Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/37

 us. ix. JAN. 10, i9H.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

31

captured, and most of them subsequently executed.

In the following year pressure was put upon King George I. by the merchants of London and Liverpool to send a w r ell- equipped expedition to the West Indies to deal thoroughly with the pirates, of whom .a number still remained, and practically made government in the Bahamas impossible, though a royal charter had been granted by Charles II. to the Duke of Albemarle ^ind five other distinguished Englishmen, and proprietary rights conceded to them. These Lords Proprietors, as they were termed, sent a Governor to represent them the first, Capt. Johnson Wentworth, who assumed the position in 1671. Nothing much could be done, however, for between the pirates and the French and Spaniards civilized government was impossible. It would take up too much space to detail the failures of the various Governors who had been sent out by the Lords Proprietors between 1671 and 1704; suffice it to say that a Mr. Birch, who had been dispatched in the latter year, upon his arrival found New Providence destitute of inhabitants, and after camping in the woods for some days he returned to England.

The London and Liverpool merchants before mentioned prevailed upon the King to assume the responsibility of making an -end of the pirates, and recommended Capt. Wbodes Rogers to command an expedition, and also to govern the colony. The King followed this advice, and Woodes Rogers was duly commissioned to fill these offices. This selection was a complete success. He wisely secured the co-operation of Hornygold, who had previously been pardoned, and with his assistance the principal remaining pirates were brought to justice, and eight of them executed on 12 Dec., 1718. This appears to have been the death - blow to piracy in the Bahamas, and a period of comparative peace was secured. Woodes Rogers remained as Governor for four years, and for the first time some progress was made in settled government.

G. T. CARTER.

Greycliffe, Torquay.

" A British Privateer in the time of Queen Anne, being the Journal of Captain Woodes Rogers, Master Mariner, with notes, illustrations, and map by Robert C. Leslie." Published by Chapman & Hall.

This book comprises the journal kept by Capt. Rogers during his voyage round the world in the ship the Duke, and gives a full account of his adventures on the west coast

of South America, including the rescue of Alexander Selkirk from the Isle of Juan Fernandez.

The Duke was a Bristol ship, fitted out by the merchants of that city, and no doubt sailed under letters of marque. Capt. Rogers, therefore, would probably have been greatly surprised to find himself classed as a pirate. DONALD GTJNN.

63, St. James's Street. S.W.

Cf. Charles Johnson, ' The History oi Pirates ' (an eighteenth - century book) ; Henri Malo, ' Les Corsaires ' (Paris, 1908); Gomer Williams, ' History of the Liverpool Privateers ' (London, 1906) ; Alberto Guglil- motti, ' La Guerra dei Pirati e la Marina Pontificia del 1500 al 1560 ' (Firenze, 1876) ; and Mr. Statham's recently published book on some notorious pirates. L. L. K.

The article on Woodes Rogers by Prof. Laughton in the 'Diet. Nat. Biog.' will, no doubt, supply the information wanted, though if more is required the following refer- ences may be of use. The best account of Woodes Rogers's famous voyage is in his, now scarce, ' Cruising Voyage round the World,' first published in 1712. A second edition was published in 1718 and reissued in 1726. Another account of this voyage, entitled ' A Voyage to the South Seas and round the World,' was written by Capt. Edward Cooke, and also published in 1712. Other accounts will be found in the following works : Allgemeine Historic der Reisen zu Wasser und

Lande. Trans, by J. J. Schwabe and others.

1754. Vol. xii. pp. 63-79. Terra Australis Cognita. 1768. Vol. iii. pp. 231-

379. The World Display 'd. Third Edition, 1771, Vol.

vi. pp. 111-95. Histoire des Naufrages. Par M. D. 1789. Vol.

iii. pp. 105-24 of Supplement aux * Voyages

Imaginaires,' par C. G. T. Gamier. The Voyage of Woodes Rogers. Arliss's Juvenile

Library. 1820. Pp.60. Bristollia : Outline of the Voyage of the Duke and

Duchess Privateers, 1708-11. Bristol, 1849.

Pp. 76. Life aboard a British Privateer in the time of

Queen Anne : being the Journal of Captain

Woodes Rogers. With notes by R. C. Leslie.

1889. New Edition, 1894.

The following are biographical : Georgian Era. Vol. iii. p. 458. Heroes of Maritime Discovery. By W. H. D. Adams. Woodes Rogers, pp. 153-70.

In addition to the references in ' N. & Q.' already given, notes will be found at 4 S. x. 107 and 9 S. i. 68. ROLAND AUSTIN.

Gloucester