author
William Dampier
1651–1715
A sailor, explorer, and travel writer whose restless voyages carried him around the world three times, he helped introduce English readers to places, plants, animals, and peoples they had never seen. His adventurous life moved between buccaneering and scientific observation, making him one of the most unusual voices of the age of exploration.
2 Audiobooks
A Voyage to New Holland, Etc. in the Year 1699
by William Dampier
A Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland, Etc. in the Year 1699
by William Dampier
About the author
Born in Somerset and baptized in 1651, William Dampier lived a life that rarely stayed still for long. He worked as a sailor, joined privateering and buccaneering ventures, and later sailed on major expeditions across the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, and the coasts of Australia and New Guinea.
He is often remembered as the first Englishman known to explore parts of Australia and as the first person to circumnavigate the globe three times. Just as important, he was a sharp observer who carefully recorded winds, currents, landscapes, plants, animals, and everyday life in the places he visited.
Those observations made his books especially influential. A New Voyage Round the World brought him a wide readership, and later writers and explorers, including figures of the Enlightenment, drew on his vivid descriptions and practical knowledge. His career could be rough and controversial, but his writing helped turn travel narrative into something both adventurous and deeply curious about the natural world.