Tropical Island Survival From Robinson Crusoe

Presentation By: Josh Wagner

The Summary

Robinson Crusoe is a story about a man named Robinson Crusoe who leaves his comfortable home and goes to sea. From the beginning of his new life he is continually making brash decisions and and because of these decisions finding himself in all sorts of dire circumstances. In his greatest misfortune Robinson Crusoe becomes stranded on a uninhabited Island far away from all civilized life….

Stuck on the small tropical Island, Robinson Crusoe has to learn to survive with what the Island has to offer. It should be noted that in the book Crusoe doesn’t have to start totally from scratch. He does have many provisions and tools that he manages to save from his shipwreck. Still most of his provisions don’t last him long and he has to learn and use almost all the skills necessary to tropical island survival.

Intro to Tropical Island Survival

Compared to most survival situations, a tropical island like that which Robinson Crusoe was stranded on is the ideal place to have to survive; especially if you know what you are doing. It has everything you need: food, fresh water, lots of wood and thatch, and a very friendly climate. If the island is small and secluded it is very likely that it will be free from any kind of threatening predators though one will always have to be cautious of poisonous reptiles and insects. The big con of being stranded of a tropical island is the fact that you really are stranded and there is usually no way of getting back to civilization without outside help.

The Keys to Survival

• Finding a constant and reliable source of food

• Finding a constant and reliable source of water

• Finding a way to stay thoroughly sheltered from weather

• Creating and maintaining Fire

Finding a Reliable Source of Food

Tropical Islands are full of all sorts of edible food which aren’t terribly difficult to obtain. There are a variety of edible tropical fruits and vegetation such as Purslane, Sea Grapes, the fruit of the Geiger Tree, and of course Coconuts. Surrounded by sea, you can find many different types of edible sea creatures, such as different types of fish and shellfish. Also, there will be many land animals and birds which you may attempt to catch. Getting your hands on any type of meat besides possibly shellfish will take a lot of effort and ingenuity. Know that obtaining certain foods like fish and fresh coconuts can be very difficult at first, but it is important to learn. Limiting yourself to only that which doesn’t take a bit of skill to get may lower your food variety to the point where you become malnourished. You can’t just eat bananas.

Finding a Reliable source of Fresh Water

When finding yourself stranded, a source of water is your first priority. You can only live about three days before you die of dehydration; especially in a hot climate. Ocean water is not an option. The salt will dehydrate you faster than the water will hydrate you. Drinking stagnant fresh water is also a bad idea because it will be contaminated with multiplying bacteria and possibly get you very sick. Boiling stagnant fresh water is an option but most likely there will be nothing to boil the water in. Rain water is safe and can be collected and drunk from large leaves but is a terribly unreliable source. The best thing is to find fresh and quickly running water. Unless the island is extremely small, you should be able to find some sort of fresh water running from the main land into the ocean. All you have to do is follow the shore line until you come to an a stream outlet.

Staying Sheltered Probably the best option for a shelter is to build your self some sort of hut. You need to have a roof to protect yourself from heavy rain and sun, and walls are good to keep the critters away while you sleep. You can construct a basic roofed structure with some large and small branches, vines or twisted bark, and some sort of thatch like palm branches. Building a quick shelter is a simple and easy procedure. Though you don’t want to waste too much time on a shelter until after you have secured a way of getting food and water, building a more permanent and secure structure later on is a very good idea. To build a more permanent one will be much harder and may take a lot of work and experimentation. One may try burning controlled fires at the base of small trees as a way to get posts or beams. You should build at the shore where you will be less in the wilderness and safer at night. Also shelters should be close to your water source.

Creating and Maintaining a

Fire

Unless you happen to have a lighter or matches on you, creating and maintaining a fire is probably the hardest thing that has to be done. Even if you know what you are doing, it will take many, many hours before you will manage to pull it off. Then you have to get it going before it dies. Fortunately, when surviving on a tropical island, having a fire isn’t quite so urgent, though it is still necessary. It is probably better to secure your other needs before attempting to get a fire going. The best method for making a fire is the bow and drill method using wood and a cord of some sort like a shoe lace. It is a complicated procedure, and you may want to look it up. Once a fire is going it should be maintained constantly so that you don’t have to go through the ordeal of starting one again. It is smart to keep up a stock of fire wood and build some sort of roof over the fire so that it won’t be put out by rain.

Works Cited

• "Edible Plants Found of Tropical Beaches.” caske2000 12Jan2009

<http://www.caske2000.org/survival/beachplants.htm>.

• Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. A Norton Critical Edition. New

York: W.W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC. , 1975.

• "How To Survive On An Island." the-survival-guide 12 Jan 2009

<http://the-survival-guide.com/

index2.php?option=com_content&task=v...>.