Woodes Rogers

From Freepedia

Woodes Rogers (ca. 1679 – July 16, 1732, Nassau, Bahamas), was an English privateer and later the first royal governor of the Bahamas.

Rogers was born in Bristol, England.

He circumnavigated the globe in 1708–1711 in the Duke, harassing Spanish possessions in the Pacific. His navigator on that expedition was William Dampier; on 2 February 1709 he picked up the castaway Alexander Selkirk from Juan Fernández island, whom Dampier had marooned there five years previously.

Rogers was officially appointed "Captain - General and Governor in Chief in and over the Bahama Islands" by King George I of Great Britain on February 6, 1718. He played a major role in suppressing pirates in the Caribbean through the combined use of royal pardons and military force.