Rogers sends a party ashore the next morning and discovers that the fire is from Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, who had been stranded there four years previously.

Almost incoherent in his joy, the agile Selkirk, catching two or three goats a day, helps restore the health of Rogers' scurvy-ravaged men.

According to Rogers' journal, Rogers found Selkirk to be "wild-looking" and "wearing goatskins", noting, "He had with him his clothes and bedding, with a firelock, some powder, bullets and tobacco, a hatchet, a knife, a kettle, a Bible and books." (The Daily Telegraph, January 5, 2009.)

Selkirk, who had been part of the ship's crew that abandoned Dampier after losing confidence in his leadership, is at first reluctant to join the expedition because of the presence of his old commodore, but eventually does so.

Serving initially as a mate aboard the Duke, he will later be given command of a small ship captured by the expedition., and will conclude the voyage as master of the Duke.

Rogers' A cruising voyage round the world: first to the South-Sea, thence to the East-Indies, and homewards by the Cape of Good Hope will be published in 1712 and include an account of Selkirk's ordeal.

He is to become the inspiration for the classic novel Robinson Crusoe, written by Rogers' friend, Daniel Defoe.