Piracy, Turtles and Flying Foxes

William Dampier

One of his country's least capable pirates, William Dampier becomes the first Englishman to describe Australia

Dampier's (1651-1715) adventures and writing inspired both Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels, but in his own right he was a remarkable, observant and enjoyable writer - whether on a woefully mishandled pirate raid in Spanish America or on a desperate journey to Sumatra in an open boat or on the habits of manatees or bats. He also left the first description in English of the Aborigines of Australia - thus initiating a painful, now three centuries' long encounter between peoples on opposite sides of the world.

William Dampier (1651-1715) was an English buccaneer, sea captain, author and scientific observer. He had a long and unbelievably chaotic career, managing more by accident than design to sail around the world three times and participate in a wilderness of almost uniformly unsuccessful piratical and semi-piratical ventures.