"The Brits have dominated for too long." -- G.W. (2004)

An emeritus professor of history at the University of London, Glyn Williams taught at the University of British Columbia in the 1960s and later participated in two major SFU-sponsored conferences regarding North Pacific exploration, about Captain Cook in 1978 and about Captain Vancouver in 1992. He returned to B.C. in 2004 to present the fifth annual lecture of the Vancouver Spanish Pacific Historical Society, focussing on Captain Malaspina. Williams is the author of several acclaimed books about exploration including The Prize of All the Oceans, Atlas of North American Exploration, The Great South Sea (Yale University Press) and Voyages of Delusion: The Quest for the Northwest Passage (Yale University Press, 2003). An admirer of the superior cartographers Alejandro Malaspina and George Vancouver, Williams has ably recounted the foibles of other sea captains, including James Cook, and has highlighted the importance of the Irish MP Arthur Dobbs. [See Arthur Dobbs entry]

Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
Pioneers of the Pacific: Voyages of Exploration, 1787-1810

BOOKS:

Ruling Britannia: A Political History of Britain 1688-1988/ By: Glyn Williams, John Ramsden, Glyndwr Williams (Longman U.K., 1990)

The Atlas of North American Exploration: From the Norse Voyages to the Race to the Pole. By: William H. Goetzmann, Glyndwr Williams, Malcolm Swanston, Isabelle Lewis, Jacqueline Land, Thomas G. Williams (Macmillan, 1992)

Owain Glyndwr (Books Britain, 1993)

Voyages to Hudson Bay in Search of a Northwest Passage, 1741-1747 (Second Series). By: William Barr, Glyndwr Williams (Hakluyt Society, 1994)

The Great South Sea: English Voyages and Encounters 1570-1750 (Yale University Press, 1998)

Pacific Empires: Essays in Honour of Glyndwr Williams. By: Alan Frost, Jane Samson, Glyndwr Williams (UBC Press, 1999)

The Prize of All the Oceans: The Dramatic True Story of Commodore Anson's Voyage Round the World and How He Seized the Spanish Treasure Galleon. By: Glyndwr Williams and Glyn Williams (Penguin, 2000)

Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Information: Essays in Honour of Sir David Williams. By: David Glyndwr Tudor Williams, Yvonne Cripps, Jack Beatson (Oxford, 2000)

The Malaspina Expedition 1789 to 1794: Journal of the Voyage by Alejandro Malaspina: Cadiz to Panama (Hakluyt Society Series, 3). By: Andrew David, Felipe Fernandez Armesto, Carlos Novi, Glyndwr Williams, Donald C. Cutter (Ashgate Pub. 2002)

Voyages of Delusion: The Quest for the Northwest Passage (Yale University Press, 2003)

Captain Cook: Explorations and Reassessments (Boydell & Brewer, 2004)

[BCBW 2004] "1700-1800"