The year is 1704, and Alexander Selkirk signed up as a sailing master on the Cinque Ports, an English vessel under commission by the King of England during the War of Spanish Succession. In years prior, Selkirk had joined buccaneering voyages. Buccaneering is a more pleasant-sounding term for piracy and was usually the term used for pirates in the Caribbean. The Caribbean was far away from governing authorities frowning on such activity, and there were many benefits to reap from this line of work.

But this voyage was different.

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