William Dampier
William Dampier (born August 1651 , baptized September 5 in East Coker , Somerset , England, † March 1715 in London ) was a British privateer , three-time circumnavigator, explorer and geographer .
Life
Childhood and youth
Dampier was born the second of six children to a farming family in Somerset. Dampier was able to go to school, which he apparently finished. Not only could he read and write well, he was also proficient in Latin. His father died when he was 7 years old. At 16, he was by the death of the mother to the orphan . Dampier had no inclination to take up the profession of farmer and decided to go seafaring at the age of 18. As a cabin boy he reached the cold Newfoundland on a merchant ship . In 1672 he went to Spanish America as a young man and took part in the third naval war between England and the Netherlands in 1673 . In 1674 he was briefly plantation manager in Jamaica and then he worked for the Campeche woodcutters on the Yucatán peninsula until 1678 .
Career as a pirate
As his expectations of making a lot of money quickly were disappointed, he decided to join one of the numerous pirate crews. From 1679 to 1681 he made his first experiences as a pirate with the captains Bartholomew Sharp and John Coxon . This stage of his life was not crowned with success. The attempt to capture Panama City by land failed because the Spanish were prepared for such maneuvers a few years earlier after the similar raid by Henry Morgan's forces. Dampier stayed with Captain Sharp on a ship they had captured and sailed to Chile , where he and others left the notoriously hapless captain and made their way to Tortuga . From there he sailed to Virginia in 1682 , where he settled briefly.
Already in 1683 he joined a group of pirates who were supposed to hunt Spanish ships. As a crew member, he came to the Pacific via Cape Horn , where he was one of the first to examine the Galapagos Islands . The aim of the pirates was to plunder Spanish cities on the west coast of South America . In 1685 Dampier changed ships and became navigator on the Cygnet . A journey of over 6,000 miles from Mexico to Guam and the Philippines (from March 31st to May 20th, 1686) was a real masterpiece of seafaring art at the time. In 1687, the Cygnet circled the South China Sea , always on the hunt for prey, Then they took the course in the direction of the Gulf of Siam and sailed along the northwest coast of New Holland, so the first name of Australia and New Guinea by the Dutchman Jansz . In January 1688, the pirates landed on one of the islands of what is now the Dampier Archipelago. They were the first English to be known to have stayed in these areas.
Dampier and two (or three) other crew members were abandoned on an island in the Nicobar Islands following an argument that in all likelihood sparked over the ship's future course . They then built a boat, a kind of canoe , and after an adventurous journey they reached the coast of the island of Sumatra , where Dampier once again demonstrated his navigational quality.
Dampier stayed on Sumatra, seriously ill. When he had recovered, he examined the area of Tonkin in what is now Vietnam , Malacca and Malaysia within 18 months , using a thoroughly scientific approach and extensively describing the flora and fauna of the areas he visited. In 1691 he returned to England. He had brought with him a "Filipino prince" named Giolo, who was presented to the public in London and Oxford as "an exotic apparition", but died after a few months.
In 1693 William Dampier was back at sea. He was hired as a second mate on one of the four merchant ships that set out for the West Indies . However, as soon as the ships reached the Caribbean, a serious mutiny broke out. Dampier, who had had enough of the pirate life, decided not to join the pirates around Captain Henry Every , but sailed back to England with his ship in 1695.
There he was charged in the High Court of Admiralty for alleged involvement in the mutiny. Although he was acquitted, he had to testify as a witness at a trial against the captured members of Every's crew in 1696 in order to refute the suspicion that he had sympathy with the pirates.
Living in England
As early as 1678 Dampier married a servant of the Countess von Grafton; the marriage apparently remained childless. They bought a small estate in the county of Dorset . It appears that his wife lost ownership of the property during her husband's long absence, or at least it does not appear in any land register. He published his experiences in 1697 under the title Neue Reise um die Welt ( A New Voyage around the World ), which was a great success. In 1699 he added A Supplement of the New Voyage , where he described his life before he became a pirate. Dampier's main intention was to clear his name from the charge that he was involved in several "conspiracies against the crown". To this end, he testified four times about piracy in the Caribbean and the Pacific before the Board of Trade and achieved his full rehabilitation.
Dampier's past life has haunted him constantly. With every failure or failure he was showered with lawsuits and diatribes. For example, in 1707, when he returned to England from a military mission that had been very unfortunate for him, he was accused of drunkenness, deceit and cowardice. Two of his former subordinates, William Funnell and John Welbe, published anti-Dampier papers seeking to confirm these allegations. The heiress of one of the owners of his ship, the St George, struck Dampier with an avalanche of fraud proceedings that did not end until 1712. Dampier defended himself with a very irascible pamphlet Vindication , which appeared in 1707. In it he accused all of his critics of personal ineptitude, resentment and envy.
When Dampier died in London in 1715, he was left with a debt of £ 677, a large sum by the standards of the time. Apparently his wife died before him, as she is not mentioned in his will, which was drawn up in late 1714.
Career as an explorer
The success of both books and the details impressed the British Admiralty so much that they chose Dampier as captain for a research voyage to the Pacific. This project was spurred on by reports by the Dutch traveler Abel Tasman , published in London in 1694 , who seemed to give shape to dreams of a great continent in the south. His goal was to circumnavigate Terra australis , which at that time was still very vaguely regarded as a large mass of earth, and to explore the sales opportunities for English goods there. He received command of the HMS Roebuck in January 1699 . This ship was actually designed as a fire and was equipped with 26 cannons for the voyage in 1699 for the "5th rate warship" . The team was also described as quarrelsome and inexperienced.
Originally the trip was supposed to lead around Cape Horn , but this would have meant passing the dangerous Cape during the less favorable conditions in the then prevailing southern hemisphere winter. In view of these circumstances, Dampier changed the route and sailed eastwards across the Cape of Good Hope towards the presumed Terra Australis. On July 26, 1699, he encountered the west coast of Australia at latitude 26 degrees south. The coastline known as Shark's Bay and the neighboring islands were thoroughly examined and mapped by him. In the absence of fresh water, Dampier left this coast in September and went to Timor to load new supplies. From there he set course for New Guinea , where he arrived on December 3rd. While driving along its east coast, he came across an island he called New Britain . The strait he traversed between this and two smaller islands bears the name Dampierstrasse in his honor . Dampier also managed to partially map the northwest coast of New Guinea.
The poor condition of his ship and the crew suffering from scurvy forced Dampier to call at Timor again, which he reached again in May 1700. From there the journey home via what was then Batavia and the Cape of Good Hope began. The HMS Roebuck reached Ascension Island in February 1701 . While the ship was anchored off the island, it began to absorb strong water and since attempts at repairs failed, it was put on land. Dampier and the crew left the ship, they were picked up on April 3, 1701 by East Indiaman and warships passing by by chance and taken with them to Europe. At least Dampier managed to save his diaries and a collection of more than 40 unknown plants. These are now part of the Sherardian Herbarium in Oxford .
After his return, Dampier was indicted and found guilty in England in 1702 of cruelty to the crew and drunkenness on the voyage. Despite these accusations, in 1703 Dampier had the great honor of being introduced to Queen Anne by Prince Regent George, a member of the Royal Society .
He got money for a new pirate expedition. On September 11, 1703 he set sail with the St. George and the Chinque Ports Gallery . The voyage against French or Spanish ships around the world lasted from 1703 to 1707, but this time again did not bring the hoped-for success. The St. Georg soon ran aground and the crew was captured by the Spanish. Dampier failed because of his inability to keep the crew engaged as captain. On the journey in 1704 Alexander Selkirk was voluntarily abandoned on the uninhabited island of Mas a Tierra in the Juan Fernández archipelago . This island was renamed Isla Robinson Crusoe in 1966 .
A third circumnavigation of the globe experienced Dampier 1708-1711 as a navigator on the ship of Woodes Rogers . This caper tour resulted in plentiful booty. Alexander Selkirk was met during a stopover to refill fresh water on Isla Mas a Tierra and was taken on board by Rogers. Before the now over-indebted Dampier could be paid his share of the pirate proceeds, the adventurer died in London.
Act
On his three circumnavigations, Dampier also conducted research as a scientific observer, including in the areas of hydrology and geography . He made maps of the ocean currents and the prevailing winds. Here he also recognized their seasonal change. His "wind maps" made it possible for other seafarers to find faster routes and to avoid areas with persistent calm . He sailed the coasts of New Guinea, discovered New Britain and the island nature of New Ireland and New Hanover and explored the coast of Western Australia. In his publications, Dampier presented precise nautical , topographical , ethnographical and biological observations. The travel diary gives an insight into the way of life on ships and in the colonies in his time. His travel records are over 1250 pages long.
Dampier is credited with having a great influence on:
- His notes, u. a. in the Galapagos, Charles Darwin served as a rich source. There, Dampier had already noticed the regional differences in the animal world, as well as their obvious adaptation to different living conditions.
- With regard to his map series, Alexander von Humboldt said that the following scholars had little to add to the work of this “remarkable Bucaneer”.
- Captain Cook and Admiral Nelson were impressed with his innovations in nautical technology.
- Daniel Defoe was inspired by the story of Alexander Selkirk to write his novel Robinson Crusoe .
- Captain Bligh's trip on the HMS Bounty was initiated based on Dampier's report on the breadfruit tree .
- The Oxford English Dictionary quotes Dampier in more than 1000 words.
Two straits off New Guinea ( Dampier Strait (Papua New Guinea) and Dampier Strait (West Papua) ), New Zealand's third highest mountain ( Mount Dampier ), as well as the Dampier Archipelago and the city of Dampier in Northwest Australia were named after the British.
In 2015 an asteroid was named after him: (14876) Dampier .
Publications
- as editor: Neue Reise Um die Welt. What is elaborately described within, The Narrow Earth or Isthmus of America, many coasts and islands in West India, the islands of the green promontory, the passage through the land of Fuego, the midday coasts of Chili, Peru and Mexico, the islands of Guam , [...]. What is traded about is the different nature of the soil of all these countries, of their sea ports, plants, fruits and animals, the same of their inhabitants, their customs and habits [...]. 4 volumes. Translated from English into French and now into Hoch-Teitsche language. Published by Michael Rohrlachs seel. Wittib and Erben, Leipzig 1702–1714 (online copy: Early Canadiana Online ) (modern edition: William Dampier: Neue Reise um die Welt. Edited by Michael Uszinski. Verlag der Pioniere, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-941924-02 -4 )
- A Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland. In: A Voyage to New-Holland, & c. in the year 1699 (= A Collection of Voyages. Vol. 3). 3rd edition. Printed for James and John Knapton, at the Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, London 1729, (online copies: Chapter 1 at Wikisource , A Voyage to New Holland (Project Gutenberg) , A Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland ( Project Gutenberg) ).
- Buccaneers. 1683-1691. The adventurous diary of a circumnavigator and pirate. Newly edited and edited by Hans Walz. Erdmann, Tübingen a. a. 1970, ISBN 3-7711-0118-2 (also: ibid 1997, ISBN 3-522-61050-4 ).
literature
- Joel Baer: William Dampier at the crossroads. In: International Journal of Maritime History. Vol. 8, 1996, ISSN 0843-8714 , pp. 1-21.
- Anton Gill : The devil's mariner. A life of William Dampier, Pirate and Explorer, 1651-1715. Michael Joseph, London 1997, ISBN 0-7181-4114-8 .
- Gerald Norris (Ed.): The Buccaneer Explorer. William Dampier's Voyages. Revised edition. Boydell Press, Woodbridge et al. a. 2008, ISBN 978-1-8438-3364-2 .
- Diana Preston, Michael Preston: A Pirate of Exquisite Mind. The Life of William Dampier - Explorer, Naturalist and Buccaneer. Corgi Books, London 2005, ISBN 0-552-77210-0 .
- W. Clark Russell: William Dampier. Macmillan, London et al. a. 1889.
- Jules Verne : William Dampier or the King of the Sea in the 17th century. In: Jules Verne: The discovery of the earth (= known and unknown worlds - adventurous journeys. Vol. 29/30). Hartleben, Vienna a. a. 1881, pp. 527-534, online .
- Glyndwr Williams : The great South Sea. English voyages and encounters, 1570-1750. Yale University Press, New Haven CT et al. a. 1997, ISBN 0-300-07244-9 .
- Klaus Müller , William Dampier. Buccaneer and hydrograph. An eventful life story in the historical context of the age of the early enlightenment and the creation of the basis of the British Empire. , Ingo-Koch-Verlag, Rostock 2012, ISBN 978-3-864360-24-4 .
Web links
- Literature by and about William Dampier in the catalog of the German National Library
- On the 300th anniversary of William Dampier's death in March 2015
Individual evidence
- ^ PF Kenny: Heroes, Villains, and Conflicts. Xlibris 2016
- ↑ a b c William Dampier in the Notable Names Database (English)
- ↑ Putnam's monthly magazine of American literature, science, and art , Volume 8, p.148
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dampier, William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British privateer, three-time circumnavigator, explorer and geographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | baptized September 5, 1651 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | East Coker , Somerset , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 1715 |
| Place of death | London |