The earthquake-triggered tsunami that hurtled away from Chile today smashed into Robinson Crusoe Island, a remote, rocky island named for the fictional, stranded sailor. Daniel Defoe drewn his novel -- sometimes considered the first English-language novel -- from the experience of Alexander Selkirk (or Selcraig), a hot-headed pirate who preyed on ships along the South American coast and was marooned for four years on the island. Defoe took the real-life tale and ran with it in Robinson Crusoe (1719). He shifted the island's location, gave the hero a more suitable back story, and extended the ill-fated sailor's stay to 28 years (maybe he was thinking in terms of dog years). It stands as one of the great adventure tales, along with "Treasure Island" and "Gulliver's Travels." As for Defoe, he went on to write another classic, Moll Flanders.