|
|
|
|
The Weather Pirate
Fri Nov 28, 2003
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton, and this is the Weather Notebook. Early discoveries in meteorology were
made by men from various professions: philosophers and clerics, pharmacists and statesmen,
astronomers and bureaucrats. William Dampier was a pirate.
Dampier was also a British explorer, sea captain, highly regarded mapmaker and navigator, but
between 1675 and 1678, he sailed with buccaneers along Central America's Spanish Main.
During his many voyages, Dampier kept detailed journals of his experiences. He made astute
observations of weather conditions, particularly hurricanes and typhoons, then little known to
Europeans.
In 1680, an Atlantic hurricane caught Dampier's ship. Losing control of the helm, he was
forced to cast his fate to the hurricane winds. The storm buffeted the ship for hours, but
when it had passed, Dampier checked their position and found his ship only a mile from where
they had started. He concluded that hurricane winds blew in a gigantic circle. He called the
storms, "vast whirlwinds."
In his popular book New Voyage Round the World, Dampier detailed the first account of a
typhoon — which he called a "tuffoon," the first known European use of that word. His log
entry for July 4,1687 described the China Sea encounter, clearly noting the calm conditions in
the storm's central eye, and the wind direction shifts as the storm moved past.
One of Dampier's associates also gained notoriety. Crewmate Alexander Selkirk had, by his own
wish, been marooned on remote Juan Fernandez Island. Dampier eventually rescued Selkirk in
1709 and Selkirk's adventure was later fictionalized by Daniel Defoe, in the novel Robinson
Crusoe.
Thanks to our contributing writer, meteorologist Keith Heidorn. Our show is supported by The
National Science Foundation, and Subaru of America.
Today's Links
William Dampier
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/mwl/MWL_SpringSummer_02/REady_for_Web/Dampier/Dampier.pdf
|
|
