QUARANTINE BLOG # 425

May 29, 2021

Marooned in London

Alexander Selkirk had left London with little more than the clothes in his sea chest. Now, eight years later, he returned to the city a wealthy man.

The sale of the treasure aboard the Manila galleon, and from 20 captured merchant ships brought $25 million. Investors – who had bought and outfitted the Duke and Duchess for $2 million – took two-thirds of the profit. The remaining third was shared by the two crews according to rank and duties. Rogers’s share came to $250,000. Selkirk received $125,000.

Sometime in 1712 Woodes Rogers published a book. A Cruising Voyage Round the World was an account of his privateering voyage Rogers. Sections told about the rescue of Selkirk on Juan Fernandez and the capture of the Manila galleon. Richard Steele, a London journalist, also told Selkirk’s story for his magazine, The Englishman. 

Selkirk, the man who had survived four years alone on an island, became a celebrity. Rogers escorted him about town and introduced him to rich friends. He was invited to dinner parties.

Following Rogers’s advice, Selkirk tried to talk about his four years alone. A brief mention that he wore a jacket and breeches of goatskin brought on helpless laughter, itching and scratching, the elegant guests pretending the prickly skins touched their flesh.

Interest soon waned. He was a merely an amusement, a novelty to occupy an idle hour. Then, out of the blue, a chance came to return to his island. A meeting with Woodes Rogers offered the possibility.

Rogers had become a successful businessman, sending merchant ships to the Bahamas. Now that peace had been restored between England and Spain, a profitable venture was in the works. The South Sea Company planned to set up trading posts along the coastal towns of South America.

Juan Fernandez would become a supply depot. Selkirk knew the island best. Would he help set up the colony? 

The South Seas Company had already spent $18 million, and more government money was pledged. Even Queen Anne was interested. But within weeks, the money was gone, the venture was over, and the South Seas Company was bankrupt. There would be no supply depot on Juan Fernandez. Queen Anne and all those high government officials refused to say what had happened. For Selkirk, any hope he might have had of returning to his island home was now gone.

Largo and Beyond

In the spring of 1714 Selkirk left London for his home in Largo, Scotland. Arriving on Sunday, he stepped into the Presbyterian church. No one recognized him, elegantly dressed in gold-laced clothes. Eventually, his mother did, and rushed to his arms, unconscious of the impropriety of her conduct and the interruption of the service.

The joy of homecoming lasted only a few days. The questions, the stares, and the hearty slaps on the back began to get on his nerves. He became uncomfortable with well-meaning neighbors and family members. For respite, he enlarged a cave on a hill side. He cobbled together a bench, and sat, staring across the bay.

Soon came the day when Alexander left. He gave a boy a penny to follow with his sea chest on a cart. He boarded the ferry to Edinburgh, and found a ship to London.

In 1716 he enlisted in the Royal Navy, and was assigned to H.M.S. Enterprise. 

In June 1721 as second in command, aboard the H.M.S. Weymouth hunting pirates and slave traders in West Africa, Selkirk sent a boat up the Gambia River to find fresh water and cut wood for the cook stove. The crew was captured by natives. Selkirk was able to rescued his men, but they returned to the ship with a deadly sickness, malaria.

In November, Selkirk became ill. On December 13, 1721, the Weymouth’s  captain entered a new name in the ship’s log. Alexander Selkirk had died.

Selkirk’s body was enclosed in a sack made from an old sail, and weighted with two cannonballs, one at the head and one at the feet. Then it was placed on a plank and lifted onto the ship’s rail. The plank was tilted, and Selkirk’s body slid into the gray waves somewhere off the coast of Africa.

On a hill on Juan Fernandez stands a bronze tablet. The spot is called Selkirk’s Lookout. A tablet was placed by the officers of a British warship, H.M.S. Topaze. The plaque incorrectly says, “He died A.D. 1728, aged 47 years.” It was actually 1721, and he was 41.

Next week the conclusion of “The Real Robinson.”

👉  No one knows the author, of “How Firm a Foundation,” because in its first publication in 1787, the line reserved for the author’s name simply bore the letter K. Because the hymn appeared in a collection published by Rev. John Rippon, pastor Carter’s Lane Baptist Church in London, many attribute the composition to Robert Keene, the minister of music there.

The unique power of this hymn is due to the fact that each of the original stanzas was based on various biblical promises.  The first verse established the hymnist’s theme – God’s Word is a sufficient foundation for our faith.  The author then selected precious promises from the Bible, and converted these into hymn stanzas, among them:

     ■ “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

    ■ “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you” (Isaiah 43:2),

    ■ “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

    ■ “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).

No wonder this hymn was first published under the title “Exceedingly Great and Precious Promises.”

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