Later Life
When he got back to England, the journalist Richard Steele interviewed Selkirk about his adventures and wrote a much-read article about him in The Englishman. After a few months of living in London, he began to seem more like his old self again. Enriched by his share of the Duke's plundered wealth—about £800 (equivalent to £106,000 today)—Selkirk appeared set to enjoy a life of ease and celebrity. Nevertheless, the sea would continue to beckon him.
Early in 1717 Selkirk returned to Lower Largo. There he met Sophia Bruce, a sixteen-year-old dairymaid. They eloped to London but apparently did not marry. In March 1717 he went off to sea again. While on a visit to Plymouth, he married a widowed innkeeper named Frances Candis. In November 1720 he joined the Royal Navy. Selkirk was serving as a master's mate on board the HMS Weymouth when, according to the ship's log, he died on 13 December 1721, evidently succumbing to the yellow fever that had plagued the voyage. He was buried at sea off the west coast of Africa.
Those who spoke to Selkirk after his rescue, such as Captain Rogers and the journalist Steele, were impressed by the tranquillity of mind and vigour of body that Selkirk had attained while on the island. Rogers stated that "One may see that solitude and retirement from the world is not such an insufferable state of life as most men imagine, especially when people are fairly called or thrown into it unavoidably, as this man was." Steele added that "This plain man's story is a memorable example, that he is happiest who confines his wants to natural necessities; and he that goes further in his desires, increases his wants in proportion to his acquisitions."
Read more about this topic: Alexander Selkirk
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“We find it easy to set limits when the issue is safety.... But 99 percent of the time there isn’t imminent danger; most of life takes place on more ambiguous ground, and children are experts at detecting ambivalence.”
—Cathy Rindner Tempelsman (20th century)
“I suffer whenever I see that common sight of a parent or senior imposing his opinion and way of thinking and being on a young soul to which they are totally unfit. Cannot we let people be themselves, and enjoy life in their own way? You are trying to make that man another you. One’s enough.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)