Daniel Defoe’s adventure story “Robinson Crusoe” burst onto the scene in 1719 as one of the first English novels. It was an instant literary success. The story of the ingenious shipwrecked sailor quickly gained popularity and became a cornerstone of English adventure literature. But the fictitious Robinson Crusoe had a lesser-known real-life counterpart: Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish privateer who spent four years as a castaway in the early 1700s and provided inspiration for Defoe’s tale.
Selkirk isn’t the only notable real-life castaway, of course. The following list outlines the exciting true stories of four famous survivors who lived a reality that has fascinated novelists and filmmakers for generations: survival on a desert island.
