The island made famous by the novel "Robinson Crusoe" also provided a refuge for starving Saints aboard the ship Brooklyn in 1846, and today is home to a thriving branch of nearly 60 members.

It was on Robinson Crusoe Island, remote in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, where the Saints bound from New York to California stopped during their six-month passage in 1846. Here, one of its passengers was buried with as much pathos as burials that followed on the cross-continental wagon trains of 1847-69.And in recent times, a branch has been established among a faithful people who exemplify the strong spirit of "modern pioneers."

The island gained its fame from British seaman Alexander Selkirk who was stranded here from 1704-1709. It was his experience that inspired author Daniel Defoe to write the famous novel.

Robinson Crusoe Island is the largest of three islands comprising the Juan Fernandez archipelago located some 400 miles off the coast of Chile. The main village, San Juan Bautista, which overlooks Cumberland Bay, has about 600 people. The isle is about 57 miles in circumference, and its highest peak, El Yunque, is about 500 yards in elevation.

Spanish navigator Juan Fernandez discovered the island chain in 1574, and the first inhabitants came in 1749 when the Spanish built a fort here. After the fort was abandoned, the island became a refuge for pirates and corsairs that sailed the Pacific. In 1815 a group of Chilean patriots was confined here by the Spanish government for various years. In 1915, the German cruiser Dresden was sunk in the Bay of Cumberland during World War I.

Today, the Juan Fernandez Islands are solitary and quiet, and the trip here is an adventure that begins in Santiago, Chile, in a small, five-passenger airplane. From the windows of the airplane, the coast of Chile and the high, looming Andes Mountain soon shrink in the distance as the aircraft ventures into the immensity of the Pacific. The journey spans nearly 500 miles and takes more than three hours. Eventually, from among the clouds rise the mountains of Juan Fernandez Islands and the airplane lands in a strip of land that well could be confused with a mountain road.

From the landing strip, one must walk to a small bay and there ride a launch for another hour to reach the Cumberland Bay and Robinson Crusoe Island.

Following the stopover of the ship Brooklyne, the next Latter-day Saints to arrive on the island came some 135 years later. Ricardo Ponce of Santiago, Chile, was assigned by his employment to be municipal clerk for the island chain. With his wife and three children, he moved to the island and immediately began sharing the gospel with others. Two missionaries from the Chile Vina del Mar Mission came and baptized a family named Lopez in 1982. The branch continues to grow and has about 56 members now.

Branch Pres. Pedro Chamorro was baptized with his family in 1983. His wife, Lucerina, told of their conversion:

"When I was a child, I always prayed to Heavenly Father to know the truth. I always had the feeling that I did not have the truth. In 1982 while working with the Ponce family, I paid close attention to their ways and kindness. On one occasion, I looked over a table to a book that drew great attention: the Book of Mormon."

She said she began to read this book and "over me came a feeling of peace that is indescribable; my eyes filled with tears as I felt the Holy Spirit. I felt that here was the truth I had searched for."

She shared her experience with her husband and Brother Ponce, and soon the missionaries were teaching the Chamorro family. They were baptized after receiving the lessons.

Pres. Chamorro, a fisherman, said that the small group of Saints have the spirit of pioneers as they live in harmony and help one another. Missionaries come each summer, and the president of the Chile Santiago North Mission, which now includes the islands, comes once a year.

As he walks along the island, Pres. Chamorro is greeted by his neighbors as "Brother Peter." The general fraternity among the three religious groups on the island is evident.

"Although we are here in a very distant place and with little contact with the continent and the rest of the membership, we feel that we are a part of the Church," said Pres. Chamorro. "The gospel is a great blessing; I cannot imagine my life without it."

It was here at Cumberland Bay that the hungry, travel-weary company of Saints aboard the Brooklyn found refuge. Among them were Isaac and Laura Hotchkiss Goodwin and their seven children.

Many years later, Augusta Joyce Crocheron quoted the writings of her mother, Caroline A. Perkins Joyce, a passenger, in describing this period in the voyage:

"The drinking water grew thick and ropey with slime, so that it had to be strained between the teeth, and the taste was dreadful. One pint a day was the allowance to each person to carry to his stateroom. Still worse grew the condition of the ship. Rats abounded in the vessel; cockroaches and small vermin infected the provisions until eternal vigilance was the price imposed on every mouthful." (Our Pioneer Heritage, 3:504.)

Forced away from the port of Valparaiso, Chile, by a strong gale, the ship managed to reach Robinson Crusoe Island. The ship and grateful passengers entered Cumberland Bay on May 4, 1846. However, during the unfortunate gale, additional despair was wrought on the ship. Laura Goodwin, 33, expecting her eighth child, fell while descending a companionway. She lost the baby and died on May 6, two days after the Brooklyn arrived at Robinson Crusoe Island.

The islands of Juan Fernandez were the first land the Saints stepped upon in three months of navigation. Although the five-day stay was a blessing for the suffering Saints, the burial of Laura Hotchkiss Goodwin was a difficult time for all. It was described by Carolyn A. Perkins Joyce as an "occasion so sorrowful, the presence of the seven little children

ages 17 months to 11 yearsT sobbing in their uncontrollable grief, and the father in his loneliness trying to comfort them."

However, she continued, "the sight of and tread upon terra firma once more was such a relief from the ship life.

"The passengers bathed and washed their clothing in fresh water, gathered fruit and potatoes, caught fish and some eels, great spotted creatures that looked so much like snakes that some members could not eat them when cooked." (Our Pioneer Heritage, 3:506.)

It is supposed that the Laura Goodwin gravesite was located at the mouth of the "Cave of the Patriots," near the center of the bay. Near that cave is a stream of fresh water where the immigrants gathered some 18,000 gallons for the Brooklyn.

However, after the passage of so many years, it is doubtful if the grave exists today as severe erosion has effaced the land.