Cinque_Ports_(1703_ship)
Cinque Ports was an English ship whose sailing master was Alexander Selkirk,[1] generally accepted as a model for the fictional Robinson Crusoe.[2] The ship was part of a 1703 expedition commanded by William Dampier, who captained the accompanying ship, the 26-gun St George with a complement of 120 men.[3]
- Cinque Ports is also the name for a group of five English port towns, the namesake of this ship.
When the War of the Spanish Succession broke out in 1701, English privateers were recruited to act against French and Spanish interests.[4] Despite a court-martial for cruelty to one of his crew in an earlier voyage,[5] Dampier was granted command of the two-ship expedition which departed England on 30 April 1703 for the port of Kinsale in Ireland.[6]