Are there real examples of Robinson Crusoe history? The true story of Robinson Crusoe. Whose adventures are retold in the famous novel

I am sure many of you know about the life of Robinson Crusoe. But few people know that Daniel Defoe described a story that is actually real...

When a sailor from Scotland, Alexander Selkirk, turned 19, he left his family and got into the crew of the Cinque Ports ship, which in pacific ocean in 1703 he took part in the corsair raid of the squadron of the pirate Dampier. Alexander was well treated, so he was appointed assistant captain. And the leadership of the ship after the death of the first captain was taken by Thomas Stradling. He was a rather tough man and treated everyone badly, including Selkirk.

It was too hard for Alexander to be on a ship that went closer to Chile, to the Juan Fernandez archipelago. At this time, he made a conscious decision to leave the ship and stay on one of the islands. Alexander hoped that the British or French would take him sooner or later, so he took with him only what he considered necessary: ​​a knife, an ax, bullets, gunpowder, navigational instruments and a blanket.

Loneliness on the island did not break Selkirk. And his analytical mind helped him survive among wildlife. He built a dwelling for himself, learned to get his own food (hunted marine life, ate plants), tamed wild goats. This went on for a long time. In anticipation of at least some kind of ship, he had to live alone, doing various things necessary for existence (clothing, a calendar, for example). One day he saw a Spanish ship sailing near the shore. But, remembering that England and Spain became rivals, Selkirk decided to hide.

So four years passed. The expedition of Woods Rogers, passing near the island, kindly took Alexander. His appearance, of course, was wild: long hair, a beard that had grown out quite a bit, clothes made of goat skins, he had forgotten human speech, which was restored after a while. Defoe according to the eyewitness Rogers and wrote a novel that is still known. The island where Selkirs lived to this day is called the island of Robinson Crusoe, which attracts many curious tourists.

Alexander Selkirk was born in 1678 in the Scottish village of Largo. At the age of 19, he was tired of a dull existence and he decided to go to serve as a sailor in the navy. During his service, he sailed a lot on the oceans and seas, repeatedly took part in naval battles and, as a result, got into the team of the famous pirate, Captain Damper. Then the restless Alexander served in several more crews of ships, after which he settled on the frigate of Captain Stradling, who made the capable young man his assistant.

The pirate ship with Selkirk on board suffered a minor wreck in May 1704 when a storm carried her to the island of Mas a Tierra, where the frigate was forced to anchor.

After the crash, Alexander remained on the shore with a weapon, an ax, a blanket, tobacco and a spyglass. Alexander fell into despair: he had neither food nor fresh water, and the guy had no choice but to put a bullet in his head. However, the sailor overcame himself and decided to explore the island. In its depths, he discovered an amazing variety of flora and fauna - Alexander began to hunt wild goats and sea ​​turtles, caught fish and made fire with the help of friction. So he was five years old, after which he was picked up by the military.

Books about Alexander Selkirk

The first book about the adventures of Alexander Selkirk, An Industrial Voyage Around the World, was written by Woodes Rogers in 1712. Then the former sailor himself titled "The Intervention of Providence, or the Extraordinary Adventures of Alexander Selkirk, Written in His Own Hand".

The autobiographical book of the future Robinson Crusoe did not become popular - apparently because Selkirk was still a sailor, not a writer.

The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Robinson of York, aged 28 deserted island", was painted by Daniel Defoe in 1719. Many readers recognized the world-famous protagonist of the book as Alexander Selkirk, a forced hermit from Mas-a-Tierra. Daniel Defoe himself has repeatedly confirmed his acquaintance with Selkirk, who was used by the writer in his book. Thanks to Defoe, a living prototype of Robinson Crusoe, a monument was erected in his homeland - the Scottish village of Largo.

If someone has not read the book by Daniel Defoe "The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Robinson Crusoe", then he certainly heard about it. And about the fact that Defoe, on the crest of a wave of his own popularity, hastily writes its continuation? About how his hero, in old age, again leaves a quiet house in order to last time wander around the world, how does one get to Russia? From China, through the Argun post. With extraordinary adventures, Robinson gets through Nerchinsk (here he and his companions burn a pagan idol, hastily flee, fleeing the revenge of the natives, and the governor of Udinsk allocates fifty guards to foreigners), Yeravna, Udinsk, Yeniseisk to Tobolsk. Here he spends the long Siberian winter, and in the summer he returns to dangerous path. Through Tyumen, Solikamsk to Arkhangelsk and from there, finally, sail to his homeland.

Defoe does not always indulge readers with details. For example, we will not know how his hero got from Udinsk to Yeniseisk. But that's why there is not a word about Baikal in the novel, which the traveler could not avoid by any means?! Maybe Defoe did not know about the existence of the lake?

It turns out he couldn't help but know. Studying the famous author's novel, Academician Mikhail Alekseev discovered back in 1924 that, describing Robinson's journey through Siberia, Defoe used maps and a whole library of books on geography. And he singled out from this list the travel diary of the Russian envoy Izbrandt Ides, who was heading to China. Robinson repeats the path of the envoy, only in reverse order.

There is a rather vivid episode in the diary related to Baikal. Ides had to cross the lake on a sleigh, on ice, since it was winter. locals he was warned that Baikal should be treated with respect, called it only the sea, so as not to cause anger and not die. Idee stopped the sleigh, uncorked a bottle of wine and, pouring a glass, exclaimed: “Before God and my companions, I affirm that Baikal is a lake.” And Baikal took this insult! We crossed in clear weather.

Could Defoe not notice such an episode while reading the diary? The issue is most likely something else.

Robinson enters Russia on April 13, 1703. According to calculations, his caravan to Baikal would have approached by the beginning of summer, when the lake is free of ice and presents a serious obstacle: there was, of course, no convenient road around Baikal then. Defoe, always striving for plausibility, understood that as soon as he mentioned the crossing, it would immediately be necessary to lay out at least some details that would give the event credibility: the type of ship, pier, their names. And he did not have any information about Baikal shipping.

But there is a blessing in disguise, Academician Alekseev believes. With a hasty description of Robinson's path, Defoe managed to achieve a curious effect: his hero does not travel, but literally runs through Siberia, which, obviously, seemed to the author himself to be a huge, wild, deserted space.

From the magazine "BAIKAL"

Daniel Defoe's novel "Robinson Crusoe", or rather its first part, was based just on real events.
The prototype of Robinson was the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, the 27-year-old boatswain of the Sankpore ship, which was part of the flotilla under the command of William Dampier, in 1704 went to the shores South America. Hot-tempered and wayward, he constantly came into conflict with the captain of the ship, Stradling. After another quarrel that took place near the island of Mas a Tierra, Selkirk demanded to be dropped off; the captain immediately granted his request. True, later the sailor asked the captain to cancel his order, but he was inexorable, and Selkirk was able to leave the island only after more than four years.

Alexander Selkirk had some things necessary for survival: an ax, a gun, a supply of gunpowder, etc. Suffering from loneliness, Selkirk got used to the island and gradually acquired the necessary survival skills. At first, his diet was meager - he ate shellfish, but over time he got used to it and found feral domestic goats on the island. Once upon a time, people lived here who brought these animals with them, but after they left the island, the goats became wild. He hunted them, thereby adding much-needed meat to his diet. Soon Selkirk tamed them and received milk from them. From vegetable crops, he found wild turnips, cabbage and black pepper, as well as some berries.

Rats were a danger to him, but fortunately for him, wild cats, previously brought by people, also lived on the island. In their company, he could sleep peacefully without fear of rodents. Selkirk built himself two huts out of pimento wood. His gunpowder supplies ran low and he was forced to hunt goats without a gun. While pursuing them, he once became so carried away by his pursuit that he did not notice the cliff from which he fell and lay like that for some time, miraculously surviving.

In order not to forget the English speech, he constantly read the Bible aloud. Not to say that he was a pious person - that's how he heard a human voice. When his clothes began to wear out, he began to use goatskins for them. As the son of a tanner, Selkirk knew well how to dress skins. After his shoes wore out, he did not make himself new ones, because his feet, rough with calluses, allowed him to walk without shoes. He also found old barrel hoops and was able to make something like a knife out of them.

One day, two ships arrived on the island, which turned out to be Spanish, and England and Spain were enemies in those days. Selkirk could have been arrested or even killed, since he was a privateer, and he made the difficult decision for himself to hide from the Spaniards.
Salvation came to him on February 1, 1709. It was the English ship the Duke, with Captain Woodes Rogers, who named Selkirk the governor of the island.

The world-famous novel about the extraordinary adventures of Robinson Crusoe has long been ranked among the classics. As has long been known that Daniel Defoe based the plot of his book on real story that happened to Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor. But not everyone knows that a very similar story happened in Russia a century and a half ago, only our Robinson ended up not on a tropical island, but on the shore of a harsh Sea of ​​Okhotsk. (website)

Stormy youth of the "Russian Robinson"

In 1882, the Russian Starina magazine published an article by Siberian explorer and entrepreneur Alexander Sibiryakov, which spoke about the “Russian Robinson”. This man's name was Sergei Petrovich Lisitsyn. A hereditary nobleman, Lisitsyn graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the prestigious St. Petersburg Imperial University and received a PhD in Mathematics.

Sergei's father was an officer in the Russian army and died in the battle of Silistria. The boy was brought up by his aunt; He spent his childhood in the Kursk province, in the Sosnovka estate. Having received an excellent education, the young nobleman did not wish, however, to engage in scientific and teaching activities and became a cornet of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment.

However, Lisitsyn did not enjoy the vibrant life of the capital's guardsman for long. It ended with a duel between him and the regimental adjutant, which, fortunately, ended without casualties. Now, instead of a magnificent hussar's mentic, Lisitsyn was expected by a dull bureaucratic frock coat. It was unbearable for the retired cornet to become another "Akaky Akakievich". Therefore, he enthusiastically accepts the invitation of his relative, who at that time served in Alaska, to come to the edge of the New World. Lisitsyn was 24 years old when, full of hope and daring plans, he stepped on the deck of a transport ship of the Russian Navy. It was 1847…

How a troublemaker hussar becomes "Robinson"

The officer's wardroom received the retired cornet very friendly. However, he managed to show his cocky disposition here too. Once, drunk Lisitsyn uttered a bunch of impudence to the commander of the ship, for which he was sent under arrest. Sitting in his own locked cabin, he began to incite the guard sailors to mutiny. The captain of the ship ordered to twist the instigator and, blindfolding him, landed on a deserted shore.

Freed from the fetters, the unfortunate rebel tore off the bandage from his eyes and saw a departing ship on the horizon. However, by order of the noble captain, Lisitsyn was left, in addition to suitcases with clothes, a sheepskin coat, three pairs of boots, two pistols, a dagger, a saber, a supply of tea and sugar, a folding knife, a gold pocket watch, a couple of flasks of vodka, a pound of crackers, as well as written supplies, a supply of writing paper, notebooks, tea and razor sets, a supply of matches, paints, pencils, drawing paper, banknotes worth 2,800 rubles, and even two hundred Havana cigars.

This considerable baggage was accompanied by a good gun and 26 charges to it, as well as a note from the ship's commander. He wrote that according to the Naval Charter, the act of "dear Sergei Petrovich" deserves death. However, the captain gives him life, since he spares Lisitsyn's youth and wonderful talents, and moreover, his undoubted kindness of heart. Further, the captain expressed the desire that the difficulties of a solitary life correct the unfortunate character young man. At the end, he added: if someday fate brings us together again, which I really wish, I hope we meet not as enemies ...

Is it easy to be Robinson?

The nobleman Lisitsyn never had to do anything with his own hands: for this, there were serfs on the estate, and a batman in the regiment. The young man knew that the ship was in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, and hoped that they landed him on a piece of land belonging to the ridge of the Kuril or Aleutian Islands. Alas, Lisitsyn soon became convinced that the situation in which he found himself was nowhere worse: the cold waves of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk rose in front of him, behind him the eternal dense taiga rustled, in which there were poisonous snakes, ...

A week passed - and the "Russian Robinson" already had his own house with a stove and furniture. Lisitsyn himself made a bow, arrows and a sling, deciding to save rifle cartridges. By the way, the latter were very useful to him when a flock of hungry wolves broke into the house in winter: the hermit killed eight predators point-blank from a gun. Before that, he was lucky to shoot a bear and provide himself with a supply of bear meat and a warm fur coat. In summer, Lisitsyn fished, gathered mushrooms in the taiga and dried them for future use.

This story was not without Friday. In April, Sergei Petrovich was walking along the seashore, assessing the consequences of recent storms, when he suddenly saw a man lying face down, unconscious. Later it turned out that the man's name was Vasily and he, along with his son, sailed on transport to Russian America. When the ship started to leak, everyone fled from it, and Vasily and his son were forgotten.

The ship was found nearby. In addition to a sixteen-year-old boy, there were eight Kholmogory cows and a bull, sixteen oxen, twenty-six sheep, cats and two shepherd dogs, as well as food supplies, rye and barley seeds, weapons, two spyglasses and a telescope, a samovar, garden and construction tools.

The Russian version of Robinson Crusoe is much more human

Seven months of forced loneliness completely weathered the noble arrogance of the former master. With his assistants, he renovated a house and a bathhouse over the summer, learned how to make sour cream, butter, cottage cheese and cheese, plowed a field, on which he then harvested rye and barley. The labor commune of Lisitsyn organized an abundant catch of river and sea fish, collected and processed mushrooms, berries, forest herbs ...

Chinese smugglers periodically tried to attack the commune, but the settlers used a ship's cannon taken from the ship against them. Once the Russians came to the coast warships sent to protect our borders from uninvited Chinese guests. It was they who helped their compatriots repulse another Chinese attack.

Ten years have passed. In 1857, the writer and scientist Alexander Sibiryakov met with Sergei Petrovich Lisitsyn, the hospitable owner of the Amur gold and copper mines. He found deposits of gold and copper ore at the time of his loneliness. By the way, the government appointed Lisitsyn as the manager of these lands.

Under the “Russian Robinson”, the faithful Vasily “Friday” was inseparably, but his son became a student at Moscow University. At St. Petersburg University, the two sons of the same captain of the ship, who once landed the troublemaker cornet on a deserted shore, studied at the expense of Lisitsyn. Yes, yes, having become rich, Sergei Petrovich found the old man and did not fail to express his gratitude to him. The deceased captain Lisitsyn saw off on his last journey, after which he completely took care of his children. As you can see, the Russian robinsonade turned out to be no less interesting than the story told by Defoe, and much more humane. Is not it?..