View source for Marooning

{{Short description|Intentional act of abandoning a sailor at sea}}
[[Image:Marooned (close up).jpg|thumb|''Marooned'' by [[Howard Pyle]]]]
'''Marooning''' is the intentional act of abandoning someone in an uninhabited area, such as a [[desert island]].<ref name=oed>{{Cite OED|maroon|id=114285}}</ref> The word is attested in 1699, and is derived from the term [[maroons|maroon]], a word for a fugitive slave,<ref name=oed/> which could be a corruption of Spanish ''[[wikt:cimarrón|cimarrón]]'' (rendered as "symeron" in 16th–17th century English<ref name=oed2>{{Cite OED|maroon|id=114284}}</ref>), meaning a household animal (or slave) who has "run wild". ''Cimarrón'' in turn may be derived from the [[Taino language|Taino]] word ''símaran'' (“wild”) (like a stray arrow), from ''símara'' (“arrow”).

The practice was a penalty for crewmen, or for captains at the hands of a crew in cases of [[mutiny]]. Generally, a marooned man was set on a deserted island, often no more than a [[shoal|sand bar]] at [[tide|low tide]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Kraske, Robert|date=2005|title=Marooned: The Strange But True Adventures of Alexander Selkirk|publisher=Clarion Books|isbn=0-618-56843-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/marooned00robe}}</ref> He would be given some food, a container of water, and a loaded pistol so he could die by [[suicide]] if he desired.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Hickox, Rex|title=All you wanted to know about 18th century Royal Navy|pages= 121 |publisher=Lulu.com|date=2007|isbn=978-1-4116-3057-4}}{{self-published source|date=November 2020}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}} The outcome of marooning was usually fatal, but survival was possible if the condemned could obtain a means of escape, as in the case of pirate [[Edward England]].

The chief practitioners of marooning were 17th and 18th century [[piracy|pirates]], to such a degree that they were frequently referred to as "marooners". The [[Pirate code|pirate articles]] of captains [[Bartholomew Roberts]] and [[John Phillips (pirate)|John Phillips]] specify marooning as a punishment for cheating one's fellow pirates or other offences. In this context, to be marooned is euphemistically to be "made governor of an island".

During the late 18th century in the [[southern United States]], "marooning" took on a humorous additional meaning describing an extended camping-out picnic over a period of several days.<ref name=oed/>

== Famous maroonings ==

* 1520: [[Juan de Cartagena]] and Pedro Sánchez de la Reina
* 1542: [[Marguerite de La Rocque]], rescued in 1544 (two others died)
* 1629: [[Wouter Loos]] and Jan Pelgrom de Bye, from ''[[Batavia (1628 ship)|Batavia]]''
* 1704: [[Alexander Selkirk]], rescued in 1709,  another source for ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]''
* 1725: [[Leendert Hasenbosch]], a Dutch sailor, was marooned on the deserted [[Ascension Island]] in 1725 as a punishment for [[sodomy]]. He is believed to have died there of thirst later that year. In 1726, his tent and diary were discovered by passing British sailors, and his diary was later translated and published in London.
* 1807: [[HMS Recruit (1806)#The marooning of Seaman Jeffery|Robert Jeffery]], rescued eight days later. Captain [[Viscount Lake|Warwick Lake]] of {{HMS|Recruit|1806|6}} marooned an [[Impressment|impressed]] seaman, Robert Jeffrey, on [[Sombrero, Anguilla|Sombrero island]]  on 13 December 1807. Eight days later, a passing American vessel, the schooner ''Adams'' from Marblehead, Massachusetts, rescued him. A court martial later dismissed Lake from the Royal Navy.

==In literature==

Probably the most famous literary reference to marooning occurs in [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s ''[[Treasure Island]]'' in which [[Ben Gunn (Treasure Island)|Ben Gunn]] is left marooned on the island for three years.

A famous real-life marooning, initially at his own request, was that of the sailor [[Alexander Selkirk]] on [[Robinson Crusoe Island|Juan Fernández Island]] off the coast of [[Chile]], in the Pacific Ocean. Selkirk, a sailor with the [[William Dampier|Dampier]] expedition, was worried about the unseaworthy condition of his ship, the ''[[Cinque Ports (1703 ship)|Cinque Ports]]'', and had argued with the captain until he left Selkirk ashore on the island where they had briefly stopped for water and food supplies. The ''Cinque Ports'' indeed later sank with the loss of most of her crew. Selkirk was not rescued until four years later, by [[Woodes Rogers]]. Selkirk's travails provided part of the inspiration for [[Daniel Defoe]]'s novel ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]''. Today there are islands off the Chilean coast named [[Alejandro Selkirk Island]] and [[Robinson Crusoe Island]].

==In television==
In 2012, [[Ed Stafford]] marooned himself on an uninhabited island off [[Fiji]] as an experiment for 60 days. He took with him no food, water, or equipment of any kind,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Naked and Marooned with Ed Stafford |author= |website=Radio Times |date=2013 |access-date=27 October 2021 |url= https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/vqpnv/naked-and-marooned-with-ed-stafford-season-1/}}</ref>  except cameras to film the ordeal for [[Discovery Channel]]. Stafford completed the task and documents the psychological repercussions in his book ''Naked and Marooned''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Stafford | first=Ed | title=Naked and marooned : one man, one island | publisher=Plume | publication-place=New York, New York | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-14-218096-9}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Castaway]]
* [[Exile]]
* [[Ostracism]]
* [[Walking the plank]]

==References==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Capital punishment}} 
{{Pirates}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Execution methods]]
[[Category:Pirate customs and traditions]]
[[Category:Mutinies]]
[[Category:Castaways]]