- Woodes Rogers
Woodes Rogers (ca. 1679 – 16 July 1732,
Nassau, Bahamas ), was an Englishprivateer and later the first royal governor of theBahamas .While at
Cabo San Lucas inBaja California Sur , Mexico, between November 1709 and January 1710, he succeeded in capturing the rich prize of a Manila galleon. Accounts by Rogers himself and by Rogers' fellow-captain Edward Cooke, written after the return to England, provided valuable ethnographic information on cape's Pericú Indians.Rogers was officially appointed "Captain - General and Governor in Chief in and over the Bahama Islands" by King
George I of Great Britain on 6 February 1718. He played a major role in suppressingpirate s in theCaribbean when he killed or drove out the pirates of the Bahamas and oustedEdward Teach (Blackbeard ) from position as Magistrate of the "Privateers Republic". After he became governor in 1717, he offered the "King's Pardon", which gave amnesty to most of the pirates in the isles. The most notorious and powerful pirates were not granted the amnesty, and were hunted down and killed.It was Woodes Rogers who found
Alexander Selkirk , inspiration for the novel "Robinson Crusoe", (Little, Brian c1960).Woodes Rogers had a house in
Queen Square, Bristol , which in the 18th Century was a popular address among the Merchant class. The house no longer exists but there is a plaque on a modern building occupying the site where his house once stood.References
* Andrews, Thomas F. (editor). 1979. "English Privateers at Cabo San Lucas: The Descriptive Accounts of Puerto Seguro by Edward Cooke (1712) and Woodes Rogers (1712), with Added Comments by George Shelvocke (1726) and William Betagh (1728)". Dawson's Book Shop, Los Angeles.
* Little, Brian. c.1960. "Crusoe's Captain: Being the Life of Woodes Rogers, Seaman, ader, Colonial Governor". Odhams Press, London
* Rogers, Woodes. 1712. "A Cruising Voyage Round the World". Andrew Bell, London.
* Cooke, Edward. 1712. "A Voyage to the South Sea and Round the World". 3 vols. Lintot, London.succession box
before=George Phenney
title=Governor of the Bahamas | years=1729–1732
after=Richard Thompson
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