WILLIAM DAMPIER

SEAMAN SCIENTIST

MR. Smallbone would not have described the hurricane if it had not been for a remarkable seaman – scientist named willian Dampier , the first man since Columbus eager to know the natural curiosities of the Caribbean and and west Indies world .He was a large – nosed, lean , quiet ,keen-eyed man, an excellent navigator , a careful and accurate scientist. He was also a pirate

-Marjory Stoneman Douglas

The name William Dampier, when recognized today, summons to mind the romantic image of a buccaneer captain and the treasure of Spanish Galleons. The son of a farmer, his father died when he was ten years old, and his mother when he was sixteen years old. In 1678 he travels to England with a sizable amount of money and marries a woman named Judith "outside of the Grafton Dukes family." In the summer of 1679 1679, he sailed again to the west Indies in the Loyal Merchant, leaving his wife at Arlington Home. He was in Jamaica for some months and before returning home just in time for Christmas he was persuaded to go in a short voyage. To Mosquito coast. Entering Negril Bay on the western Jamaica terminus he enrolled himself with a group of buccaneers led by Captain Richard Sawkins. When he crossed Bocas del Toro on the coasts of Panama he joined a voyage with pirates, led by John Coxon and went in search of adventure to the Golden Islands. Dampier was one of the 200 buccaneers who crossed the isthmus in august 1683, he and his comrades shared John Cooke's ship, Revenge. Cooke dealt an early expedition and wanted to return to the south seas. Finding the ship to be too small, they crossed towards Sierra Leona on the West Coast of Africa, where they captured a Danish ship with 36 canons and commissioned her as the Bachelor's Delight. With it they rounded the Cabo de Hornos and rested on Juan Fernandez island, in Chile. Rescuing a Mosquito Indian who'd been abandoned there three years earlier, who would serve as the model for Friday in the book Robinson Crusoe. In 1684 Cooke dies and is succeeded by Edward Davis, the pirates attack the South American Pacific coast. After a year Dampier leaves Edward Davis.

On the 27th of august, 1685, Admiral Burney on his Chronological History of the discoveries in the South Sea . (London, 1803-7) says of Dampier and his work " it is not easy to name another sailor who has supplied such valuable information to the world; he had a passion for reporting exactly as he saw it, with a delicate and perfect style; he felt an unending curiosity that made his accounts have a unique delicate touch. All the scientists of the era expressed the great admiration they felt for him. Byron , Flinders , Howe , Burney and Nelson unfortunately their works and commentary are known by few readers, he was respected in his time and is compared today to scientists like Darwin and Humbolt, they made good use of all his works, Humbolt generously commented that scholars and European and travelers like Comdamine, Juan and Ulloa took their titles from the observations made by this English buccaneer. He wrote the book A New Voyage Round The World, in the Royal Society the book was recognized for its magnificent descriptions of people, places, things, plants, fish, reptiles, birds and mammals. He was in Ecuador with Edward Davis on Punta Española, Isla Puna; where they fortified the place and ran all their attacks, since they could easily spot the Galleons from mount Zampala. From there they also made the melting of the plunders gathered at Gauyaquil. In the first days of November 1684, they returned with 200 men from the Silver Isle, the combined forces of Edward Davis, Swan, Harris, Lionel Wafer, Hugo Shapendam. William Dampier's first book became an immediate bestseller in its first publication on 1967. & Editions of his works appeared in 1707 which were combined with three of his books. The most recent publishing was in 1936. He is constantly being rediscovered by Meteorologists, Botanists and Zoologists.

Today, TRILLO S.A and the Conservationist Foundation OCQ are developing an Biological Investigation Center with the name of William Dampier and the Beata Botanical Garden.