William Dampier [1651-1715] is the most remarkable seaman that England produced in the century and a half between Drake and Captain Cook. They each circumnavigated the world once; Dampier did so three times. He commanded the first government-funded voyage of discovery with a specific mission to repo[...]

This famous book, first published in 1929 was considerably revised and enlarged in its fourth edition, which is being reprinted now. This edition had the addition of a postscript by Professor I. Bernard Cohen containing a list of reading, with comments on them to guide the readers.[...]