r diligent search and
inquiry, being the various and wonderful works of God in different
parts of the world; and, however unfit a person I may be in other
respects to have undertaken this task, yet, at least, I have given
a faithful account, and have found some things undiscovered by any
before, and which may at least be some assistance and direction to
better qualified persons who shall come after me."

This is a very fair summary of his work, and in his dedication of his book
to the Earl of Pembroke he says truly enough:--

"The world is apt to judge of everything by its success; and
whoever has ill-fortune will hardly be allowed a good name. This,
my lord, was my unhappiness in my late expedition in the
_Roebuck_, which foundered through perfect age near the island of
Ascension. I suffered extremely in my reputation by that
misfortune, though I comfort myself with the thoughts that my
enemies could not charge any neglect upon me."

Upon his return from the _Roebuck_ voyage his next exploit was the command
of a privateering expedition consisting of the _St. George_ and the
_Cinque Ports_, equipped by a company to cruise [Sidenote: 1715]
against the Spaniards in the South Seas. He sailed upon this voyage in
April, 1703, first having the honour of a presentation by the Lord High
Admiral to the new Queen (Anne). It is well known that the voyage was a
failure, and how Dampier, in command of the _St. George_, quarrelled with
Funnel, in command of the _Cinque Ports_. After this voyage he began his
downward career, and the next heard of him is when he sailed as pilot on
the well-known Woodes Rogers expedition, returning in 1711 a very small
sharer in booty to the value of about L150,000.

It was on this voyage that Alexander Selkirk was found upon Juan
Fernandez, and Woodes Rogers learned from his pilot, Captain Dampier, how
the man had been left upon the island more than four years before from the
_Cinque Ports_, and that Selkirk was the best man in her, and so Rogers
took him on board his ship.

This, so far as written story goes, is the last of Dampier, and nothing is
known of how he spent his declining days. The discovery of his will proves
that he died in Coleman Street, St. Stephen's, London, some time in 1715.
The will does not mention the value of his property, but he could not
have died rich, and was probably not only poor, but, to judge by the fact