Table of Contents
What date was William Dampier born on?
1651, East Coker, United Kingdom
William Dampier/Born
What was named after William Dampier?
William Dampier was an English navigator, explorer, privateer and writer who lived from 1651 to 1715. Dampier made many detailed observations of local wildlife and named the area ‘Sharks Bay’ in recognition of the large number of sharks in the area. He also made the first scientific collection of Australian plants.
When and where was William Dampier born?
How did William Dampier change history?
William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the world three times.
Who came to Australia before Captain Cook?
The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and charted about 300 km of coastline.
How old was William Dampier when he sailed?
William Dampier was born in East Coker, Somerset, England in August, 1651. He was educated at King’s School, Bruton, Somerset, and became an orphan at 16 years old. At a young age, he sailed on two merchant voyages to Newfoundland and the East Indies.
When did William Dampier get married to Judith?
He had to return to England not long after he began his service to recover from an illness. He joined a sailing expedition, and he worked in plantation jobs in Jamaica and Mexico for a few years. Before he set sail in 1679, he married his wife Judith in England.
Where did William Dampier make landfall in Australia?
Dampier headed for Dirk Hartog Island at the entrance to Shark Bay, near present-day Carnarvon in Western Australia. He made landfall on 6 August 1699. From there, he spent about three months charting the roughly 1400 kilometres of coast between Shark Bay and Lagrange Bay, south of Broome.
What did William Dampier do in the South Pacific?
More than 10 years after Dampier first saw Australia, he was made commander of a ship, the Roebuck, to explore the South Pacific. He reached Shark Bay off the coast of western Australia in July 1699. He explored northward from the coast to what was later called the Dampier Archipelago.