# Whatever happened to Capt. Thomas Stradling? \[From the events that inspired 'Robinson Crusoe'\]

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-capt-thomas-stradling-from-the-events-that-inspired-robinson-crusoe/854941>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 2, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-capt-thomas-stradling-from-the-events-that-inspired-robinson-crusoe/854941 "2020-06-02T18:42:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-capt-thomas-stradling-from-the-events-that-inspired-robinson-crusoe/854941/1 "2020-06-02T18:42:28Z")

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Alexander Selkirk, whose story formed the basis of the novel, was marooned after he decided his chances were better on a desert island than on the leaky old tub that he was traveling on. His suspicions turned out to be correct, as the Cinque Ports would later sink, and the survivors, including Capt. Stradling, fell prisoners to the Spanish near modern-day Colombia?

So. . . Did they die all spend out their days in prison, or did they get released at some point?

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-capt-thomas-stradling-from-the-events-that-inspired-robinson-crusoe/854941/2 "2020-06-02T19:11:51Z")

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From [here:](https://www.mineheadonline.co.uk/captainstradling.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> Selkirk was right about the boat - a few months later it sank. Stradling was rescued by a Jesuit priest then handed over to the Spanish authorities. After four years in Lima, Peru, and a few escape attempts, he was handed over to the captain of a French frigate who brought him back to St Malo, Brittany, France. When he was interrogated in the Castle, he spun a yarn about buried treasure on the Rio Plata and offered to take a boat there in exchange for a percentage. This story went right up to the minister, Pontchartrain, before being discounted…  
> We are now in 1710 and Stradling gets transferred to Dinan in North East Brittany, France. He and 17 other prisoners manage to escape by tying their sheets together and the next we know he is in Jersey. Then he disappears from late 1710/11"

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-capt-thomas-stradling-from-the-events-that-inspired-robinson-crusoe/854941/3 "2020-06-02T19:49:59Z")

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Thanks!