Robinson Crusoe Island
Isla Mas a Tierra was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966: it is located 600 kilometres off the coast of Chile. The island is a rugged volcanic speck where 70 percent of its plant species are endemic, and is the largest of the Juan Fernandez Islands, a small archipelago that since 1935 is a Chilean National Park which in 1977 was declared a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. This island has witnessed and played an important role in Chilean and world history.
it has a mountainous and undulating terrain, formed by ancient lava flows which have built up from numerous volcanic episodes. The highest point on the island is 915 m above sea level at El Yunque. Intense erosion has resulted in the formation of steep valleys and ridges. A narrow peninsula is formed in the southwestern part of the island called Cordón Escarpado. The island of Santa Clara is located just off the southwest coast. Robinson Crusoe Island lies to the west of the boundary between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate, and rose from the ocean 4 million years ago. On 20 February 1835, a day-long eruption began from a submarine vent 1.6 kilometres north of Punta Bacalao. The event was quite minor—only a Volcanic Explosivity Index 1 eruption—but it produced explosions and flames that lit up the island, along with tsunamis.
The island was first named Juan Fernandez Island after Juan Fernández, a Spanish sea captain and explorer who was the first to land there in 1574. It was also known as Más a Tierra . In 1704, the sailor Alexander Selkirkwas marooned there, living in solitude for four years and four months. Selkirk had been gravely concerned about the seaworthiness of his ship, Cinque Ports (which ended up sinking very shortly after), and declared his wish to be left on the island during a mid-voyage restocking stop. His captain, Thomas Stradling, a colleague on the voyage of privateer and explorer William Dampier, was tired of his dissent and obliged. All Selkirk had left with him was a musket, gunpowder, carpenter's tools, a knife, a Bible, and some clothing. The story of Selkirk's rescue is included in the 1712 book A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World by Edward Cooke.
1750 the village of San Juan Bautista was founded at Cumberland Bay and by 1779 there were already 7 small fortresses bristling with guns. The island’s isolation offered Spain a splendid place for setting up a penal colony, to which high-ranking Chilean patriots were deported in the early 19th century.
In 1915, during the First World War, three British ships and a German one, the Dresden, engaged in a sea battle which ended with the scuttling of the German cruiser. .http://www.davidgrant.org/holidays/2023-williams-papetee/12-robinson-crusoe-island/robinson-crusoe-island.html
In an 1840 narrative, Two Years Before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. described the port of Juan Fernandez as a young prison colony. The penal institution was soon abandoned and the island again became uninhabited before a permanent colony was eventually established in the latter part of the 19th century. Joshua Slocum visited the island between 26 April and 5 May 1896, during his solo global circumnavigation on the sloop Spray. The island and its 45 inhabitants are referred to in detail in Slocum's memoir, Sailing Alone Around the World.
On 27 February 2010 Robinson Crusoe Island was hit by a tsunami following a magnitude 8.8 earthquake. The tsunami was about 3 m high when it reached the island. Sixteen people lost their lives, and most of the coastal village of San Juan Bautista was washed away. The only warning the islanders had came from a 12-year-old girl, who noticed the sudden drawback of the sea that forewarns of the arrival of a tsunami wave and saved many of her neighbours from harm.
Today there are currently around one thousand people living n the archipelago, most of them in the village of San Juan Bautista engaged in fishing for the “spiny lobster”, a delicacy exported to the mainland.
click on a thumbnail to get a bigger photo
March 20th
We anchored of Bahia Padre om the southern side of Robinson Crusoe Island. We then had a 75 minute zodiac cruise with Jamie, who was passionate about the Juan Fernandez fur seals we found there, also an excellent zodiac driver.
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We had lunch on the back deck as the ship repositioned to Cumberland Bay in the north; fantastic volcanic mountains. We disembarked at 1.15 for the medium walk, about 50 of us. We passed 2 guns which David thought were from the Dresden; but back home he duscovered that they were actually WW2 defence guns installed by Chile! Then we reached the island's seedbank greenhouse and a fig tree with lots of the island's rare firebrand humming bird.
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We continued upwards for about 3k, passing through a fairy ring and then walking for 40 minutes along a circular board walk with hundreds of steps. By this time we were last and were escorted all the way down by Damon , but also Anthony for a while. Once back at the shore we did a detour of about 600m along the shore to get to their over loud party: pisco sours, pirates and questionable canapees.
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It was hairy boardjing the zodiac and getting out of it.. Dinner but overtired.
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Some other images of Robinson Crusoe Island |
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on to, the confusingly named, Alexander Selkirk Island