[1] This information is derived principally from “Notes and Queries,” vol. 149 (28 Nov. 1925), pp. 388-89. Robert Rogers was Mayor of Poole in 1550; John Rogers in 1572 and 1583.

[2] Dampier, “Voyages,” 1699, vol. 2, pt. 2, p. 104; pt. 3, p. 20, pp. 108-12. This supposition is supported by the fact that Dampier sailed under Rogers in 1708. If the supposition is correct, Rogers may have been born prior to 1679.

[3] On 24 January, 1704/5, a marriage licence was issued from the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury for:—“Woodes Rogers, of the City of Bristol, Merchant, bachelor, about 25, and Mrs. Sarah Whetstone, spinster, 18, with consent of her father the Hon. Rear-Admiral William Whetstone ... at St. Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London” (Harleian Soc, xxiv, 247).

[4] “Notes and Queries,” Ser. ix, vol. i, 69.

[5] 6 Anne, cap. 13, 26 March, 1708.

[6] Stark, “Abolition of Privateering,” p. 69.

[7] Nixon, “Thomas Dover,” 1909, p. 2.

[8] Born 1662. He appears to have been of a very quarrelsome nature, and was afterwards transferred to the Dutchess. He died in 1742.

[9] Cooke like Rogers possessed literary ability. In 1712 he published an account of the expedition, “A Voyage to the South Sea and Round the World.” The book is inferior to the account given by Rogers.

[10] Born 1652, a famous navigator and hydrographer. Served in the R.N. 1673, and joined the Buccaneers six years later. Returned to England in 1691, and in 1699-1700 conducted a voyage of discovery to the South Seas. In 1703 appointed to command two privateers, and it was during this voyage that Selkirk was marooned on Juan Fernandez by Capt. Stradling. Dampier returned to England in 1707. A good pilot but a bad commander. He died in London, 1715.

[11] John Paul, 3rd Lieutenant of the Chichester, 1696. Captain, 1706, and promoted to the Hastings. Employed on the Irish station for many years, and among other duties convoyed the outward bound merchant ships to the westward. Died 1720.

[12] During the voyage Rogers paid particular attention to the religious requirements of the men. Even his prisoners were “allowed liberty of conscience,” and they had “the Great Cabbin for their Mass, whilst we used the Church of England service over them on the Quarter-deck,” and in consequence he humorously remarks that “the Papists were the Low Church men.”

[13] Over thirty years later Anson experienced the same difficulty, and he records that not finding the island “in the position in which the charts had taught us to expect it” they feared they had gone too far to the westward.

[14] Rogers’s account of Selkirk created an appetite that was speedily fed by other writers. In the same year Captain Edward Cooke (who sailed with Rogers) brought out his “Voyage to the South Sea,” in which he included an account of Selkirk. In 1712 there also appeared a tract entitled “Providence Displayed; or a surprising account of one Alexander Selkirk,” which is practically a verbatim transcript from Rogers. In “The Englishman” for the 3rd December, 1713, Sir Richard Steele, who was a friend of Rogers, and had met Selkirk, published an account of Selkirk which follows in the main the story given by Rogers. Before the publication of the first part of Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe” in 1719, two editions of Rogers’s book had been published. It is possible that the introduction of the character of Friday into “Robinson Crusoe” was inspired by the incident of the Mosquito Indian mentioned on p. 95 of Rogers’s book. Selkirk returned to his native Largs in Fifeshire in the spring of 1712, and eventually went to sea again. In 1720 he was Master’s Mate of H.M.S. Weymouth. He died in the following year.

[15] A piece-of-eight was equivalent in value to 4s. 6d.

[16] Anson emulated Rogers by capturing the galleon in 1743.

[17] She was named Nuestra SeÑora de la Incarnacion Disenganio, and was of 400 tons burden. Her Commander was Don John Pichberty, by birth a Frenchman, and brother-in-law of the French Governor in Hispaniola.

[18] The Spanish prisoners were released, including the Commander, Pichberty, and after providing them with provisions, they were despatched to Acapulco, and “parted very friendly.”

[19] The actual value of the plunder is stated in a contemporary petition to have amounted to £800,000 (Mariner’s “Mirror,” 1924, p. 377). Two large silver candlesticks taken during the cruise are now in Bristol Cathedral.

[20] Cooke, “Voyage to the S. Sea,” i, 345, and Introduction to vol. i. The shares were apportioned as follows: Captain 24 shares, Second Captain 20, First Lieutenant 16, Master and Surgeon 10, Pilot 8, Boatswain, Gunner and Carpenter 6, Cooper 5, Midshipmen 4, Quartermasters 3, Sailors 2-1/2, Landsmen 1-1/2.

[21] It is interesting to note that the South Sea Company was incorporated in 1711, under the title of “The Governor & Company of the Merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas & other parts of America.”

[22] Rogers’s original log book was, in 1828, in the possession of Gabriel Goldney, Mayor of Bristol, whose ancestor helped to fit out the expedition.

[23] B.M. Sloane MSS. 4044, fol. 155. See also his “Voyage,” p. 307.

[24] “Polit. State of Gt. Britain,” xiv, 1717, p. 295.

[25] Public Record Office: C.O. 23, 12.

[26] C.O. 23, 2.

[27] C.O. 23, 2.

[28] Addison, “Works,” 1856, vi, 496. Anson in 1740 complained bitterly that his land forces consisted of pensioners from Chelsea.

[29] Ibid., 500.

[30] Aitken, “Life of Steele,” ii, 162.

[31] “Polit. State,” xv, 447.

[32] For a copy of this proclamation, see Dow; “Pirates of New England,” pp. 381-2.

[33] Johnson, C., “General History of the Pirates,” 1726, ii, p. 274.

[34] Johnson, “Pirates,” 1726, ii, 363.

[35] In February of the following year Vane was shipwrecked near the Bay of Honduras. He was captured soon after, taken to Jamaica, tried, convicted and executed.

[36] Polit. State, xvi, 551.

[37] Ibid., 551.

[38] Johnson, “Pirates,” 1726, ii, pp. 273-7.

[39] Johnson, 1726, ii, p. 336.

[40] Following on his reprieve Rounsivell worked for some time ashore, but afterwards served in a Privateer. Here he distinguished himself by refusing to escape in a small boat, when the ship was wrecked, and remained with his captain to the last (Johnson, ii, 308-9).

[41] Public Record Office, C.O. 23, 13.

[42] C.O., 23, 1.

[43] B.M. Add. MSS. 5145, C. ff. 123-6.

[44] Adam Cardonnel, one of the proprietors of the Bahama Islands.

[45] A reference evidently to the ducking-stool.

[46] John Sansome, a schoolfellow of Steele, and his assistant in the Fish Pool Scheme. Rogers had met him at the Tennis Coffee House in November, 1717.

[47] C.O. 23, 13.

[48] C.O. 23, 1.

[49] I.e. Charles Vane. See ante p. xxix.

[50] Edward Thaitch or Teach, a famous pirate known as “Blackbeard.” Killed in action with Robert Maynard of H.M.S. Pearl eighteen days after this letter. See also page xxix.

[51] C.O. 23, 1.

[52] Cal. Treasury Papers, Vol. 228, No. 24.

[53] C.O. 23, 13.

[54] C.O. 23, 1.

[55] This “Memorial” is printed in J. Ker’s “Memoirs,” pt. 3, 1726, pp. 22-34.

[56] London Magazine, 12 Aug., 1721.

[57] Cal. Treasury Papers, vol. 235, No. 49.

[58] “Notes and Queries,” Ser. 9, vol. 1, p. 68.

[59] “D.N. Biog.,” article “Hosier.”

[60] Probably the same Captain Dennis who in 1718 conducted an expedition to Havana, the Proceedings of which are in the P.R.O. (C.O. 137, 13).

[61] B.M. Add. MSS. 33748, ff. 317-18.

[62] Runners, i.e. fast ships which risk every impediment as to privateers or blockade (Smyth, “Sailor’s Word Book,” p. 586). This is a very early use of the term.

[63] C.O. 23, 13.

[64] C.O. 23, 2.

[65] C.O. 23, 14.

[66] B.M. Add. MSS. 4459, ff. 101-2.

[67] B.M. Add. MSS. 4459, f. 102.

[68] B.M. Add. MSS. 36128, ff. 177-85.

[69] Cal. Treasury Books, 1729-30, pp. 57, 304.

[70] The picture is reproduced in this volume. In the will of Sarah Rogers, who died 1743, she bequeathed to “Mr. Sergeant Eyre, the picture of her father, brother, and herself, in one frame.” The painting afterwards came into the possession of Samuel Ireland, and was bought at his sale in 1801 by “Mr. Vernon.” Its present repository is unknown. It was engraved in 1799.

[71] Cal. of Treasury Books, 1729-30, p. 61.

[72] C.O. 23, 2.

[73] C.O. 23, 2.

[74] C.O. 24, 1.

[75] C.O. 23, 2.

[76] Just a year after his death, an Order in Council directed the Treasury to complete the bargain for the purchase of the Proprietors and Lessees’ rights (C.O. 23, 3).

[77] C.O. 23, 3.

[78] Ibid.

[79] Ibid.

[80] About this time Rogers transmitted to the Lords Commissioners of Trade “A general account and description of the Bahamas,” a most important document, occupying 14 folio pages, which is still preserved among the Colonial Records in the Public Record Office (C.O. 23, 3).

[81] CO. 23, 3.

[82] The population comprised 256 men, 190 women, 489 white children, 275 able negroes, and 178 negro children.

[83] The landfall of Columbus is known to have been one of the Bahama Islands. Opinion is divided between Watling Island and Cat Island. Rogers’s letter lends support to the latter.

[84] In the following year he was chosen as one of the Council of the Bahamas. He was afterwards one of the three chief merchants of the Royal African Company, and died in 1735 “at Whydah, on the coast of Africa.”

[85] The Sovereigns; two remarkable rocky islets eastward of Kinsale Harbour; Big Sovereign (92 ft. high) and Little Sovereign.

[86] It appears from the will of Francis Rogers, part owner of the Duke and Dutchess, that Noblett Rogers was his brother. They were sons of Robert Rogers of Cork. The relationship to Woodes Rogers is uncertain. (“Notes & Queries,” Ser. X, vol. 9, p. 456.)

[87] Rear-Admiral Sir George Saunders, born about 1671. Entered R.N. 1689. Present at the Battle of La Hogue. With Rooke at Cadiz & Vigo. Appointed to the Shoreham in 1705 and continued in her till 1710, cruising in the Irish Sea. Captain of the Barfleur in defeat of the Spanish fleet off Cape Passaro. Knighted 1720 and afterwards a Commissioner of the Navy. Died 5 Dec. 1734.

[88] A mixture of beer and spirit, sweetened with sugar and heated.

[89] An officer who has been deprived of a command but retains his rank and pay. The term was also occasionally employed to designate a volunteer.

[90] i.e. Yawl; a boat usually rowed with 4 or 6 oars.

[91] The Archduke Charles of Austria, whom the Allies in 1703 proposed to make King of Spain, as Charles III.

[92] For a similar ceremony on entering the Mediterranean, see Teonge Diary, 1927, p. 264.

[93] From now onward Woodes Rogers employs the contraction L. for “league.”

[94] Long bars or bolts of iron, with shackles sliding on them, and a lock at the end, used to confine the feet of prisoners.

[95] Jears; the tackles by which the lower yards of a ship are hoisted or lowered.

[96] i.e. Trestle-trees; two strong bars of timber fixed horizontally on the opposite sides of the lower mast head, to support the frame of the top, and the weight of the top-mast.

[97] Roove or Rove; a weight of about 30 lb. used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

[98] A favourite song during the Commonwealth, which describes in a humorous way the tastes of the Puritans. The words and the tune are to be found in D’Urfey’s “Pills to Purge Melancholy” (1719) ii, 286-7.

[99] Jan Nieuhof, a Dutch traveller of the middle of the seventeenth century. His “Voyages and Travels into Brasil” were reprinted in Churchill’s “Collection of Voyages”, Vol. II.

[100] Count John Maurice of Nassau Siegen was sent by the Dutch as governor of their Brazilian colonies in 1636. His attempts to found an empire in S. America were thwarted by the cupidity of the merchants, and he resigned his post in 1644.

[101] An interesting example of the widespread custom of the couvade.

[102] Probably the “Description de tout l’Univers en plusiers cartes, etc.” By Nicolas & Guillaume Sanson, an edition of which appeared in 1700.

[103] Pedro Texeira was the first to ascend the Amazon, in 1638. He made his way to Quito by the River Napo.

[104] Davies (William) Barber-Surgeon of London. His “Description, etc., of the River Amazon” is printed in Purchas “Pilgrimes,” 1625, vol. IV.

[105] Francisco de Orellana. For his “Voyage down the Amazons”, 1540-1, see Hakluyt Soc., vol. XXIV.

[106] Robert Harcourt. On 23 March, 1609, he and a company of adventurers sailed for Guiana. He published an account of his adventures in “A relation of a voyage to Guiana,” 1613. It is reprinted in Purchas.

[107] Robert Withrington and Christopher Lister left the Thames in June, 1586, for a voyage to the South Sea. In January, 1587, they arrived off the coast of Brazil, and among their captures was a Portugese vessel, on board of which was Lopez Vaz, the author of a “Hist. of the W. Indies and the S. Sea.” Both he and the MS. of his book fell into the hands of the English. A translation of it was published in Hakluyt’s “Voyages.”

[108] Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca; or a Compleat Collection of Voyages and Travels, by Dr. John Harris, 1705; a most interesting narrative of over 400 voyages.

[109] “The Remarkable and Strange Adventures of A. Knivet,” 1591, is printed in Purchas.

[110] Gouin de Beauchesne, a captain in the French merchant service. His celebrated voyage occupied nearly three years.

[111] His account of a “Voyage from Spain to Paraquaria” is reprinted in Churchill’s “Collection of Voyages,” vol. IV.

[112] J. F. Gemelli Careri’s “Voyage Round the World” is printed in Churchill’s “Collection of Voyages,” vol. IV.

[113] F. N. del Techo’s “Hist. of the Provinces of Paraguay, Rio de La Plata, etc.,” is included in Churchill’s “Collection of Voyages,” vol. IV.

[114] Francis Sparrey, servant to one of Ralegh’s captains, was left in Guiana in 1595. Eventually captured by the Spaniards, he escaped to England in 1602, Ralegh spoke of him as a man who “could describe a country with a pen,” and his description of Guiana is included in Vol. IV of Purchas “Pilgrimes” 1625.

[115] In Stays; i.e. in the act of going about from one tack to the other. If a ship misses stays her head she pays off again on the old tack.

[116] The lowest sail on each of the three masts was reefed.

[117] A popular error; Thomas Cavendish, the second Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, was never knighted.

[118] Edward Fenton, the famous Elizabethan sea captain, commanded the Mary Rose against the Armada.

[119] John Davys or Davis of Sandridge, a famous Elizabethan navigator, and discoverer of Davis Strait.

[120] Sir John Narbrough, a famous Admiral and friend of Pepys, who passed through the Straits of Magellan in Nov., 1670.

[121] Ovalle (Alonso de). His “Hist. relation of the kingdom of Chili” is reprinted in Churchill’s “Collection of Voyages,” vol. III.

[122] Sudden bursts or squalls of wind.

[123] Basil Ringrose, a friend of Dampier, joined the Buccaneers in the Gulf of Darien, 1680. His “Journal,” the MS. of which is in the British Museum, was published in the second volume of the “Hist. of the Buccaneers,” 1685. He was killed in action in Feb., 1686.

[124] John Watling “an old privateer and a stout seaman,” was appointed to command the Buccaneers in Jan., 1681, at Juan Fernandez. Quitting the island in a hurry a Mosquito Indian, named William, was left behind. Watling was killed in action at the end of the month. Dampier visited the island March 22, 1684, and rescued the Indian.

[125] Anson, who visited the island in 1741, records that “the first goat that was killed at their landing had its ears slit, whence we concluded that he had doubtless been formerly under the power of Selkirk. This was indeed an animal of most venerable aspect, dignified with an exceeding majestic beard.”

[126] Perriers, commonly known as Pattereras or Pedereros; a small breach-loading swivel-gun.

[127] Thomas Stradling, formerly Lieutenant of this vessel.

[128] A charge consisting of a number of missiles (pieces of iron, stones, etc.) fired together; similar to case shot.

[129] Grapling or Grapnel; a sort of small anchor fitted with four or five flukes, or claws.

[130] A small kind of mortar invented by the celebrated engineer, Baron Coehorn, to throw small shells or grenades.

[131] A large species of Tunny fish, similar to the Bonito or striped Tunney.

[132] It was not until Rogers returned to England that he learnt that Simon Hatley, after losing company of the Duke and Dutchess, sailed to the coast of Peru, and after great privations, surrendered to the Spaniards. He afterwards returned to England, and served as Shelvocke’s second Captain in his “Voyage round the World,” 1719-22. An incident in this voyage—the shooting of a black Albatross by Hatley—has been immortalized in Coleridge’s “Ancient Mariner.”

[133] Edward Davis, chosen to command the Buccaneers in the South Sea in 1684.

[134] The operation of heaving a ship down on one side by strong purchase on the masts, so that the bottom may be cleaned.

[135] Cut-water or Knee of the Head; the foremost part of a ship’s prow.

[136] He died October 28, 1708.

[137] Captain Swann, one of the most redoubtable pirates of the Pacific, with whom Dampier served, 1685-86. In the latter year Dampier took advantage of a mutiny to abandon Swann and thirty-six of his crew at Mindanao, in the Philippines.

[138] He had been appointed Lord High Admiral of England on Anne’s accession.

[139] In merchant ships the lazaretto was the fore part of the lower deck, parted off for the storage of provisions and stores.

[140] See note page 25.

[141] A strong thick block of wood, with two large holes through it (one square, the other round) to confine two masts together. (Smyth, “Sailor’s Word Book”).

[142] Used in this sense to mean a waving movement.

[143] Boxes containing cartridges for muskets.

[144] Two long pieces of hard wood, convex on one side and concave on the other, bound opposite to each other to strengthen the masts.

[145] Evidently a misprint for support.

[146] A netting extending fore and aft to prevent an enemy from boarding.

[147] J. F. Gemelli Careri. His “Voyage round the World” was included in Churchill’s Collection of Voyages, vol. IV.

[148] Herrara (Antonio de), “General history of the Continent and Islands of America”; originally written in Spanish.

[149] A small vessel used in Far Eastern waters, propelled by an oar over the stern, and having a mat shed or hut in which the owner and his family live.

[150] Leaguer; a kind of cask, the exact nature and size of which is doubtful.

[151] A name applied in Eastern countries to any spirituous liquor of native manufacture. (N.E.D.)

[152] The Bonnet was an additional part made to fasten to the foot of other sails. In the case of difficult leaks, the bonnet was brought up over the keel and so laced over the leak.

[153] While still heeled over, or careened for cleaning.

[154] Some years later Rogers proposed a settlement on Madagascar; see Introduction, page xxxviii.