Editing Alexander Selkirk (section)

===Rescue===
[[File:Serkirk being taken aboard the Duke.jpg|thumb|alt=Selkirk, seated in a ship's boat, being taken aboard ''Duke''.|The rescued Selkirk, seated at right, being taken aboard ''Duke''.]]
Selkirk's long-awaited deliverance came on 2 February 1709 by way of ''Duke'',{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|pp=124–125}} a [[privateer]]ing ship [[maritime pilot|piloted]] by William Dampier, and its sailing companion ''Duchess''.{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|p=6}} [[Thomas Dover]] led the landing party that met Selkirk.{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|p=124}} After four years and four months without human company, Selkirk was almost incoherent with joy.{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|p=129}} The ''Duke''{{'s}} captain and leader of the expedition was [[Woodes Rogers]], who wryly referred to Selkirk as the governor of the island. The agile castaway caught two or three goats a day and helped restore the health of Rogers' men, who had developed [[scurvy]].{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|pp=131–132}}

Captain Rogers was impressed by Selkirk's physical vigour, but also by the peace of mind that he had attained while living on the island, observing: "One may see that solitude and retirement from the world is not such an insufferable state of life as most men imagine, especially when people are fairly called or thrown into it unavoidably, as this man was."{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|p=130}} He made Selkirk ''Duke''{{'}}s [[second mate]], later giving him command of one of their prize ships, ''Increase'',{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|p=147}} before it was ransomed by the Spanish.{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|p=220}}

Selkirk returned to privateering with a vengeance. At [[Guayaquil]] in present-day Ecuador, he led a boat crew up the [[Guayas River]] where several wealthy Spanish ladies had fled, and looted the gold and jewels they had hidden inside their clothing.{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|pp=178–179}} His part in the hunt for treasure [[Manila galleon|galleons]] along the coast of Mexico resulted in the capture of ''[[Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación y Desengaño|Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación y Desengaño]]'',{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|p=294}} renamed ''Bachelor'', on which he served as sailing master under Captain Dover to the [[Dutch East Indies]].{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|p=312}} Selkirk completed the around-the-world voyage by the [[Cape of Good Hope]] as the sailing master of ''Duke'',{{sfnp|Cooke|1712|p=61}} arriving at [[The Downs (ship anchorage)|the Downs]] off the English coast on 1 October 1711.{{sfnp|Rogers|1712|p=427}} He had been away for eight years.{{sfnp|Funnell|1707|p=3}}