1737-1808

Scottish aristocrat and hydrographer, the first at the Royal Navy (1795), who made a name for himself by publishing several works about the unexplored Pacific in an effort to be named head of an expedition that ultimately was led by Captain James Cook (1728-1779). Before being posted to the Navy, Dalrymple was an administrator and staff hydrographer for the British East India Company in the Pacific. His best-known book was An Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean (1769).