Which Englishman who died in 1715 is the connection with the words 'kumquat' and 'chopsticks' and Robinson Crusoe, the voyage of The Beagle and Gulliver's Travels ?

The pirate William Dampier? I know he's credited with introducing many words into the English language, and seem to remember that Alexander Selkirk (the "real life" Robinson Crusoe) sailed on his ship.

My memory is even more vague on your other two references. It rings a distant bell that Jonathon Swift used Dampier's description of Aborigines as a basis for a character in Gulliver's Travels. Dampier was very interested in natural history, so I'm guessing that's the connection with The Beagle.

My poor brain is hurting after all that dredging of my failing memory - and it'll probably turn out that I'm totally off track!

"My poor brain is hurting after all that dredging of my failing memory - and it'll probably turn out that I'm totally off track!"

You shouldn't feel bad, Karrow; it's certainly understandable that you would fail to remeber some things, when one considers that you have so much more to remember than the rest of us, so many years decades centuries to look back on.

Dampier it is. Darwin described Dampier's books of voyages as 'a mine of information'.His methods and analysis in the study of the flora and fauna he encountered in his circumnavigations were inspirational.Dampier had visited the Galapagos in 1683.

The Yahoos in Gulliver's Travels were taken from Dampier's descriptions of Aborigines.

Dampier gave very many words to English: the total is certainly in the hundreds.

Dampier was in command of an expedition which included the ship, the Cinque Ports, which had Selkirk (Robinson Crusoe ) in her crew. When Selkirk complained to Dampier that the ship was unseaworthy Dampier would have none of it and left Selkirk marooned.The ship sank soon after with the loss of nearly all hands

(Dampier was , in a way, responsible for the voyage of the Bounty.It was his description of breadfruit that caused the government to have the Bounty take breadfruit with a view to discovering where it could be a crop )