Robinson Crusoe, the Englishman who was marooned off the coast of Trinidad, has captured the imagination of readers and critics alike since the book first released. The trope of a shipwreck survivor has been revamped and reinvented time and again and has been proven fruitful every single time. There is another such book, much lesser-known than Robinson Crusoe, called Island Of The Blue Dolphins. The story follows the life of Karana, stranded on an island off the coast of California. Chances are that you haven't heard of her. The life of Karana is based on a real woman just like Robinson Crusoe was inspired by a real sailor. This is her story.

Part of the archipelago of the Channel Islands is San Nicolas Island, barren and rocky. It is so barren that the US Navy picked it as a likely candidate to test nuclear bombs. After the release of the book, San Nicolas Island also came to be known as the Island Of The Blue Dolphins.

Juana Maria, as she would be later called, was discovered here in 1853. By then she had already lived on that island, alone for 18 years. When she was found, Juana Maria was wearing a dress made of cormorant feathers and was living in a hut made of whale bones and brush.

Her tribe, Nicoleño had inhabited San Nicolas Island for 10,000 years before they were 'discovered'. Russian fur traders accompanied by Alaskan sea otter hunters attacked the tribe, massacred the men and raped the women.

In 1835, a group of Franciscan friars came to know that a few of the Nicoleños were still alive and sent a boat to save them. The account from thereon is a bit hazy.

While some say that almost every Nicoleño boarded the ship, except two people, some say that after they all boarded the ship, they realised that a woman and a child were not on board. There is another story that says that a woman realised that her son was not on board and so jumped off the ship and swam to the shore to get him.

Several boats went looking for the two, but in vain.