In February 1700 Dampier called at Juan Fernandez and while there Captain Straddling of the "Cinque Porte" galley quarrelled with his men, forty-two of whom deserted but were afterwards taken on board by Dampier; five seamen, however, remained on shore.
Thomas Gage, who visited it in 1665, describes it as a splendid city; and in 1685 it yielded rich booty to William Dampier.
From Torres Strait to Dampier Land the shelf spreads out, and connects Australia with New Guinea and the Malay Archipelago.
The first English navigator to sight the Australian continent was William Dampier, who made a visit to these shores in 1688, as supercargo of the " Cygnet," a trader whose crew had turned buccaneers.
During the interval elapsing between Dampier's two voyages, an accident led to the closer examination of the coasts of Western Australia by the Dutch.