theoddmentemporium:

Alexander Selkirk: The Real Robinson Crusoe

Alexander Selkirk was a Scottish sailor who spent four years as a castaway on an uninhabited island. An unruly youth Selkirk began buccaneering and in 1703 joined an expedition to the South Seas, sailing on the Cinque Ports. A year after leaving England the ship was brought to restock supplies on an uninhabited island off the coast of Chile.

Here Selkirk raised concerns about the seaworthiness of the vessel and requested to be left behind, counting on an impending visit by another ship. His wish granted, Selkirk promptly regretted it. He chased and called after the ship, but to no avail. Selkirk lived the next four years and four months without any human company. (Incidentally, Cinque Ports did later founder off the coast of Colombia).

Suffering all the while from loneliness, misery and remorse, Selkirk proved resourceful: he built huts out of pimento trees; used his musket to hunt goats and his knife to clean their carcasses; he read from the Bible, finding it a comfort and mainstay for his English. When his clothes wore out, he made new garments from goatskin using a nail for sewing. 

During this time two vessels came to anchor. Unfortunately for Selkirk, both were Spanish and as a Scotsman he risked a terrible fate if captured. Once, Selkirk was spotted and chased by a group of sailors from one of the ships. His Spanish pursuers urinated beneath the tree in which he was hiding, but failed to discover him. 

Selkirk’s long-awaited rescue came in 1709 by way of a passing ship. Selkirk was almost incoherent in his joy. They returned to England in 1711 and he earned a lot of money and small amount of celebrity from his ordeal. Robinson Crusoewas probably based in part on his story.