William Dampier was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the world three times.
22 Facts About William Dampier
2.
William Dampier has been described as Australia's first natural historian, as well as one of the most important British explorers of the period between Francis Drake and James Cook ; he "bridged those two eras" with a mix of piratical derring-do of the former and scientific inquiry of the latter.
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William Dampier's expeditions were among the first to identify and name a number of plants, animals, foods, and cooking techniques for a European audience, being among the first English writers to use words such as avocado, barbecue, and chopsticks.
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William Dampier was born at Hymerford House in East Coker, Somerset, in 1651.
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William Dampier sailed on two merchant voyages to Newfoundland and Java before joining the Royal Navy in 1673.
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William Dampier's service was cut short by a catastrophic illness, and he returned to England for several months of recuperation.
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In 1679, William Dampier joined the crew of the buccaneer Captain Bartholomew Sharp on the Spanish Main of Central America, twice visiting the Bay of Campeche, or "Campeachy" as it was then known, on the north coast of Mexico.
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William Dampier made his way to Virginia, where in 1683 he was engaged by the privateer John Cooke.
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William Dampier returned to England in 1691 via the Cape of Good Hope, penniless, with his only possessions being his journals and a tattooed slave known as Jeoly.
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William Dampier claimed in his diaries that he became close with Jeoly eager to recoup the money he lost while at sea, he sold Jeoly to the Blue Boar Inn on Fleet Street.
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William Dampier's mission was to explore the east coast of New Holland, the name given by the Dutch to what is Australia, and Dampier's intention was to travel there via Cape Horn.
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William Dampier landed and began producing the first known detailed record of Australian flora and fauna.
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William Dampier then followed the coast north-east, reaching the William Dampier Archipelago and Lagrange Bay, just south of what is called Roebuck Bay, all the while recording and collecting specimens, including many shells.
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William Dampier traced the south-eastern coasts of New Hanover, New Ireland, and New Britain, charting the Dampier Strait between these islands and New Guinea.
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On his return from the Roebuck expedition, William Dampier was court-martialled for cruelty.
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William Dampier aggressively defended his conduct, but he was found guilty.
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William Dampier's pay for the voyage was reduced, and he was dismissed from the Royal Navy.
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William Dampier was appointed commander of the 26-gun ship St George, with a crew of 120 men.
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Now without a ship, William Dampier made his way back to England at the end of 1707.
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In 1708, William Dampier was engaged to serve on the privateer Duke, not as captain but as pilot.
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William Dampier died in the Parish of St Stephen Coleman Street, London.
22.
On page 464 of his journal A New Voyage Around The World, William Dampier wrote that Aboriginal Australians were the "miserabilist" people he had ever seen, "differing little from brutes".