William Dampier

Perhaps we need to start a new series called Wessex Unworthies. The happy-looking fellow above is William Dampier, a famous Wessaxon who is best known as the man who rescued Alexander Selkirk, believed to be the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, and for being the first person to circumnavigate the globe three times. But he was also a pirate, a racist and a slave trader, who was court-martialled by the Admiralty for cruelty.