Ambrose Cowley

Map of the Galapagos Islands as described by Cowley in 1684.

William Ambrosia Cowley was a 17th-century English buccaneer who surveyed the Galápagos Islands during his circumnavigation of the world, and published the first chart of the islands in 1684. In his diary he reported the discovery of the mythical Pepys Island, allegedly situated north of the Falkland Islands, prompting a number of mariners to look in vain for the nonexistent land.

References

• William Ambrosia Cowley. Cowley's Voyage Round the Globe, in Collection of Original Voyages, ed. William Hacke. London: James Knapton, 1699.
• William Dampier. A New Voyage Round the World. 1697.