A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed Before — John Shaqi
A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed BeforeDefoe, Daniel
General
A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed Before
Defoe, Daniel
Adventure stories; Voyages around the world -- Fiction
Produced by Steven Gibbs, Martin Pettit and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
A NEW VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD,
BY A Course never sailed before.
BEING
A VOYAGE undertaken by some MERCHANTS, who afterwards proposed
the Setting up an _East-India_ Company in FLANDERS.
_LONDON:_
Printed for A. BETTESWORTH, at the _Red-Lyon_,
in _Pater-Noster-Row_; and W. MEARS, at the
_Lamb_, without _Temple-Bar_. M.DCC.XXV.
NEW VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.
It has for some ages been thought so wonderful a thing to sail the tour
or circle of the globe, that when a man has done this mighty feat, he
presently thinks it deserves to be recorded like Sir Francis Drake's. So
soon as men have acted the sailor, they come ashore and write books of
their voyage, not only to make a great noise of what they have done
themselves, but pretending to show the way to others to come after them,
they set up for teachers and chart makers to posterity. Though most of
them have had this misfortune, that whatever success they have had in
the voyage, they have had very little in the relation; except it be to
tell us, that a seaman when he comes to the press, is pretty much out of
his element, and a very good sailor may make but a very indifferent
author.
I do not in this, lessen the merit of those gentlemen who have made such
a long voyage as that round the globe; but I must be allowed to say, as
the way is now a common road, the reason of it thoroughly known, and the
occasion of it more frequent than in former times, so the world has done
wondering at it; we no more look upon it as a mighty thing, a strange
and never heard of undertaking; this cannot be now expected of us, the
thing is made familiar, every ordinary sailor is able to do it, if his
merchants are but qualified to furnish him for so long a voyage; and he
that can carry a ship to Lisbon, may with the same ease carry it round
the world.
Some tell us, it is enough to wonder at a thing nine days, one would
reasonably then conclude, that it is enough that sailing round the world
has been wondered at above a hundred years. I shall therefore let the
reader know, that it is not the rarity of going round the world that has
occasioned this publication, but if some incidents have happened in
such a voyage, as either have not happened to others, or as no other
people, though performing the same voyage have taken notice of, then
this account may be worth publishing, though the thing, viz. The Voyage
round the World, be in itself of no value.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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