__NOTOC__ Patrick Watkins was an Irish sailor who was marooned on

Floreana Floreana Island () is a southern island in Ecuador's Galápagos Archipelago. The island has an area of . It was formed by volcanic eruption. The island's highest point is Cerro Pajas at , which is also the highest point of the volcano like most ...

, an island of the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

, from 1805 to 1809. He is the first known permanent resident of the Galapagos. According to later accounts, Watkins managed to survive by hunting, growing vegetables, and trading with visiting whalers, before finally stealing a

longboat A longboat is a type of ship's boat that was in use from ''circa'' 1500 or before. Though the Royal Navy replaced longboats with launches from 1780, examples can be found in merchant ships after that date. The longboat was usually the largest bo ...

from a

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

ship, impressing five of its crew as his "slaves", and navigating to

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. Watkins was the only one of the six to survive the journey.

Legacy

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa (born 11 October 1936 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands) is a Spanish novelist, inventor and industrialist. His novels have sold over 25 million copies worldwide. He is the owner of A.V.F.S.L, a desalinization c ...

based his 1982 novel ''Iguana'' on the case of Watkins. Later, the novel was cinematized by American director

Monte Hellman Monte Hellman (; born Monte Jay Himmelbaum; July 12, 1929 – April 20, 2021) was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the ho ...

in 1988.Iguana DVD Video Review
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References

Citations

Bibliography

* . Irish sailors Galápagos Islands Date of birth missing Date of death missing {{Ireland-bio-stub