QUESTION: Part 1, The Adventurer

What factors do you feel contributed to William Dampier wanting to explore and his scientific curiosity? Explain your answer.

The main thing that I got out of this first section was that Dampier had a strong desire to see places that he had never seen before. He had a comfortable life, but he was not satisfied with that. Even when he married, he used the desire to raise the money to purchase property as an excuse to sail away, but then he did not go home for 12 years! There was always somewhere else to go. Once he got to the next place, he wanted to know all about it. So the desire to travel led to the desire to satisfy his scientific curiosity through exploration of each location he came to.
--BJ

Dampier was a man with an innate curiosity, a thing inside that kept him always looking outward for new, now, next.

I think his family life was such that he felt roots were chains and so wanted to move to the next thing ASAP to avoid the stranglehold of familiarity and complacency.

I think the fact that Dampier was perhaps the first literate, or educated, man (or one of the first) to darken many of these ports may have something to do with it. No one had written similar accounts before--it was all new, and that would be enough to fuel an inquisitive mind. I know if I were to travel to a place and experience something that had never been written about, I would have a field-day! Imagine, being the first person ever to describe a hurricane, or how indians hid their canoes under the waters surface! His curious nature would take him to places where he encountered things that had been previously unheard of, resulting in his wanting to document his discoveries. Each new discovery probably made him thirst for what might be around the next corner. Traveling with pirates allowed him the opportunities, without the competition, in his quest for discovery and documentation.

I'm not all the way through Part 1, so I may add more, but that's what I'm concluding so far....

I have had to revise my opinion of William Dampier after reading Part One. While we can admire his spirit of adventure, his thirst for knowledge, his enquiring mind and insatiable curiosity it seems obvious that he was a willing and enthusiastic Pirate who was quite prepared to pillage, destroy and murder to earn his 100 pieces of eight.

I think we need to de-glamorise the image we have of Pirates in general and William Dampier in particular. He only escaped being executed as a murdering, thieving pirate because he was never caught!

Am I being too harsh, judgmental and critical? I think not.

That he later became a respectable author and explorer does not detract from the life he previously led that enabled him to pursue his later career. It is to his credit that he abandoned the life of a pirate. Although, I suspect it was because he no longer needed it to finance his ambitions.




- TT

The Tortoise--

I have to agree. I think we can add opportunist to Dampier's list of characteristics:

Opportunist--One who takes advantage of any opportunity to achieve an end, often with no regard for principles or consequences.

Sounds about right to me.

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/san_blas_kuna.htm

See this web site for some interesting facts regarding the Kuna Indians described at the end of Part One. I'm not all that computer literate and tried to add the link above but it didn't work so I deleted it. I'm kind of an idiot! :p

#9 loriephillips

Thanks so much for the link. What great pictures--it really helps me visualize the Indians. I love mola art sewing and have some small examples of it. The women surely like to "dress up" don't they. Their clothing is so colorful. Just a great site!

I also like seeing how the homes were made--and the flags for political parties reminds me of what we've just gone through!

was all set to dazzle with wit and erudition..dang, Tortoise, you beat me to it...

but here goes summat:

given Dampier's innate curiosity, fostered from childhood due to his social/economic class (ie...he could afford his curiosity) and his fairly "limited" career choices (Gentleman Farmer/Landed Gentry, anyone?)...plus his taste of the Adventuresome Life whilst in Jamaica...it's no wonder he decided to return..post Marriage. the thought of being bored in Old Blighty probably chafed at his very soul...and further feats of Plunder to spice up the mix...wot ho!

yessir, our Will was an opportunist and a rogue..but smart as a whip! Deglamorize the scallawag? you bet, because i figure (since i ain't read ahead ) his exploits, or the fame of them, would have cost him dear...had he been caught

oh, the pirate life be an albatross for sure..later on. but in the midst of the fray? betcha he loved every minute.......;-D

>7 loriephillips: LP: Unprincipled - exactly!

>9 loriephillips: LP: Thanks for pics - very colourful.

>11 jdthloue: jd: It sounds erudite to me! An excellent summary.

- TT

you all make a very good point. An adventurous spirit it no justification for raping/pillaging/murdering! I mentioned above that I'd love to have been the one to document such adventures, but never at such a high cost to others nor to my own personal character. 'A means to an end' is rarely acceptable. Life IS a journey, and how we choose to live it that determines what we're made of.

Glamorizing the unscrupulous is one thing if the character and situation is fictional , but William Dampier and his contemporaries were very real, as were their victims.

I'm finding this a very interesting read so far, and will be starting the next section tonight.

Thanks for the pictures, Lorie...

edit to say: you are not an idiot:)

I think Dampier was an intelligent man and most intelligent people seem to be curious about how things works, what the world looks like; they want to discover things.

If it wouldn't be easier to travel, I think Dampier might not have been a buccaneer, but it looks like it was the only way to survive by then. And he doesn't seem to feel bad about it (I'm in the beginning of the second section, and that shows more). It might have been a way of living by then, but it doesn't seem to be the normal behaviour of an intelligent man to me.

It is certainly an interesting contrast reading about a man that on the one hand was so brilliant at describing what he saw and experienced around him, but on the other hand was willing to be a pirate in order to have those experiences he desired. It’s difficult to know what his motives were and that keeps weighing on my mind. He certainly wanted to capture Spanish gold (why? to do what with?), and he wanted to document what he saw and found (who for? himself or others?). In regards to the factors that caused him to want to explore the world and that developed his scientific curiosity, I don’t think there’s really much of an explanation of that in the book. We know that William Dampier didn’t want to have to work for anyone, and especially not for someone who didn’t value and respect his intelligence and character. We know that he went to sea as a young man because it interested him, and that experience lead to a love of the sea and a desire to travel and see more of the world. Other than that, I think luck and opportunity played a part – his eyes were open to any possible opportunities and he was pretty shrewd at working out what would be his best course of action. He seemed to have short-term plans, but long-term I’m not so sure about, at least as a young man anyway.

Also, I was thinking the other night about him being a pirate and why, and it occurred to me that nowadays, if he couldn’t have gone to college or university for some reason, he could have just joined a research or environmental activist ship as a volunteer and worked his way up from there. There would be many more options available now to someone as intelligent as he seemed to be. On the other hand, he may not have made as much of an impact nowadays on science and society, as he did in the 17th century.

>Elee
William Dampier didn't have to work because he was born to the Landed Gentry(his people had land and a bit of a Title) whereby he was able to indulge his natural curiosity as a child...his experience in Jamaica gave him a big Eye-Opener into the Piratical/Swashbuckler option of life

mister dampier was an opportunist of the first water..an explorer "of exquisite mind" who needed money to further such explorin"

;-p

Hi jdthloue. Oh, in terms of him not wanting to work, I was referring to Dampier's experience on the sugar plantation in Jamaica when he said something about refusing to be in servitude to anyone, which I took to mean that he wanted to be his own boss. I see your point though that being a buccaneer appealed to him because it would allow him to fund his explorations. I hadn't thought of it like that. Perhaps Dampier did in fact just want to explore for the sheer thrill of new experiences to describe, whereas I keep getting caught up in wondering what it was all for, what his overall purpose and plan was. I'm like a small child saying "but why? but why?" :-)

>Elee

....i know i said Dampier needed money to fund his explorations....i just find it ironic that he is often "without funds" or nearly so....which makes my assertion look silly.

as for the "Why, Why, Why?"...i ask myself that , seems like every page ..but this is an "Exquisite" read, no?

;-p