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.
 Unless you happen to have a lighter or
Creating and matches on you, creating and maintaining a
fire is probably the hardest thing that has to
Maintaining a be done. Even if you know what you are
doing, it will take many, many hours before
Fire 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...>.