By GARRETT BABB
Staff Writer
Many of you may not know the name Alexander Kirk and his story is generally unknown to many. But I assure you that this tale is as grand and unbelievable as any. In the beginning of his story, Kirk was on board a ship serving as a buccaneer and was an incredibly experienced sailor. Eventually in February 1704 following a stormy passage around Cape Horn (a common path around the southern tip of Africa) the crew fought a long and hard battle with a well-armed French vessel, only to have this French vessel escape from the battle. Them allowing this ship to escape inadvertently led them to later success in ambushing a small fleet in the future, eventually leading to victory with Kirk being in charge of the prize ship and having Kirk and the leader of the crew, Dampier, split. Eventually landing his prize ship on the island of Mas a Tierra, he questioned the ship’s seaworthiness and decided that he would rather stay on the island than set sail on a dangerously leaky ship. So he did exactly that, with nothing but a musket, a hatchet, a knife, a cooking pot, a bible, bedding, and some clothes. He would remain on this island for four years and four months, surviving off of the natural resources that the island offered him and showing incredible survival skills and intuitiveness. He forged blades out of barrel hoops and even had history as a tanner previous to his career as a buccaneer, which allowed him to create his own clothing from the animal hides that he could obtain on the island. He even built small huts on the island, with most of his days spent reading the bible that he took with him, which was said to have helped him cure his boredom and loneliness that he no doubt had will on the island for such a long time. Although he was eventually rescued from the island on the 2nd of February, 1709, his story of survival and hardship would go down as a tale for the ages. With many novels, poems, and even films spawning from his story.