Welcome to another bonus episode of Calm History, an extra treat for my Sok Plus members.

This is the true story about Alexander Selkirk, the castaway who inspired the novel, Robinson

Caruso.

But I'll also be highlighting Daniel Defoe, the man who wrote

Robinson Crusoe. Why? Because Daniel Defoe never admitted that he based any of his novel on the true story of Alexander Salkirk.

But I'll present some evidence to you that may suggest that he did, and then you can judge

for yourself. But most of this episode will focus on the fascinating and true story of Alexander Selkirk,

the man who was stranded on an island in 1705, all by himself, and then survived for over four

years. Now, if you've heard that Selkirk was a pirate who was abandoned on an island

due to some dirty deeds, that's not exactly true. Rather, he was a buccaneer turned privateer,

who actually wanted to be left on the island, which begs two big questions.

Question one, why did he want to be stranded on an island? I'll share the full details in this

episode.

And question number two,

what the heck is the difference between a pirate, a buccaneer, and a privateer?

For that complete answer, you'll need to listen to Archive episode number. 33 about the Golden Era of Piracy and bonus episode

number 59 about the pirate Captain Henry Morgan.

In this episode, I'll be focused on the nitty-gritty and often sandy survival story of Alexander Selkirk,

including his rascal nature, which is part of the reason he was stuck on the island.

His challenges on the island with rats, sea lions, and Spanish sailors.

His brilliant uses of old nails, old barrels, and feral cats. No, don't worry. He didn't eat the cats.

His mysterious way of hunting goats, as well as my theory of how he did actually hunt

...