William Falconer

William Falconer ( born February 21, 1732 in Edinburgh, † missing since December 1769 ) was a Scottish poet.

Life

William Falconer was the son of a barber, and went early to sea.

At 18, he was on board a Leither Handesschiffes that came on the trip from Alexandria to Venice near Cape Colonna in distress. Falconer and two others escaped with their lives. This prompted him to write his poem The shipwreck, which was very well received and gave him a job in the Royal Navy.

In September 1769 he went as a ship's purser to the Aurora to India. The ship arrived in December, the Cape of Good Hope since the ship applies to the entire crew to be lost.

His poem describes in correct and melodious verses the mysteries of the deep, the terrors of the sea, the courage of the sailors, they defy, and at the same time the establishment of the ship, with such reality that it is itself a technical point for sailors of value.

Besides other poems ( odes, satires, etc. ) gave Falconer also a universal dictionary of the marine (1769 ) out. It appeared in 1780 in a second edition.