Mutiny in Robinson Crusoe and Beyond

by Rachel McGinnis

Mutiny on the open seas is as common to pirate lore as buried treasure and "X" marking the spot.  A story about pirates simply would not be complete without some form of mutiny that typically results in a death or marooning in a desolate region of the world, whether on an island or an uninhabited seacoast.

Similarly, the novel Robinson Crusoe, which tells the story of an unfortunate man who is shipwrecked on an undiscovered island for twenty-eight years, employs this typical element of piracy.  Although the primary portion of the book contains a number of seamen who ar...