Woodes Rogers - Early Life

Early Life

Woodes Rogers was the eldest son and heir of Woods Rogers, a successful merchant captain. Woodes Rogers spent part of his childhood in Poole, England, where he likely attended the local school; his father, who owned shares in many ships, was often away nine months of the year with the Newfoundland fishing fleet. Sometime between 1690 and 1696, Captain Rogers moved his family to Bristol. In November 1697, Woodes Rogers was apprenticed to Bristol mariner John Yeamans, to learn the profession of a sailor. At 18, Rogers was somewhat old to be starting a seven-year apprenticeship. His biographer, Brian Little, suggests that this might have been a way for the newcomers to become entrenched in Bristol maritime society, as well as making it possible for Woodes Rogers to become a freeman, or voting citizen, of the city. Little also suggests that it is likely that Rogers gained his maritime experience with Yeamans' ship on the Newfoundland fleet.

Rogers completed his apprenticeship in November 1704. The following January he married Sarah Whetstone, daughter of Rear Admiral Sir William Whetstone, who was a neighbour and close family friend; Woodes became a freeman of Bristol because of his marriage into the prominent Whetstone family. In 1706, Captain Rogers died at sea, leaving his ships and business to his son Woodes. Between 1706 and 1708, Woodes and Sarah Rogers had a son and two daughters.