Juan Fernandez High Sea

The seas around the Juan Fernández Islands offered a distant refuge to ships that had rounded South America and entered the Pacific. Crews could seek fresh water and provisions on the islands before continuing along the Spanish American coast. In 1704 the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was put ashore on Más a Tierra after a dispute with his captain. He remained there alone for more than four years before a passing expedition rescued him in 1709.