Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Privateering in the Early Eighteenth Century
- 2 Forerunners
- 3 William Dampier's Voyage of 1703
- 4 The Cruising Voyage of Woodes Rogers (1708–1711)
- 5 The Voyages of John Clipperton and George Shelvocke (1719–1722)
- 6 The Political and Strategic Impact of the Voyages
- 7 The Voyage Narratives
- 8 Afterlife – Fact, Fiction and a New Literary Genre
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Investors in the Woodes Rogers voyage
- Appendix 2 Comparison of the terms for plunder agreed by Shelvocke and Rogers
- Sources
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - William Dampier's Voyage of 1703
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2015
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Privateering in the Early Eighteenth Century
- 2 Forerunners
- 3 William Dampier's Voyage of 1703
- 4 The Cruising Voyage of Woodes Rogers (1708–1711)
- 5 The Voyages of John Clipperton and George Shelvocke (1719–1722)
- 6 The Political and Strategic Impact of the Voyages
- 7 The Voyage Narratives
- 8 Afterlife – Fact, Fiction and a New Literary Genre
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Investors in the Woodes Rogers voyage
- Appendix 2 Comparison of the terms for plunder agreed by Shelvocke and Rogers
- Sources
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
We were at first Two ships, of twenty-six guns and One hundred and twenty Men each; designed for the South-Seas: The one was named the St George, Captain William Dampier Commander, on Board of which I was; and the other was named the Fame, John Pulling Captain. We were each of us supplied with all War-like Stores, and very well victualled for nine Months; and had Commissions from his Royal Highness the Lord High-Admiral, to proceed in a War-like manner against the French and Spaniards: And we Both were upon the same Terms, of No Purchase, No Pay.
William Funnell's book, from which the above paragraph is taken, is the only full contemporary account of the voyage. Funnell describes himself on the title page as ‘Mate to captain Dampier’. Shortly after the book's appearance Dampier published his Vindication, an eight-page attack on Funnell's book in which, among other matters, he questions Funnell's authority as an eyewitness.
In the first place, he calls himself my Mate; he went out my Steward, and afterwards I did make a Midshipman of him: indeed he had the advantage of perusing Draughts and Books, of which he afterwards gave but a slender Account, for some he pretended were lost and others the Draughts are torn out of them; Especially the Draughts of Winds, which I greatly suspect him of doing, because he is not the first man that has endeavour'd to build upon another Man's Foundation.
This was quickly followed by An Answer to Captain Dampier's Vindication by John Welbe, who described himself as ‘Midship-Man on Board Captain Dampier's Ship’. The three documents offer widely differing eyewitness accounts of Dampier's voyage.
Dampier's privateering expedition of 1703 was the first of its kind since Cavendish. It was unquestionably a failure but it was to have a profound influence on the plans and objectives of the subsequent voyages of Rogers and Shelvocke.
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- Information
- Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2015