George Shelvocke

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Captain George Shelvocke (1690-1728) was an English privateer who wrote a famous 1726 book based on his exploits, A Voyage Round the World By Way of The Great South Sea.

Born into a farming family in Shropshire, Shelvocke joined the Royal Navy when he was 15. During two long wars with France and Spain he rose through the ranks to become sailing master and finally second lieutenant of a flagship. However, when war with France ended in 1713 he was beached without even half-pay support. When he was commissioned as captain of the ship Speedwell, he was living in poverty.

Alongside the Success, captained by John Clipperton, the Speedwell was involved in a 1719 expedition to capture and loot Spanish treasure ships carrying Peruvian silver along the west coast of South America. The English had just declared war with Spain and the ships carried letters of marque, which gave them official status but outside the British navy.

Having been shipwrecked on Selkirk Island and been forced to rebuild the Speedwell, Shelvocke broke off from Clipperton, his superior officer, against orders and proceeded on his own. Shelvocke and his crew managed to maraud and pillage their way up the west coast of South America from present-day Chile to Baja California in a series of captured enemy vessels. He then sailed for Macao before returning to England.

In England he was arrested on charges of piracy, though he was acquitted shortly after. The events portrayed in A Voyage Round the World By Way of The Great South Sea were disputed by a number of critics, including Clipperton, but Shelvocke nevertheless went on to earn great honour and wealth off the back of his adventures.

In his book, Captain Shelvocke alleged that Simon Hatley, a sailor on this expedition, was the Ancient Mariner who shot the Albatross in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem, as he blamed the bird for the winds that were hounding the voyage.

[edit] According to Wordsworth

There are several reminiscences by the poet William Wordsworth concerning the above:

"Written at Alfoxden in the spring of 1798, under circumstances somewhat remarkable. The little girl who is the heroine I met within the area of Goodrich Castle in the year 1793. Having left the Isle of Wight and crossed Salisbury Plain, as mentioned in the preface to "Guilt and Sorrow," I proceeded by Bristol up the Wye, and so on to North Wales, to the Vale of Clwydd, where I spent my summer under the roof of the father of my friend, Robert Jones.

"In reference to this Poem I will here mention one of the most remarkable facts in my own poetic history and that of Mr. Coleridge. In the spring of the year 1798, he, my Sister, and myself, started from Alfoxden, pretty late in the afternoon, with a view to visit Lenton and the valley of Stones near it; and as our united funds were very small, we agreed to defray the expense of the tour by writing a poem, to be sent to the New Monthly Magazine set up by Phillips the bookseller, and edited by John Aikin.

"Accordingly we set off and proceeded along the Quantock Hills towards Watchet, and in the course of this walk was planned the poem of the "Ancient Mariner", founded on a dream, as Mr. Coleridge said, of his friend, Mr. Cruikshank.

"Much the greatest part of the story was Mr. Coleridge's invention; but certain parts I myself suggested: — for example, some crime was to be committed which should bring upon the old Navigator, as Coleridge afterwards delighted to call him, the spectral persecution, as a consequence of that crime, and his own wanderings. I had been reading in Shelvock's Voyages a day or two before that while doubling Cape Horn they frequently saw Albatrosses in that latitude, the largest sort of sea-fowl, some extending their wings twelve or fifteen feet. "Suppose," said I, "you represent him as having killed one of these birds on entering the South Sea, and that the tutelary Spirits of those regions take upon them to avenge the crime." The incident was thought fit for the purpose and adopted accordingly.

"I also suggested the navigation of the ship by the dead men, but do not recollect that I had anything more to do with the scheme of the poem. The Gloss with which it was subsequently accompanied was not thought of by either of us at the time; at least, not a hint of it was given to me, and I have no doubt it was a gratuitous afterthought. We began the composition together on that, to me, memorable evening."

[edit] George Shelvocke, Senior, known bibliography

• "A voyage round the world by the way of the great South Sea. Performed in a private expedition during the war, which broke out with Spain, in the year 1718." by George SHELVOCKE, fl. 1690-1728; 1757
• "A Voyage round the World by the way of the great South Sea, performed in the years 1719-1722." SHELVOCKE, George, the Elder; pp. xxxii. 468. J. Senex: London, 1726. 8o.
• "A Voyage round the World ... "With introduction and notes by W. G. Perrin ... With 7 ... plates and 1 map. SHELVOCKE, George, the Elder pp. xxii. 262. Cassell & Co.: London, 1928. 8o.
• "A Privateer's Voyage round the World. By Capt. G. SHELVOCKE. With aspersions upon him by William Betagh [extracted from A Voyage round the World]." SHELVOCKE, George, the Elder pp. 285. Jonathan Cape: London, 1930. 8o.
• "Voyage round the World." [Abridged account.] SHELVOCKE, George, the Elder
• "Das Capitain Georg SHELVOCKE Reise um die Welt, auf dem Wege durch die grosse Sudsee ... im Jahr 1718" ... unternommen ... Aus dem Englischen. SHELVOCKE, George, the Elder - Bremen, 1787. 8o.
• "The Voyages of Captains Clipperton and SHELVOCKE." SHELVOCKE, George, the Elder
• "The Great Art of Artillery "... Translated from the French by G. SHELVOCKE ... Illustrated with ... copper plates. SIEMIENOWICZ. Kazimierz London, 1729. fol.
• "A voyage round the world, by way of the great south sea: performed in a private expedition during the war, which broke out with Spain, in the year 1718". By Capt. George SHELVOCKE. The second edition, revised and republished by George SHELVOCKE, Esq.; SHELVOCKE, George, the Elder London: printed for W. Innys and J. Richardson, M. & T. Longman ..., 1757. [6],iii,[3],476p.,[5]leaves of plates, maps (8o); 22cm