On 2 August 1708 Captain Woodes Rogers set sail from Bristol with two
ships, the Duke and Dutchess, on an epic voyage of circumnavigation that
was to make him famous. His mission was to attack, plunder and pillage
Spanish ships wherever he could. And, as Graham Thomas shows in this
tense and exciting narrative, after a series of pursuits and sea battles
he returned laden with booty and with a reputation as one of the most
audacious and shrewd fighting captains of the age. He was then appointed
governor of the Bahamas by George I with the task of suppressing the
pirates who roamed this corner of the Caribbean and preyed on its
shipping. He was equally successful as a privateer and pirate-hunter in
an age when brutality and ruthlessness were the law of the sea.
This study of Woodes Rogers is the first modern biography of an
extraordinary adventurer. It is fascinating reading.