ABC Wednesday

C is for Castaway

Robinson Crusoe, Gilligan's Island, Alexander Selkirk - all famous castaways, - some of them fictional but Alexander Selkirk an actual castaway from an English Pirate ship.

Three hundred years ago, after a disagreement with his Captain, William Dampier, over the seaworthiness of the ship he sailed on Selkirk demanded that he be set ashore. He was, and although he had second thoughts, the ship sailed off and sank.

Probably just around the next reef!

Selkirk remained in isolation on his island for two years, and was eventually rescued by his former Captain who had survived the sinking of his ship and was back to harassing the Spanish gold ships.

Selkirk went back to pirating, looting Spanish ships and profiting mightily from his activities. Eventually he left the sea and got married, but domesticity was not his cup of tea, and the adventures of the pirate ship lured him back to the waters.

News today of another volunteer cast-a-way. Smoker Geoff Spice is going to great lengths to give up cigarettes by casting himself away on the 40 acre island of Sgarabhaigh (scar'a vay) for thirty days. Other than some sheep Mr. Spice will be on his own and he will be searched to make sure he doesn't have any cigarettes before being let on the island. One desperate phone call will not result in his rescue, - nor two. It will take a third phone call to activate his removal from the island.



To stop him getting bored he will take a guitar, which he hopes to learn to play, an iPod, a mobile phone and a computer (powered by a photo voltaic solar cell with a wind-up handle as a back up to generate electricity.) A castaway on scaravay.......


Tomorrow I am going to work at The Bargain Centre, a place where castaways have another definition, more or less. Some pretty fine castaways from bulging closets are offered for sale at diminutive prices, and in these unhappy economic times the shop gives a whole new meaning to 'castaways'.