A Pirate of Exquisite Mind by Diana and Michael Preston
In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day coming up this week, I offer you the most articulate pirate in history: William Dampier.
Since starting the WanderLit blog, I have met so many talented travel writers. Most of them hold down a day-job. In spite of one’s passion for writing, one must eat. It can be hard to balance your passion for writing with the demands of a career but it could be worse. Just look at William Dampier. He was the most famous travel writer of his time. He also balanced his passion for writing with his successful career as a pirate.
I found A Pirate of Exquisite Mind hypnotic. It doesn’t have the compelling edge of The Mapmaker’s Wife previously reviewed on WanderLit. What kept me engaged was not the story, but the detail.
If you’ve never heard of William Dampier, don’t feel bad. His contributions to science and exploration were minimized when England became a great sea power. The facts of his illicit day-job didn’t square well with the ideals of British nationalism. But that didn’t stop the more reputable, explorers, scientists, and seaman of England from relying heavily on Dampier’s work. Cook, Darwin, and Lord Nelson all respected Dampier as an essential resource. While these later men received their due from history, Dampier was the giant on who’s shoulders they stood.
William Dampier was a pirate, no way around it. He started as a buccaneer cutting logwood then proceeded with other buccaneers in his company to seek out better prospects through privateering and out-and-out piracy. His published work minimizes the level of his participation but there is no doubt he was a full member of pirate bands with a full share in plunder. He tortured the Spanish, raped, pillaged, and exploited natural resources for a living. In his spare time, he turned his superior mind to making useful, detailed, and observant notes. He measured, recorded, and made sound conclusions about ocean currents, winds, and seasonal weather patterns.
His observations were so well organized and articulated that the British navy used and studied his charts for decades. Dampier out-sailed Captain Cook who found Dampier’s navigational notes essential and his commentary on indigenous cultures astute, compassionate, and accurate. Charles Darwin relied heavily on Dampier’s drawings and descriptions in forming his theories, including evolution. On the artistic side, Jonathan Swift and William Defoe both borrowed heavily from Dampier’s work in creating Gulliver’s Travels and Robinson Crusoe.
My favorite insights from A Pirate of Exquisite Mind, come from comparing his earlier notes and manuscripts to his later published works. What he leaves out betrays a man fully cognizant of the impossible duality of his life. I remember the insight I got into the mind of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when I spent an afternoon looking at his notes and drafts. I appreciate being able to look into the mind of William Dampier this way through the work of Diana and Michael.
What a strange creature is a literary, educated, culturally sensitive, ruthless, exploitative, and violent pirate.
Read ~ Writer ~ Wander
~Angie
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(cover art shared under fair use)