A Pirate Of Exquisite Mind: The Life Of William Dampier by Diana Preston and Michael Preston
William Dampier was an English adventurer and pirate who preyed on ships on the Spanish Main. Poor and ill-educated and determined to make his fortune, he nonetheless had a passion for exploration and scientific research. Not only a pirate, he was the first to map the winds and currents of the world’s oceans; lead the first recorded party of Englishmen to set foot on Australia – 80 years before Cook; write about Galapagos wildlife 150 years before Darwin, who drew on Dampier’s notes in his own work; was the first travel writer: His book, A NEW VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD, was an instant bestseller when it was published in 1697 and is said to have influenced the novels of Swift and Defoe. A man full of contradictions: he who achieved so much ‘blew it’ later in life, declining into scandal, failure and even farce. A unique man ahead of his time, he lived a large part of his life among pirates.
Pages: 512
Published: 2005
ISBN: 978-0552772105