William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was 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.
William Dampier was born at Hymerford House in East Coker, Somerset, in 1651. He was baptised on 5 September, but his precise date of birth is not recorded. He was educated at King's School, Bruton. Dampier sailed on two merchant voyages to Newfoundland and Java before joining the Royal Navy in 1673. He took part in the two Battles of Schooneveld in June of that year.
Dampier's service was cut short by a catastrophic illness, and he
returned to England for several months of recuperation. For the next
several years he tried his hand at various careers, including plantation
management in Jamaica and logging in Mexico, before he eventually
joined another sailing expedition.
In 1679, 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. This led to his first circumnavigation, during which he accompanied a raid across the Isthmus of Darién
in Panama and took part in the capture of Spanish ships on the Pacific
coast of that isthmus. The pirates then raided Spanish settlements in
Peru before returning to the Caribbean.
Dampier made his way to Virginia, where in 1683 he was engaged by the privateer John Cooke. Cooke entered the Pacific via Cape Horn and spent a year raiding Spanish possessions in Peru, the Galápagos Islands, and Mexico.
This expedition collected buccaneers and ships as it went along, at one
time having a fleet of ten vessels. Cooke died in Mexico, and a new
leader, Edward Davis, was elected captain by the crew.
Dampier transferred to the privateer Charles Swan's ship,
Cygnet, and on 31 March 1686 they set out across the Pacific to raid the East Indies, calling at Guam and Mindanao.
Spanish witnesses saw the predominantly English crew as not only
pirates and heretics but also cannibals. Leaving Swan and 36 others
behind on Mindanao, the rest of the privateers sailed on to Manila, Poulo Condor, China, the Spice Islands, and New Holland.
Contrary to Dampier's later claim that he had not actively participated
in actual piratical attacks during this voyage, he was in fact selected
in 1687 to command one of the Spanish ships captured by
Cygnet's crew off Manila.
On 5 January 1688,
Cygnet "anchored two miles from shore in 29 fathoms" on the northwest coast of Australia, near King Sound. Dampier and his ship remained there until March 12, and while the ship was being careened Dampier made notes on the fauna and flora and the indigenous peoples he found there. Among his fellows were a significant number of Spanish sailors, most notably Alonso RamÃrez, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Later that year, by agreement, Dampier and two shipmates were marooned on one of the Nicobar Islands.
They obtained a small canoe which they modified after first capsizing
and then, after surviving a great storm at sea, called at "Acheen" (Aceh) in Sumatra.
Dampier returned to England in 1691 via the Cape of Good Hope, penniless but in possession of his journals. He also had as a source of income a slave known as Prince Jeoly (or Giolo), from Miangas (now Indonesia), who became famous for his tattoos (or "paintings" as they were known at the time). Dampier exhibited Jeoly in London, thereby also generating publicity for a book based on his diaries.
The publication of the book,
A New Voyage Round the World, in 1697 was a popular sensation, creating interest at the Admiralty. In 1699, Dampier was given command of the 26-gun warship HMS
Roebuck, with a commission from King William III (who had ruled jointly with Queen Mary II until her death in 1694).
His mission was to explore the east coast of New Holland, the name
given by the Dutch to what is now Australia, and Dampier's intention was
to travel there via Cape Horn.
The expedition set out on 14 January 1699, too late in the season to
attempt the Horn, so it headed to New Holland via the Cape of Good Hope
instead. Following the Dutch route to the Indies, Dampier passed between
Dirk Hartog Island and the Western Australian mainland into what he called Shark Bay
on 6 August 1699. He landed and began producing the first known
detailed record of Australian flora and fauna. The botanical drawings
that were made are believed to be by his clerk, James Brand. Dampier
then followed the coast north-east, reaching the Dampier Archipelago and Lagrange Bay, just south of what is now called Roebuck Bay, all the while recording and collecting specimens, including many shells. From there he bore northward for Timor.
Then he sailed east and on 3 December 1699 rounded New Guinea, which he
passed to the north. He traced the south-eastern coasts of New Hanover, New Ireland and New Britain, charting the Dampier Strait between these islands (now the Bismarck Archipelago) and New Guinea. En route, he paused to collect specimens such as giant clams.
By this time,
Roebuck was in such bad condition that Dampier
was forced to abandon his plan to examine the east coast of New Holland
while less than a hundred miles from it. In danger of sinking, he
attempted to make the return voyage to England, but the ship foundered
at Ascension Island on 21 February 1701. While anchored offshore the ship began to take on more water and the carpenter could do nothing with the worm-eaten
planking. As a result, the vessel had to be run aground. Dampier's crew
was marooned there for five weeks before being picked up on 3 April by
an East Indiaman and returned home in August 1701.
Although many papers were lost with the
Roebuck, Dampier was able to save some new charts of coastlines, and his record of trade winds and currents in the seas around Australia and New Guinea. He also preserved a few of his specimens. In 2001, the wreck of the
Roebuck was located in Clarence Bay, Ascension Island, by a team from the Western Australian Maritime Museum.
Because of his widespread influence, and also because so little exists
that can now be linked to him, it has been argued that the remains of
his ship and the objects still at the site on Ascension Island – while
the property of Britain and subject to the island government's
management – are actually the shared maritime heritage of those parts of
the world first visited or described by him. His account of the expedition was published as
A Voyage to New Holland in 1703.
On his return from the
Roebuck expedition, Dampier was court-martialled for cruelty. On the outward voyage, Dampier had his lieutenant,
George Fisher, removed from the ship and jailed in Brazil. Fisher
returned to England and complained about his treatment to the Admiralty.
Dampier aggressively defended his conduct, but he was found guilty,
docked his pay for the voyage, and dismissed from the Royal Navy.
The War of the Spanish Succession
had broken out in 1701, and English privateers were being readied to
act against French and Spanish interests. Dampier was appointed
commander of the 26-gun ship
St George, with a crew of 120 men. They were joined by the 16-gun
Cinque Ports with 63 men, and sailed on 11 September 1703 from Kinsale, Ireland. The two ships made a storm-tossed passage round Cape Horn, arriving at the Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile in February 1704.
While watering and provisioning there, they sighted a heavily armed
French merchantman, which they engaged in a seven-hour battle but were
driven off.
Dampier succeeded in capturing a number of small Spanish ships along
the coast of Peru, but released them after removing only a fraction of
their cargoes because he believed they "would be a hindrance to his
greater designs." The greater design he had in mind was a raid on Santa MarÃa, a town on the Gulf of Panama
rumoured to hold stockpiles of gold from nearby mines. When the force
of seamen he led against the town met with unexpectedly strong
resistance, however, he withdrew. In May 1704, the
Cinque Ports separated from
St George and, after putting Alexander Selkirk
ashore alone on an island for complaining about the vessel's
seaworthiness, sank off the coast of what is today Colombia. Some of its
crew survived being shipwrecked but were made prisoners of the Spanish.
It was now left to the
St George to make an attempt on the Manila galleon, the main object of the expedition. The ship was sighted on 6 December 1704, probably the
Nuestra Señora del Rosario.
It was caught unprepared and had not run out its guns. But while
Dampier and his officers argued over the best way to mount an attack,
the galleon got its guns loaded and the battle was joined.
St George soon found itself out-sized by the galleon's 18- and 24-pounders, and, suffering serious damage, they were forced to break off the attack.
The failure to capture the Spanish galleon completed the break-up of the expedition. Dampier, with about thirty men, stayed in
St George, while the rest of the crew took a captured barque across the Pacific to Amboyna in the Dutch settlements. The undermanned and worm-damaged
St George had to be abandoned on the coast of Peru. He and his remaining men embarked in a Spanish prize for the East Indies, where they were thrown into prison as pirates by their supposed allies the Dutch but later released. Now without a ship, Dampier made his way back to England at the end of 1707.
In 1708, Dampier was engaged to serve on the privateer
Duke, not as captain but as sailing master. The
Duke beat its way into the South Pacific Ocean round Cape Horn in consort with a second ship, the
Duchess. Commanded by Woodes Rogers, this voyage was more successful: Selkirk was rescued on 2 February 1709, and the expedition amassed £147,975 (equivalent to £19.9 million today) worth of plundered goods. Most of that came from the capture of a Spanish galleon, the
Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación y Desengaño, along the coast of Mexico in December 1709.
In January 1710, Dampier crossed the Pacific in the
Duke, accompanied by the
Duchess and two prizes. They stopped at Guam before arriving in Batavia.
Following a refit at Horn Island (near Batavia) and the sale of one of
their prize ships, they sailed for the Cape of Good Hope where they
remained for more than three months awaiting a convoy. They left the Cape in company with 25 Dutch and English ships, with Dampier now serving as sailing master of the
Encarnación. After a further delay at the Texel, they dropped anchor at the Thames in London on 14 October 1711.
Dampier may not have lived to receive all of his share of the expedition's gains. He died in the Parish of St Stephen Coleman Street, London.
The exact date and circumstances of his death, and his final resting
place, are all unknown. His will was proven on 23 March 1715, and it is
generally assumed he died earlier that month, but this is not known with
any certainty. His estate was almost £2,000 in debt.
Source(s)
Wikipedia
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