"The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World" Roll 3, Section 29/44

[ The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World is viewed from right to left ]

The famous island of Juan Fernandez lies 540 miles off the coast of Chile. This was the fabled home of Alexander Selkirk, a real-life castaway, upon whom Daniel Defoe based his 1719 novel, Robinson Crusoe. Whalers and other mariners frequently visited the island for fresh water and fish. Here a whaler lies hove-to while a boat’s crew goes in-shore to fish (see page 52). Crusoe’s cave is seen onshore as is an interpretation of Robinson Crusoe himself with his goat. Other goats with which the place was stocked can also be seen on the hillside.

A view of the island of Juan Fernandez, or Más a Tierra, as it is officially known, and the cave dwellings of the Spanish convicts sent from the Chilean mainland for sentencing in 1819. The crew from a whaler can be seen exercising on the beach.