William Dampier

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

1. Rogers commanded the Bristol privateer Duke, with the Dutchess in consort and William Dampier as pilot, on the circumnavigation of 1708 to 1711; the owners' Constitution of 14 July 1708 states the object as "our grand design Being to seek out one or bothe the Ships belonging to Acapulco", and the expedition took Alexander Selkirk off Juan Fernandez in early February 1709. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Printed book (own journal) and venture papers: A Cruising Voyage Round the World (1712), journal and Constitution; Cooke's rival 1712 account
2. In the taking of the Manila galleon Nuestra Senora de la Encarnacion in December 1709, Rogers was shot through the left cheek, in his own words: "I was shot thro' the Left Cheek, the Bullet struck away great part of my upper Jaw, and several of my Teeth, part of which dropt down upon the Deck, where I fell." A second wound to the ankle and heel came days later in the failed action against the Begona. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Printed book (own journal): A Cruising Voyage Round the World (1712), journal leaf (1712 p.294 equivalent), verified verbatim against the primary text
3. The voyage was fitted out by a syndicate of Bristol merchants, among them Thomas Goldney, to whom with fourteen others Rogers dedicated his book as his surviving owners. It was made by two private men of war, the Duke of about 320 tons, 30 guns and 117 men under Woodes Rogers, and the Dutchess of about 260 tons, 26 guns and 108 men under Stephen Courtney, with Edward Cooke as her second captain. Thomas Dover, a doctor of physick, sailed as second captain of the Duke and President of the ship's council, and the buccaneer and hydrographer William Dampier as pilot for the South Seas. They weighed from King road near Bristol at about four in the afternoon of 1 August 1708 and came to an anchor at Erith in the Thames on 14 October 1711. The command of the Dutchess is not open on the printed journal, which gives her to Courtney and makes Cooke her second captain; the popular attribution of the command to Cooke is an error. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative, the commander's printed journal: Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage Round the World: Begun August 1. 1708. and Finished October 14. 1711 (London, 1712), read in the Seafarers' Library reprint edited by G. E. Manwaring (London, 1928) on the Internet Archive. The dedication runs "To the Worthy Gentlemen my surviving Owners, the Worshipful Christopher Shuter Esq., Sir John Hawkins Kt., John Romsey Esq; Capt. Philip Freake, Mr. James Hollidge, Francis Rogers, Thomas Goldney, Thomas Clements, Thomas Contes, John Corsely, John Duckinfield, Richard Hawksworth, William Saunders, John Grant, Laurence Hollister, and Daniel Hickman, Merchants in Bristol." The first entry runs "1708. August 2. Yesterday about four in the Afternoon we weigh'd from King road near Bristol, on board the Duke frigate, whereof Capt. Woodes Rogers was Commander, in Consortship with the Dutches, Capt. Stephen Courtney Commander; both private Men of War... the Duke Burden about 320 Tuns, having 30 Guns and 117 Men; and the Dutches Burden about 260 Tuns by Measure, 26 Guns and 108 Men." The lists of officers give "Thomas Dover, a Doctor of Physick, second Captain, President of our Council, and Captain of the Marines", "William Dampier, Pilot for the South-Seas, who had been already three times there, and twice round the World", and, for the Dutchess, "Stephen Courtney, Captain, a Mariner; Edward Cook, second Captain". The last entry runs "Octob. 14. This Day at 11 of the Clock, we and our Consort and Prize got up to Erith, where we came to an Anchor, which ends our long and fatiguing Voyage"
4. HMS Roebuck was lost at Ascension in February 1701 after a leak within four strakes of the keel that could not be reached, her captain William Dampier recording his boatswain's report "that the plank was so rotten it broke away like dirt", and his narrative nowhere attributes the failure to shipworm, that diagnosis belonging to later writers. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: William Dampier, A Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland, Project Gutenberg ebook 15685
5. William Dampier sailed and published under his own name, which stands on the title page of A New Voyage Round the World, printed at London in 1697. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World (London, 1697), the introduction placed before chapter I, and chapter I
6. No alias or assumed name for Dampier was found in the sources drawn on here, he was never convicted of piracy in any of them, and the only adjudicated offence against him was a court-martial for hard and cruel usage of his lieutenant. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Printed participant narrative: A New Voyage Round the World; editorial introduction to the collected Dampier's Voyages
7. Dampier set out with the buccaneers shortly after Christmas 1679, in the company of Coxon, Sawkins and Sharp, and went ashore on the Isthmus of Darien on 5 April 1680 to cross to the South Sea. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World (London, 1697), the introduction placed before chapter I, and chapter I
8. His own journal makes the first expedition Portobello and puts the landing near Golden Island, one of the Sambaloes, with between three and four hundred men going ashore. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World (London, 1697), the introduction placed before chapter I, and chapter I
9. The company took the town of Santa Maria and attacked Spanish shipping off Panama in 1680. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World (London, 1697), the introduction placed before chapter I, and chapter I
10. Dampier remained in Sharp's South Sea company until 17 April 1681, when he left it with a party to recross the Isthmus. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World (London, 1697), the introduction placed before chapter I, and chapter I
11. By the agreement made before the poll off the Isle of Plata the losing party was to content themselves with the launch or longboat and the canoes and return back over the Isthmus or seek their fortune otherwise, and Dampier's party left Sharp and those willing to go with him in the ship twelve leagues north-west of the island, steering for the River of Santa Maria in the Gulf of St Michael about two hundred leagues off. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World (London, 1697), the introduction placed before chapter I, and chapter I
12. The Cygnet cruise of 1686 to 1688, leaving the Mexican coast in late March 1686, reaching Guam about 21 May 1686 and New Holland in January 1688 and raiding the Spanish coasts in between, is reported by the editors of Dampier's voyages rather than by primary text read for this record. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Editors' introductions: Introduction accompanying a reproduction of Dampier's A New Voyage Round the World; editorial introduction to the collected Dampier's Voyages
13. About the middle of November Dampier's company began work on their ship's bottom and found it eaten with the worm, a month after they had come into the river, their canoes' bottoms eaten like honeycombs and their bark, which was a single bottom, eaten through, and by the beginning of December 1686 the worm-eaten plank was off, new plank on, and the bottom sheathed and tallowed. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World (London, 1697), the chapters on the stay in the river of Mindanao
14. Dampier held that the worm bred in the sea and not in the plank, having seen millions of them swimming in the Bay of Panama, where he, Captain Davis and Captain Swan took notice of them often enough that it governed how often they cleaned. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World (London, 1697), the chapters on the stay in the river of Mindanao
15. Dampier sailed from the Downs early on Saturday 14 January 1699 in His Majesty's ship the Roebuck, carrying twelve guns on that voyage with fifty men and boys and twenty months' provision. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A Voyage to New Holland (third edition, London, 1729), chapter 1
16. He made the island of Ascension on 21 February 1701 and the ship sprang a leak between eight and nine the next morning that the chain-pump could not hold; the men were landed, the sails unbent for tents, great part of his books and papers lost, and in April His Majesty's ships Anglesey, Hastings and Lizard with the Canterbury East Indiaman took the company off. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland (third edition, London, 1729), the chapters on Ascension
17. In the dedication to the volume he made of that voyage Dampier wrote that the Roebuck foundered through perfect age near the island of Ascension, that he suffered extremely in his reputation by the misfortune, and that his enemies could not charge any neglect upon him. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A Voyage to New Holland (third edition, London, 1729), the dedication
18. A court-martial on 8 June 1702 is reported to have found against Dampier for hard and cruel usage of his lieutenant George Fisher aboard the Roebuck, the Admiralty record not having been read for this record. Unverified Reported, not yet checked against the record. Editors' introductions: Editorial introduction to the collected Dampier's Voyages
19. Dampier is reported to have commanded the twenty six gun privateer St George on a commissioned cruise against Spanish and French shipping between 1703 and 1707, and to have lost his chief mate John Clipperton on 2 September 1704, when Clipperton seized a prize bark and took about twenty one hands with him. Unverified Reported, not yet checked against the record. Editors' introductions: Editorial introduction to the collected Dampier's Voyages
20. What the St George took and attempted, including an attempt on the Manila ship, and where the fault for the voyage lay, stand between William Funnell's rival account of 1707 and Dampier's Vindication answering it, neither of which was read for this record. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Editors' introductions: Introduction accompanying a reproduction of Dampier's A New Voyage Round the World; editorial introduction to the collected Dampier's Voyages
21. Rogers's printed list of the officers of the Duke gives William Dampier as Pilot for the South Seas, who had been already three times there and twice round the world. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed participant narrative: Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage Round the World (London, 1712), the list of the officers of the Duke
22. The South Sea raids of 1680 and 1681 and the Cygnet cruise of 1686 to 1688 were buccaneering carried on without a clear English commission, while the St George and the Rogers voyages sailed under privateering commissions, so that only the buccaneering approaches piracy. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Printed participant narrative and editors' introductions: A New Voyage Round the World; Introduction accompanying a reproduction of Dampier's A New Voyage Round the World; editorial introduction to the collected Dampier's Voyages
23. Dampier's preface to his New Holland volume calls it his third, the two former volumes of voyages and descriptions having already met with a favourable reception in the world. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Printed participant narrative: William Dampier, A Voyage to New Holland (third edition, London, 1729), the preface
24. A New Voyage Round the World (1697) is the foundation of the documented record of Dampier's life, and because the corpus is largely his own work much of what is known rests on his own self-presenting testimony, the Vindication above all. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Printed participant narrative and editors' introductions: A New Voyage Round the World; Introduction accompanying a reproduction of Dampier's A New Voyage Round the World; editorial introduction to the collected Dampier's Voyages