A New Voyage Round the World is an autobiographical account by William Dampier of his journeys around the world, first published in 1697. Dampier is believed to have written the account following his return to England, in between further, shorter expeditions he made in later years. Both the initial and subsequent editions of the book were successful. At the behest of his publisher, one later edition, issued in 1699, appended new material entitled: "A Supplement to the Voyage round the World, together with the Voyages to Campeachy and the Discourse on the Trade Winds". Dampier's memoir is "... notable for the frankness of its account of anarchic, mismanaged and largely unsuccessful buccaneering and merchant enterprise."
Exploration of Australia
In England, the most celebrated aspect of the book was his explorations of New Holland, as Australia was known at the time. The work helped bring into public consciousness the notion of a southerly continent.
Impact on literature
The book was also a "major influence on two canonical works of English literature, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe". Charles Darwin quotes from Dampier's New Voyage account of the tame behaviour of the "turtle-dove" – the Galápagos dove – that they both encountered on the Galápagos Islands. Darwin notes in his The Voyage of the Beagle: "Dampier ... says that a man in a morning's walk might kill six or seven dozen of these doves."
References
- Dampier, William. A New Voyage Round the World (Project Gutenberg ed.). Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ Thomas, Nicholas (2020). "Introduction". William Dampier's A New Voyage Round the World (Penguin Classics ed.). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-241-41328-9.
- J. H. M. Abbott (1911). The Story of William Dampier. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. pp. 55–62. OCLC 37051296. Wikidata Q126678335.
- Captain William Dampier (1699). A New Voyage round the World (4th, Corrected ed.). London. pp. 463–472. OCLC 1435604968. Wikidata Q126678570.
- "European exploration – Westward voyages to the Pacific". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- Darwin, Charles (1860). "Chapter XVII: Galápagos Archipelago". Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited during the Voyage of HMS Beagle Round the World. London: John Murray. pp. 372–401 – via Wikisource. p. 399:
Tameness of the Birds
- Dampier, William (1968) . A New Voyage Round The World. With an introduction by Albert Gray; and with a new introduction by Percy G. Adams (Reissued ed.). New York: Dover Publications. p. 77.
There are great plenty of Turtle-Doves so tame, that a Man may kill 5 or 6 dozen in a Forenoon with a stick.
- Dampier, William (1968) . A New Voyage Round The World. With an introduction by Albert Gray; and with a new introduction by Percy G. Adams (Reissued ed.). New York: Dover Publications. p. 77.