A Pirate Of Exquisite Mind

A Pirate Of Exquisite MindCondition: BRAND NEW ISBN: 9780552772105 Format: B format paperback Year: 2005 Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE UK Pages: 512 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

Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9780552772105
Format: B-format paperback
Year: 2005
Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE UK
Pages: 512


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.