1774 Benard / Carteret View and Chart of Mas Afuera (Alejandro Selkirk Island), Chile

This 1774 view and chart details Más Afuera Island (now Alejandro Selkirk Island), encountered on a 1766 - 1769 British voyage of circumnavigation captained by Philip Carteret. It was engraved by Robert Benard and published in the 1774 French translation of John Hawkesworth's An Account of the Voyages…, a very popular work which helped publicize British discoveries in the Pacific.

A Closer Look

Más Afuera lies in the Juan Fernandez Archipelago, some 540 miles off the coast of Chile. Measuring about nineteen square miles, Más Afuera is a relatively young island (1-2 million years old), formed by a submarine shield volcano. It is densely wooded and craggy, with few places suitable for landing or anchorage.

This view is oriented towards the southeast, looking at the northwest side of the island. The moorings of the Swallow, Carteret's ship, are noted with soundings in all directions. A stretch of coral rock (rocher de corail) is indicated, as is a distinctive 'hole in the rock' on the south side of the island that could be used for bearings. An inset at bottom-left provides a view of the island at a greater distance (twenty-three leagues).

Alexander Selkirk

Some sixty years before Carteret sailed past the Juan Fernandez Islands, they had been home to a marooned sailor named Alexander Selkirk. Born in Scotland, Selkirk was a rebellious youth who escaped punishment for 'indecent conduct in church' by taking to a life on the seas, serving as a privateer for the English in the South Pacific. Following a dispute with his captain over the seaworthiness of their leaking ship, Selkirk was left on Más a Tierra (near Más Afuera) with some basic supplies. His fears about the ship proved were borne out, as it later foundered off the coast of Columbia and was captured by the Spanish.

As for Selkirk, he survived for over four years on the island, finding reliable supplies of food, building a cozy hut, and evading the occasional Spanish landing party, before he was rescued by another English privateer. He quickly returned to a life of privateering, but his remarkable story was soon recorded by fellow sailors and became well-known in England. He is believed to have been an important influence on Daniel Defoe's character Robinson Crusoe. In 1966, the Chilean government, seeking to draw tourists to the otherwise forgotten Juan Fernandez Islands, renamed Más a Tierra 'Isla Róbinson Crusoe' and Más Afuera 'Isla Alejandro Selkirk.'

Publication History and Census

This view was based on a drawing by Philip Carteret and was engraved by Robert Benard. It appeared as Plate 8 in Volume 1 of Relation des voyages entrepris par ordre de Sa Majesté Britannique, actuellement regnante, pour faire des découvertes dans l'hémisphère méridional, a 1774 French translation of the English-language book An Account of the Voyages… published the previous year by John Hawkesworth. The map is only independently cataloged in the holdings of the National Library of Australia, while the English-language original ('A View of the N.W. Side of Mas-A-Fuera') is held by the University of Kansas, the National Library of New Zealand, and the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. Hawkesworth's entire text is more widely distributed in institutional holdings, though somewhat less so in the French translation.