William Ambrosia Cowley was a 17th-century

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateers or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 until about 168 ...

who surveyed the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

during his circumnavigation of the world while serving under several Captains such as

John Eaton John Eaton may refer to: * John Eaton (divine) (born 1575), English divine * John Eaton (pirate) (fl. 1683–1686), English buccaneer *Sir John Craig Eaton (1876–1922), Canadian businessman * John Craig Eaton II (born 1937), Canadian businessman ...

, John Cook, and later Edward Davis. Cowley published the first chart of the islands in 1684. In his diary he reported the discovery of the mythical

Pepys Island Pepys Island is a phantom island, once said to lie about north of the Falkland Islands at 47°S.James BurneyA Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea Or Pacific Ocean accessed 25 July 2010 Pepys Island is now believed to have ...

, allegedly situated north of the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

, prompting a number of mariners to look in vain for the nonexistent land.

References

*William Ambrosia Cowley. ''Cowley's Voyage Round the Globe'', in ''Collection of Original Voyages'', ed. William Hacke. London: James Knapton, 1699. https://web.archive.org/web/20180120160933/http://www.galapagos.to/TEXTS/COWLEY.HTM *1686 “A Short Account of My Voyage Round this Terestiall Globe of the World from Virginia to England and through the Great South Sea.” In Miscellanea Curiosa. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Historical Society Mss1. T8525a3, Vol IV (letter written by Cowley describing his voyage). https://web.archive.org/web/20181024234711/http://www.galapagos.to/TEXTS/TURNERMS.HTM *1687 “The Voyage of Capt. Cowley. Papist.” In Lambeth Ms. 642: Codex Chartaceus. London: Lambeth Palace Library https://web.archive.org/web/20181024234711/http://www.galapagos.to/TEXTS/LAMBETH.HTM *1688 Cowley's Voyage Round the World. London: British Library. Sloane MS. 1050. https://web.archive.org/web/20181024234711/http://www.galapagos.to/TEXTS/COWLEY-MS.HTM *1698 “A Journal kept by Capt. Wm. Cowley on board the Ship Nicholas of London Capt. John Eaton Commander. A Voyage from Gorgona Island … to … Holland.” https://web.archive.org/web/20170219001609/http://www.galapagos.to/TEXTS/COWLEY-1.HTM#Morgan * and “An abstract of a journal kept by Capt. Cowley from Cape Charles … to … the Island of Gorgona.” In William Hacke, Handwritten Journal of Pirate Bartholomew Sharpe. New York: Morgan Library. Ms. MA 3310. https://web.archive.org/web/20170219001609/http://www.galapagos.to/TEXTS/COWLEY-1.HTM#Morgan *

William Dampier William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnav ...

''A New Voyage Round the World''
1697. English pirates 17th-century English people Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{Pirate-stub