Selkirk, a sailor with the Dampier expedition, was worried about the unseaworthy condition of his ship, the Cinque Ports, and had argued with the captain until he left him ashore on the island where they had briefly stopped for water and food supplies.
He appeared in Troy (2004) playing the Trojan high priest and Prince Telephus, as well as the 2006 Hallmark Channel production of Blackbeard as a marooned sailor.