History of The Bahamas - Woodes Rogers

Woodes Rogers

The "pirates' republic" came to an end in 1718, when Woodes Rogers, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas, reached Nassau with a small fleet of warships. Starting in 1713, Rogers had conceived the idea of leading an expedition to Madagascar to suppress the pirates there and establish it as a British colony. Rogers' friends Richard Steele and Joseph Addison eventually convinced him to tackle the pirates nest in the Bahamas, instead. Rogers and others formed a company to fund the venture. They persuaded the Proprietors of Carolina to surrender the government of the Bahamas to the king, while retaining title to the land. The 1,000 or so pirates on the islands surrendered peacefully and the Proprietors then leased their land in the Bahamas to Rogers' company for 21 years. In 1717 King George appointed Rogers governor of the Bahamas and issued a proclamation granting a pardon to any pirate who surrendered to a British governor within one year.

Word of the appointment of a new governor and of the offer of pardons reached Nassau ahead of Rogers. Some of the pirates were willing to accept a pardon and retire from piracy. Others were not ready to give up. Many of those were Jacobites, supporters of the House of Stuart, who regarded themselves as enemies of the Hanoverian King George. Still others simply saw themselves as rebels, or thought they were better off as pirates than trying to earn an honest living. When a Royal Navy ship brought official word to Nassau of the pardon offer, it seemed at first that most of the pirates in Nassau would accept. Soon, however, the recalcitrant party gained the upper hand, eventually forcing the Navy ship to leave.

Some pirates, such as Henry Jennings and Christopher Winter, sailed off to find British authorities to confirm their acceptance of the amnesty. Others, such as Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Nicholas Brown and Edmond Condent, left the Bahamas for other territories. Charles Vane, with "Calico Jack" Rackham and Edward England in his crew, came to prominence at this time. Vane worked to organize resistance to the anticipated arrival of Royal authority, even appealing to the James Francis Edward Stuart, the Stuart pretender, for aid in holding the Bahamas and capturing Bermuda for the Stuarts. As aid from the Stuarts failed to materialize and Rogers' arrival approached, Vane and his crew prepared to leave Nassau.

Woodes Rogers arrived in Nassau in late July 1718, with his own 460 ton warship, three other ships belonging to his company, and escorted by three ships of the Royal Navy. Vane's ship was trapped in Nassau harbor. His crew set that ship on fire, sending it towards Rogers' ships, and escaped in the ensuing confusion in a smaller ship they had seized from another pirate. Rogers' arrival in Nassau was welcomed by the remaining population, about 200 settlers and 500 to 700 pirates who want to receive pardons, most prominently Benjamin Hornigold.

Rogers had control of Nassau, but Charles Vane was loose and threatening to drive Rogers out, and Rogers received word that the King of Spain wanted to drive the English completely out of the Bahamas. Rogers worked to improve the defenses of Nassau, but an unidentified disease killed almost 100 of the men who had come to Nassau with Rogers, and then the Navy ships left. Rogers sent four of his ships to Havana to assure the Spanish governor that Rogers was suppressing piracy in the Bahamas and to trade for supplies. The crews of ex-pirates and men who had come with Rogers all turned pirate themselves. Ten of those men were caught at Green Turtle Cay by Rogers' new pirate-hunter, the ex-pirate Benjamin Hornigold. Eight of the pirates were found guilty and hanged in front of the fort.

Charles Vane attacked several small settlements in the Bahamas, but after he refused to attack a stronger French frigate, he was deposed for cowardice and replaced as captain by "Calico Jack" Rackham. Vane never returned to the Bahamas, but was eventually caught, tried and executed in Jamaica. After nearly being captured by Jamaican privateers, and hearing that the king had extended the deadline being pardoned for piracy, Rackham and his crew returned to Nassau and received pardons from Woodes Rogers. In Nassau Rackham became involved with Anne Bonny and tried to arrange an annulment of her marriage to another ex-pirate, James Bonny. Rogers blocked the annulment, and Rackham and Bonny left Nassau to be pirates again, taking a small crew and Bonny's friend Mary Read with them. Within months, Rackham, Bonny and Read were captured and taken to Jamaica, where Rackham was executed and Bonny and Read escaped execution due to pregnancy. Bonny died in prison, while Read's fate is unknown.

Britain and Spain went to war again in 1719, and many of the ex-pirates became privateers. A Spanish invasion fleet set out for the Bahamas, but was diverted to Pensacola, Florida when it was seized by the French. Rogers continued to improve the defenses of Nassau, spending his money and going heavily into debt to do so. A second Spanish invasion fleet in 1720 was deterred by the defenses (and the accidental presence of a Royal Navy ship in Nassau). His efforts has also physically exhausted Rogers. He returned to Britain in 1722 to plead for repayment of the money he had borrowed to build up Nassau, only to find he had been replaced as governor. He then ended up in debtors' prison, although his creditors later absolved his debts, allowing him to leave prison. After the publication in 1724 of A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates, which gave a favorable account of Rogers' efforts to suppress piracy in the Bahamas, his fortunes began to improve. The king awarded him a pension, retroactive to 1721, and in 1728 appointed Governor of the Bahamas for a second term. Rogers dissolved the colony's assembly when it would not approve taxes to repair Nassau's defenses. Woodes Rogers died in Nassau in 1732.