William Dampier

Photo by Dave Brassington

William Dampier, buccaneer, explorer and Admiralty Hydrographer, was wrecked at Ascension in 1701 after a voyage of exploration to the Far East. His leaky vessel, H.M.S Roebuck, put into Ascension for repair, but the carpenter's mate only managed to enlarge the hole and the ship was driven up onto the beach. Dampier and his crew were obliged to abandon the vessel and reached the shore with few provisions and negligible fresh water. She then is presumed to have broken up due to the action of the rollers. It is said that the small drip or spring, which saved their lives, was discovered when they followed a goat to it, but Dampier's personal memoirs do not mention this. They fail also to mention the so-called Dampier's Treasure for which many generations of Ascensionites have searched. The shallow stone cave, which Dampier and his crew are supposed to have occupied, can be seen below the Residency cliffs. Dampier says that they lived on landcrabs, boobies and goats before being rescued by passing East Indiamen some weeks later. Modern theories about the Dampier visit tend to point to Breakneck Ravine as being the site of the fortuitous spring. Prior to the discovery of the bell in March 2001 at Clarence Bay, no trace of H.M.S. Roebuck had ever been found, and South West Bay was thought to have been the most likely site of the wreck.

 

We are called Dampier’s Round, because we (Peter & Moira) lived on Ascension Island, a mile from the Dampier’s Drip, in a road named - Dampier’s Round.