Initially, Selkirk felt his odds of survival safer on the island than aboard the ship with Stradling. The rotting oak hull leaked and the Cinque Ports was destined for a watery grave. The island, however, was the only friendly port where English and French ships could recover from or prepare for braving the rough seas between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. Others who had been shipwrecked, marooned, or accidentally abandoned had been rescued, so Selkirk felt certain he and those who joined him from the Cinque Ports need only wait three or four months at most before being rescued. Yet, none of his shipmates joined him, and as the ship weighed anchor in October 1704, the enormity of being marooned frightened Selkirk. He pleaded with Stradling to let him return to the ship, but his pleas were ignored. Helpless, he watched the Cinque Ports sail away. Unbeknownst to him, the rescue he hoped for would not come for more than four years.
The loneliness tormented Selkirk. He grew weak and wished for death. Instead, he lived. He found solace in reading his Bible and in prayer. When his meager rations ran out, he drank spring water and feasted on lobsters, seals, sea lions, and wild goats. With no other humans to converse with, he eventually forgot how to speak, but he remained in good health. Having no powder for his musket, he constructed tools - knife, harpoon, saw, fishing hooks - from its various parts. He fashioned a cap and coat from goat hides, sewing the garments together with a nail. He built two huts from tree branches and grass. He rubbed two sticks together to make fire. His only fears were melancholy and the possibility a Spanish ship would come to the island.
