![]() ![]() Dampier was no East India Company apparatchik or gentleman jotter, observing the unknown globe from the glory of a well-armed poop deck rather, he threw himself into every experience, often alone, often broke, but always willing to grab his sea chest and move on. This, as the Prestons rightly point out, is the fascination of the man. Notably he kept a journal, a meticulous record of sights, sounds and tastes encountered, plus careful observations of winds, currents and tides. But already there were signs that this man was different. Like many other impecunious Caribbean drifters at the time, Dampier slipped into a life of freebooting and buccaneering, hopping from ship to ship, raiding Spanish vessels and towns. ![]() But it is the achievements and exploits in between that give the Prestons such a roaring tale to tell. He had contracted to work on a Jamaican sugar plantation, a plan that fizzled out in arguments and drinking, a foreshadowing of how Dampier's travelling life would end. Dampier was born in East Coker, Somerset, in 1651 and 22 years later sailed away from London in what was to become one of the most adventurous and eventful of lives. ![]()
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