it would take before you completely lost your sanity?

This is the story of Alexander Salkirk and always been a bit of a loose canon. Born in 1676 in Fife, Scotland,

he was the son of a tanner, and as a kid he was known for his mischief and restlessness, and often

got into trouble. His first run-in with the authorities was at 17 when he was charged

with indecent conduct in a church. A few years later, Alexander accidentally drank saltwater.

His younger brother found this funny and laughed at him, but rather than any normal reaction

to some light teasing, Alexander attacked his brother and almost shot him before getting

wrestled to the ground by some bystanders. This landed him back in court, or at least it would

have if he had any intention of showing up. Some people think Alexander behaved the way he did

because his mother was too easy on him. Alexander was her seventh son, and there was an old

Scottish superstition that a seventh son was lucky. The seventh son was supposedly a man who could have

special powers like being able to see into the future. So no matter how strict his father's discipline was, his mom would always let him off in the

belief that he was somehow gifted.

And in fact, she wasn't entirely wrong.

Alexander was one of the most intelligent kids in his school.

He had a knack for problem solving and a talent specifically for the mathematics of navigation.

Because this, his mother often told him he'd be a great sailor.

His father, on the other hand, didn't like the idea of his son leaving for a life in the ocean.

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