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Mercator was born in 1512, Plantin in 1520
A serious biography of Mercator has been written by Nicholas Crane. If it is too serious for you, just jump over the details that are not meaningful to you and don't complain.
Mercator coined the word "atlas" for a collection of maps and had them printed. So, after learning about Gutenberg, you might give a chance to Mercator's printer and engraver Christopher Plantin and read the book by Colin Clair.
Dampier was born in 1651
A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier by Diana and Michael Preston
Daniel Defoe was born in 1660, Blackbeard in 1680
Robinson Crusoe (Norton Critical Editions) by Daniel Defoe
In Search of Robinson Crusoe by Tim Severin
The problem with Blackbeard is that the subject is not very interesting, and the books about him range from boring to flimsy. I guess we are stuck with Treasure Island ***(DVD): it is much better than the truth.
Captain Cook was born in 1728
Captain James Cook: Seaman and Scientist*** by Bill Finnis
The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook
by Nicholas Thomas
Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail by Stephen Bown.
Lord Nelson was born in 1758, Napoleon was born in 1769
Nelson's Trafalgar: The Battle That Changed the World by Roy Adkins Finally a chance for me to understand the battle with, finally, well explained drawings!
There is, for the whole Napoleonic period, a series of 21 books which fascinate people who love sea stories. Start with Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian (DVD)
Or go directly to the whole series: The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels by Patrick O'Brian. If you go this far, you might as well get yourself A Sea of Words, A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian by Dean King et al.
I looked without success for a book about the French privateer Robert Surcouf -all the books about him are, surprise!- in French. He appears in a general book on privateers, and the differences between pirates and privateers are so interestingly confusing that you might like to look into it; Privateers & Pirates 1730-1830 by Angus Konstam (I have not read it, but it is short and illustrated).
Darwin was born in 1809 and Alfred Wallace in 1823
The Voyage of the Beagle: Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches (Penguin Classics)
It should not take anything from Darwin to have a look at Wallace's accomplishments, so take the following book with a grain of salt: The Spice Islands Voyage: The Quest for Alfred Wallace, the Man Who Shared Darwin's Discovery of Evolution by Tim Severin
Richard Dana was born in 1815
Two years before the mast the real story of the terrible conditions of life onboard in the 19th century.
another chapter in the history of scurvy: see Dana on the biography page here
Joseph Conrad was born in a Polish part of Russia in 1857, he became an orphan early, lived at sea as a seaman and then a captain. He became a British writer after retirement. His novels are filled with details about the various places he visited, but the content is largely about the description of lonely and despairing souls. In Conrad's books, human nature is often evil, but good and bad are ambiguous. This sense of ambiguity makes of Conrad a very modern writer. Lord Jim is based on a real story: a ship has been abandoned by the crew, but the ship is found and the passengers are saved. In the book, one of the officers is covered in shame because of his cowardice and tries to redeem himself. If you like that book, there is plenty more.
One of the worst storms happened in 1991
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea
by Sebastian Junger You may have seen the movie, you should read the book too.
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