# A Pirate Of Exquisite Mind

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- Book: [A Pirate Of Exquisite Mind](https://www.bookquiver.com/diana-preston/a-pirate-of-exquisite-mind) ([A Pirate Of Exquisite Mind.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/diana-preston/a-pirate-of-exquisite-mind.md))
- Authors: [Diana Preston](https://www.bookquiver.com/diana-preston), [Michael Preston](https://www.bookquiver.com/michael-preston)
- Publisher: Corgi Books
- ISBN: 978-05-5277-210-5
- Pages: 512
- Published: 2005-04-01
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

William Dampier, (1651-1715), was an English adventurer and pirate who preyed on ships on the Spanish Main. Poor and ill-educated and determined to make his fortune, he nonetheless had a passion for exploration and scientific research. Dampier was the first to map the winds and currents of the world's oceans; led the first recorded party of Englishmen to set foot on Australia - 80 years before Cook; wrote about Galapagos wildlife 150 years before Darwin, who drew on Dampier's notes in his own work; was the first travel writer: A NEW VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD was instant bestseller when it was published in 1697 - said to have influenced the novels of Swift and Defoe. A man full of contradictions: he who achieved so much 'blew it' later in life, declining into scandal, failure and even farce. A unique man ahead of his time, he lived a large part of his life among pirates yet managed to preserve what Coleridge called his " exquisite refinement of mind". A classic example of the best narrative history.