Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE

Description: his privately-funded privateering voyage sought to duplicate the success of Woodes Rogers' highly profitable voyage of 1708-1711. Shelvocke commanded the Speedwell and John Clipperton the Success on raids against Spanish shipping on the west coast of South America. Shelvocke soon slipped away to conduct his own raids in Peru and to sail up the coast to Cabo San Lucas where he remained for some months and wrote one of the earliest descriptions of the Indians of Baja California. He also was one of the first to suggest the possibility of finding gold in California. Controversies surrounding the voyage began with his unjustified attack on a Portuguese merchantman, desertions and mutiny. It was while rounding Cape Horn that one of his crew shot an albatross, reported here and later read by William Wordsworth who surely relayed it to Coleridge. It became an inspiration for his Rime of the Ancient Mariner. After a quick crossing of the Pacific to Guam and Canton where Speedwell was sold, Shelvocke seems to have awarded himself more than double his share of the plunder. His return to England brought charges of piracy and embezzlement, and the publication of his account in 1726 brought charges of libel from his shipmate William Betagh who duly published his own account and rebuttal in 1728.--Christie's

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: his privately-funded privateering voyage sought to duplicate the success of Woodes Rogers' highly profitable voyage of 1708-1711. Shelvocke commanded the Speedwell and John…

Description: "Rogers' account is considered as a buccaneering classic. With William Dampier as pilot, Captain Woodes Rogers' privateering expedition set sail from Bristol. After sailing down the coast of Brazil and rounding Cape Horn, he made for the deserted island of Juan Fernandez to seek shelter from a severe storm. There Rogers rescued the celebrated Alexander Selkirk, a Scot who had been marooned several years before by Captain Stradling during Dampier's earlier voyage, and who has been immortalized as the prototype for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. An account of Selkirk's true adventures is given. The expedition then cruised the coast of Peru, taking various prizes, reached California, and crossed the Pacific to Asia. The high point of this circumnavigation was the capture of the Manila galleon, in 1709, at Puerto Seguro. A bit of Rogers' Spanish plunder is offered in the Appendix" (Hill). "It is a work of great interest and possesses a quaint humor that renders it delightful reading. In many respects the voyage was a notable one, but in none more than this, that with a mongrel crew, and with officers often mutinous, good order and discipline were maintained throughout. The original edition is extremely rare" (Cox). Along with Shelvocke and Dampier, Rogers' voyage was one of the few English expeditions to reach the South Seas in the early part of the 18th century. Scarcely found complete. Hill 1479.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: "Rogers' account is considered as a buccaneering classic. With William Dampier as pilot, Captain Woodes Rogers' privateering expedition set sail from Bristol. After sailing…

Description: This important work was compiled by Charles de Brosses, the noted historian and contributor to Diderot's Encyclopedie; John Callandar based much of his three-volume compendium of voyages in 1766 on de Brosses's summary of Pacific voyages to date. This thorough collection is one of the outstanding works on the early voyages of exploration to Australasia, 1502-1764, during which navigators touched on the supposed southern continent of Magellanica. In three parts (Magellanie, Australasie, and Polynesie), it covers the voyages of Vespucci, Magellan, Drake, Sarmiento, Hawkins, Quiros, Noort, Spilbergen, Nodal, Schouten, Dampier, Roggeveen, Anson and others. De Brosses's goal in publishing this history of voyages was to stimulate French discovery and colonization in the South Seas, and included the proposition that France should settle Australia as a penal colony.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: This important work was compiled by Charles de Brosses, the noted historian and contributor to Diderot's Encyclopedie; John Callandar based much of his three-volume compendium…

Description: In the annals of Britain's naval history Anson's voyage of 1740-4 holds a celebrated place. The first formal attempt by a naval expedition to circumnavigate the world, it affords a striking story of hardship, disaster, mutiny, and heroism. Only one of Anson's squadron, Centurion, returned to England with its mission accomplished.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: In the annals of Britain's naval history Anson's voyage of 1740-4 holds a celebrated place. The first formal attempt by a naval expedition to circumnavigate the world, it…

Description: Pascoe Thomas's Journal precedes the official account of Anson's voyage by three years. In addition to providing a detailed account of this important circumnavigation, the work also includes an appendix listing the treasure taken from the Nuestra Signora del Buono Carmella.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: Pascoe Thomas's Journal precedes the official account of Anson's voyage by three years. In addition to providing a detailed account of this important circumnavigation, the…

Description: Louis Antoine de Bougainville wishes to discover lands hitherto ignored and establish scientific research. He left the port of Brest in 1766 aboard a frigate called the Boudeuse ; he was joined in South America by a cargo ship , the flute l'?toile. Among the scientists on board are the botanist Philibert Commerson, the cartographer Charles Routier de Romainville , and the astronomer Pierre Antoine V┌ron. The adventurer Karl-Heinrich Otto of Nassauis also part of the journey. The boat crosses the Atlantic. The ship stopped over in Brazil in Rio de Janeiro where it had to settle some diplomatic agreements in order to continue the exploration. He is joined by a flute called the Star, the ?pantry? of the journey. Bougainville takes the Strait of Magellan and stops in Tahiti where he meets the islanders. The navigator sails from island to island. It was after two stopovers in New Guinea and then on Mauritius that he crossed the Cape of Good Hope , bypassed Africa and returned, not without difficulty, to Saint-Malo in 1769.-- Wikipedia page

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: Louis Antoine de Bougainville wishes to discover lands hitherto ignored and establish scientific research. He left the port of Brest in 1766 aboard a frigate called the…

Description: First Dublin edition of the first French circumnavigation, translated and with an introduction by Johann Reinhold Forster (according to the preface, although the translation at least is now thought to have been the work of Forster's son Georg). Forster senior calls the voyage 'a work written by a learned, intelligent, and judicious traveller, which abounds with remarkable events and curious observations', and says that he has edited 'and partially vindicated the British nation where we thought the author had been unjustly partial'.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: First Dublin edition of the first French circumnavigation, translated and with an introduction by Johann Reinhold Forster (according to the preface, although the translation…

Description: An account of the expedition sent out under command of Capt. Clipperton on the Success, with Capt. Shelvocke on the Speedwell, and of Shelvocke's separation and voyage.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: An account of the expedition sent out under command of Capt. Clipperton on the Success, with Capt. Shelvocke on the Speedwell, and of Shelvocke's separation and voyage.

Description: First English edition of the first French circumnavigation, translated and with an introduction by Johann Reinhold Forster (according to the preface, although the translation at least is now thought to have been the work of Forster's son Georg). Forster senior calls the voyage 'a work written by a learned, intelligent, and judicious traveller, which abounds with remarkable events and curious observations', and says that he has edited 'and partially vindicated the British nation where we thought the author had been unjustly partial'.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: First English edition of the first French circumnavigation, translated and with an introduction by Johann Reinhold Forster (according to the preface, although the translation…

Description: "Rogers' account is considered as a buccaneering classic. With William Dampier as pilot, Captain Woodes Rogers' privateering expedition set sail from Bristol. After sailing down the coast of Brazil and rounding Cape Horn, he made for the deserted island of Juan Fernandez to seek shelter from a severe storm. There Rogers rescued the celebrated Alexander Selkirk, a Scot who had been marooned several years before by Captain Stradling during Dampier's earlier voyage, and who has been immortalized as the prototype for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. An account of Selkirk's true adventures is given. The expedition then cruised the coast of Peru, taking various prizes, reached California, and crossed the Pacific to Asia. The high point of this circumnavigation was the capture of the Manila galleon, in 1709, at Puerto Seguro. A bit of Rogers' Spanish plunder is offered in the Appendix" (Hill). "It is a work of great interest and possesses a quaint humor that renders it delightful reading. In many respects the voyage was a notable one, but in none more than this, that with a mongrel crew, and with officers often mutinous, good order and discipline were maintained throughout. The original edition is extremely rare" (Cox). Along with Shelvocke and Dampier, Rogers' voyage was one of the few English expeditions to reach the South Seas in the early part of the 18th century. Scarcely found complete. Hill 1479.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: "Rogers' account is considered as a buccaneering classic. With William Dampier as pilot, Captain Woodes Rogers' privateering expedition set sail from Bristol. After sailing…