
A Pirate Of Exquisite Mind
The Life Of William Dampier
Corgi Books (Publisher)
Published on 1. April 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
512 pages
978-0-552-77210-5 (ISBN)
Description
William Dampier, (1651-1715), 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.
Dampier was the first to map the winds and currents of the world's oceans; led the first recorded party of Englishmen to set foot on Australia - 80 years before Cook; wrote about Galapagos wildlife 150 years before Darwin, who drew on Dampier's notes in his own work; was the first travel writer: A NEW VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD was instant bestseller when it was published in 1697 - 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 yet managed to preserve what Coleridge called his "exquisite refinement of mind". A classic example of the best narrative history.
Dampier was the first to map the winds and currents of the world's oceans; led the first recorded party of Englishmen to set foot on Australia - 80 years before Cook; wrote about Galapagos wildlife 150 years before Darwin, who drew on Dampier's notes in his own work; was the first travel writer: A NEW VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD was instant bestseller when it was published in 1697 - 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 yet managed to preserve what Coleridge called his "exquisite refinement of mind". A classic example of the best narrative history.
Reviews / Votes
Lively... extraordinary life - an unlikely combination of plundering and pioneering achievements in natural history and exploration * The Sunday Times * Gripping and well-researched... An impressive achievement * Guardian * This long overdue biography wonderfully brings to life one of the most important explorers of the seventeenth century -- Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea This eloquently enthusiastic biography, besides charting Dampier's astonishing achievements, offers fascinating information about his times * The Age, Melbourne *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
355 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-552-77210-5 (9780552772105)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
12/2010
1st Edition
Transworld Digital
€9.49
Available for download
Persons
Diana Preston is an Oxford-trained historian, writer, and broadcaster who lives in London. She is the author of The Road to Culloden Moor; A First Rate Tragedy: Robert Falcon Scott and the Race to the South Pole; The Boxer Rebellion and Wilful Murder: The Sinking of the Lusitania. Michael Preston, Diana Preston's husband, read English at Oxford University and is now an historian and traveller.