William Dampier

World Traveling Buccaneer

This Naval History continues on from: "Pirate Breed"

The rolling stone; a man born in a Somerset village William Dampier, is at first obscured by his louder shipmates, for he sailed in a very subordinate capacity with the first invaders of the South Seas.

Gradually the figure emerges, until, with the publication of his journals in 1697, he stands out as a person of remarkable charm and talent. His accuracy would do credit to any field-working scientist; as a writer, he stands out in the very first class.

A voyage to the Newfoundland Banksproved to his own satisfaction that he did not like cold latitudes, so he went on a voyage to India. Then he saw service in the Dutch Wars; the taste of the sea and for adventure was well and truely in his blood.

The Pacific he thought was well named, as long as the name was applied to that part of the ocean lying between 4 and 30 degrees S. Compared with other seas, it was innocent of hurricanes and gales, with only the Trade winds blowing.

As to the entrances to it he favoured the Horn route. Dampier was the first to suggest the famous route by which the wool clippers sailed from Australia in the nineteenth-century.

Pirate Breed

Sailing across the South Seas

When Dampier navigated the 150 buccaneers across the South seas, the fear of the great gulf of water was aroused even in such stout hearts as theirs. "Such was their ignorance," smiled Dampier, "they thought he would carry them out and over the end of the world."

The crossing in the belt of the N.E. Trades proved easier than had been anticipated. "We made great runs every day, the best being 216 miles."

He gives interesting statistics about the voyage from Mexico to Guam. The time taken was 52 days; and the sum of their miles 7,325. He was able to correct the the current misconception about the breadth of the Pacific Ocean.

In devious fashion he worked a passage home with nothing to show for all his adventures but his precious journal, which he had somehow preserved even though, on occasion, it had to be carried in a hollow bamboo.

A few years of studying

For the next few years he lived in obscurity paying close attention to preparing his manuscripts for publication. When it appeared in 1697, its success was immediate.

In consequence of dedicating it to the President of the Royal Society, the former buccaneer was treated like a celebrity by all those interested in the arts and sciences. Pepys asked him to a dinner party at which the arborculturist John Evelyn was present.

As a result of an introduction to the First Lord of the Admiralty, Dampier found himself in the odd position of being offered a command in one of his Majesty's ships of war to go and discover the Southern Continent.

To his surprise he was put in command of an old worm eaten hulk manned by a discontent crew, whose officers were at pains to hide their disgust at having to serve under an ex-buccaneer.

Trouble commanding his ship

A few weeks out he had need to confine his "First Lieutenant" to his cabin, and then in true buccaneer style, he left him unceremoniously ashore in Brazil, because he went about calling his captain an, "old Rogue."

For this Dampier was court-martialled on his return in 1702, by a court consisting of four Admirals and three Captains. A man with his record stood little chance in a court so constituted.

But it must have been a unique occurrance in the history of Courts-Martial, that the President, Sir George Rooke, condemned a man who had just returned from naming a new island in his honour, to forfiet all his pay. In addition dampier was found, "not a fit person to be employed as commander of any of her Majesty's ships."

On this voyage which lasted three-years, he reached New Holland by way of "Good Hope." he coasted round the north of New Guinea until he off New Ireland, He followed the coast until the rotten state of the ship and the grumblings of the crew, forced him to give up his search for the Southern Continent.

However the coast he was following was a fresh discovery. New Britain he called it, leaving English names along it, Cape Oxford, Port Montague, Cape Anne, Cape Gloster.

A century later, Carteret discovered a strait and since Dampier had named this southern island New Britain, he named the northern one New Ireland.

The Dampier Strait

A newly discovered island New Britain proved to be. Dampier found that the coast turned sharply west and that he was able to sail between his discovery and new Guinea. New Britain and the passage between it the "Dampier Strait" form the sum of Dampier's achievements, as far as discovering is concerned.

But for the accident of being provided with a rotten ship by the Admiralty, and an even worse crew, his name might have been remembered among the greatest explorers of our time.

Fortunately for him, private ship owners of those days were not over scrupulous about the credentials of a commander of a privateer to operate in the South Seas.

A year after his return he had little difficulty finding a ship, and was offered the St. George, of 26 guns. But the St. George, was as rotten as his last ship. And for the second time Dampier proved himself, an incompetent commander; and possibly a dishonest one as well.

He called his crew "a parcel of fellows who were perpetually drunk". Perhaps the truth is that the effects of his buccaneering education became apparent once he got to sea, or else he was incapable of concealing his educational interlectual superiority over the sort of seamen with whom he sailed.

Evelyn was attracted by his modesty; but Swift describes the Captain as "an honest man, a good sailor, but a little too positive in his own opinions, which was the cause of his destruction." Perhaps that was the secret of his ill-success.

After an incident with some French corsairs, Dampier's explanation is "that the opening "broadside" dismayed my Men so much, they dissapeared below deck. When I could have boarded her and carried her, the Mate cried. "The men have all gone," and the Master was gone also; tho' this gentleman is now a Valiant talker, to my Detriment.

After abandoning the "St. George," Dampier wished to cross the Pacific in a brigatine prize, twenty men agreed to sail with him. The others declaring that he would never get across with the crew that he had with him. He say's, "It is a Mirical of Nature that I did it."

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His second trip around the World

Nevertheless he rounded the world a second time, even though his prize was confiscated and he himself was imprisoned for a time by the Dutch in Batavia.

His hird and last circumnavigation in 1708, to 1711, was more successful, chiefly because he sailed in the subordinate capacity of "Pilot for the Southern Seas." Furthermore, this was the only vayage he returned to England in the same ship he set out with.

As with all privateering adventures, their cruise up the coast and across to Guam was carried out in accordance with Elizabethan precedents. The same towns were burned, the same silver looted, and the same type of galleon captured.

This trip was without doubt different to other voyages, it had cost £14,000 to fit the ship out for the expedition, but it returned with one-hundred tons of Gold, besides two silver candlesticks that were in the Bristol Cathedral.

It was a happy conclusion to his life of rambling. Dampier is now a wealthy man of sixty, with three books and three circumnavigations to his credit. Clearly it was time for him to retire. He died four years later of Small-Pox at Oxford.

In the "Pirate Breed" you can read more about Dampier's buccaneering adventures.

The continuation of this Naval History will be: "Francis Drake"

Dampier Francis Drake

"Pirates Trilogy" $20