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The Buccaneer Explorer: William Dampier's Voyages
Dampier's observations and descriptions are as valid today as they were in the 17th century and this book is to be commended to anyone who is interested in the great early voyages of exploration. THE REVIEW
William Dampier [1651-1715] is the most remarkable seaman that England produced in the century and a half between Drake and Captain Cook. They each circumnavigated the world once; Dampier did so three times. He commanded the firstgovernment-funded voyage of discovery with a specific mission to report on matters of government and science. A good seaman, but a bad commander, he spent most of his life as a privateer, buccaneer, or pirate, and his career culminated in the capture of the great treasure galleon sent each year from the New World to Spain. But he was also a great writer, author of the first major English travel book, A New Voyage Round the World, and of scientifictreatises and descriptions of natural history. His expedition to Australia was in many ways disastrous, with his ships being lost; but the book that came out of it, A Voyage to New Holland, is rich in evocative accounts ofthe peoples and places he had found or visited. He was not afraid to record things he could not explain, for `better qualified persons who shall come after me', and his books were reference works used extensively not only by subsequent voyagers but by modern scientists who continue to cite his observations. This edited account of his voyages gives an admirable picture of this fascinating and unorthodox figure in his own words.
GERALD NORRIS writes on maritime and musical subjects. His books include West Country Pirates and Buccaneers, Stanford, the Cambridge Jubilee and Tchaikovsky and A Musical Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland.
William Dampier [1651-1715] is the most remarkable seaman that England produced in the century and a half between Drake and Captain Cook. They each circumnavigated the world once; Dampier did so three times. He commanded the firstgovernment-funded voyage of discovery with a specific mission to report on matters of government and science. A good seaman, but a bad commander, he spent most of his life as a privateer, buccaneer, or pirate, and his career culminated in the capture of the great treasure galleon sent each year from the New World to Spain. But he was also a great writer, author of the first major English travel book, A New Voyage Round the World, and of scientifictreatises and descriptions of natural history. His expedition to Australia was in many ways disastrous, with his ships being lost; but the book that came out of it, A Voyage to New Holland, is rich in evocative accounts ofthe peoples and places he had found or visited. He was not afraid to record things he could not explain, for `better qualified persons who shall come after me', and his books were reference works used extensively not only by subsequent voyagers but by modern scientists who continue to cite his observations. This edited account of his voyages gives an admirable picture of this fascinating and unorthodox figure in his own words.
GERALD NORRIS writes on maritime and musical subjects. His books include West Country Pirates and Buccaneers, Stanford, the Cambridge Jubilee and Tchaikovsky and A Musical Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland.
- GenresBiography
321 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
37 people want to read
About the author
William Dampier
150 books9 followersWilliam Dampier (1651 - 1715) was an English pirate, explorer and navigator who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the world three times. He has also been described as Australia's first natural historian, as well as one of the most important British explorers of the period between Sir Walter Raleigh and James Cook.
Dampier was the son of a Somerset farmer. He sailed to Newfoundland and the East Indies while still a boy and took part in the Third Dutch War. After a brief sojourn in Jamaica as undermanager of a plantation, he joined the buccaneers of the Caribbean in Capt. Morgan's heyday. In 1686 Capt. Swan of the Cygnet, in which Dampier was sailing, decided to seek prizes in the Pacific before returning to England. After spending 6 months in the Philippines, Swan's crew seized the ship and cruised in Far Eastern waters between China and Australia. Dampier accordingly spent the summer of 1688 at King Sound in Western Australia. After being marooned on one of the Nicobar Islands, he traveled by native canoe to Sumatra and served as a gunner at Bencoelen before returning to England.
Dampier recorded details of his amazing adventures along with navigational data in a diary on which he based A New Voyage round the World and Voyages and Descriptions. Impressed with his work, the English Admiralty commissioned him with the rank of captain to command an expedition to explore the Australian coastline. He reached Shark Bay, Western Australia, in August 1699, and using Tasman's charts, he sailed up the coast for a month seeking an estuary. After revictualing at Timor, he proceeded along the north coast of New Guinea and discovered New Britain but abandoned plans to explore the east coast of Australia because his ship, the H. M. S. Roebuck, was in poor condition. On the way home, the Roebuck was lost off Ascension Island, and the crew were rescued by returning East India men.
A court-martial in 1702 found Dampier unfit to command a naval vessel. During the next 4 years he led an unsuccessful privateering expedition in the South Seas. Between 1708 and 1711 he again sailed around the world as pilot for Capt. Woodes Rogers, a privateer sponsored by Bristol merchants. Dampier died in London in March 1715 before receiving his share of the expedition's spoils.
Further Reading
An account of Dampier which notes both his achievements and defects is Christopher Lloyd, William Dampier (1966). See also Clennell Wilkinson, Dampier: Explorer and Buccaneer (1929).
Excerpted from http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Wil... (Encyclopedia of World Biography 2004)
*There seems to be some doubt as to whether it was 1651 or 1652 - various generally reliable sources contradict each other.
Dampier was the son of a Somerset farmer. He sailed to Newfoundland and the East Indies while still a boy and took part in the Third Dutch War. After a brief sojourn in Jamaica as undermanager of a plantation, he joined the buccaneers of the Caribbean in Capt. Morgan's heyday. In 1686 Capt. Swan of the Cygnet, in which Dampier was sailing, decided to seek prizes in the Pacific before returning to England. After spending 6 months in the Philippines, Swan's crew seized the ship and cruised in Far Eastern waters between China and Australia. Dampier accordingly spent the summer of 1688 at King Sound in Western Australia. After being marooned on one of the Nicobar Islands, he traveled by native canoe to Sumatra and served as a gunner at Bencoelen before returning to England.
Dampier recorded details of his amazing adventures along with navigational data in a diary on which he based A New Voyage round the World and Voyages and Descriptions. Impressed with his work, the English Admiralty commissioned him with the rank of captain to command an expedition to explore the Australian coastline. He reached Shark Bay, Western Australia, in August 1699, and using Tasman's charts, he sailed up the coast for a month seeking an estuary. After revictualing at Timor, he proceeded along the north coast of New Guinea and discovered New Britain but abandoned plans to explore the east coast of Australia because his ship, the H. M. S. Roebuck, was in poor condition. On the way home, the Roebuck was lost off Ascension Island, and the crew were rescued by returning East India men.
A court-martial in 1702 found Dampier unfit to command a naval vessel. During the next 4 years he led an unsuccessful privateering expedition in the South Seas. Between 1708 and 1711 he again sailed around the world as pilot for Capt. Woodes Rogers, a privateer sponsored by Bristol merchants. Dampier died in London in March 1715 before receiving his share of the expedition's spoils.
Further Reading
An account of Dampier which notes both his achievements and defects is Christopher Lloyd, William Dampier (1966). See also Clennell Wilkinson, Dampier: Explorer and Buccaneer (1929).
Excerpted from http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Wil... (Encyclopedia of World Biography 2004)
*There seems to be some doubt as to whether it was 1651 or 1652 - various generally reliable sources contradict each other.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 1, 2021
For a pirate's autobiography, this is often pretty dry. But, I suppose, to his readers circa 1700, every detail would've been completely novel.
That said, occasional colourful episodes stick out as memorable. Whipping sloths, observing the movement of ants, and the final section on Dampier's misadventures attempting to capture gold-laden ships, for instance. Dampier comes across as a surprisingly clever and remarkably inquisitive man (albeit probably a relatively inept captain).
That said, occasional colourful episodes stick out as memorable. Whipping sloths, observing the movement of ants, and the final section on Dampier's misadventures attempting to capture gold-laden ships, for instance. Dampier comes across as a surprisingly clever and remarkably inquisitive man (albeit probably a relatively inept captain).
January 10, 2021
Fascinating account of the voyages of William Dampier who in his lifetime of the late 1600's and early 1700's, circumnavigated the globe three times. Much of the book is from his first circumnavigation writing of what he found along the way: the people, their appearance, their religions, the plants, the animals, the weather, navigation, etc. Dampier himself played many roles during his voyages: Pirate, Navigator, Captain, Crew, Castaway, Slaveholder, etc. It's amazing that he was able to maintain a journal through hurricanes, crew revolts, loss of ships, naval battles and land battles. Dampier appeared to be a complex person casually accepting slavery, murder, torture, and piracy while writing his detailed and insightful accounts of what he saw during his journeys. He was also a difficult person, being court martialed for the poor treatment of his crew and publicly criticized for poor leadership and being a coward in engagements.
May 25, 2021
The book is dry. Majority of the narrative is concerned with describing cultures outside of 17th century Europe, and therefore feels redundant. The descriptions reveal quite a bit about the prejudices of the time. So glad I was not alive in 17th century since everyone felt the need to talk like Yoda. And seriously! Get to the point!
March 28, 2014
I have a Folio Society edition titled "William Dampier: Buccaneer, Explorer" with the same editor which seems likely to be an earlier edition. It would be a good picaresque novel were it not a memoir.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews