in the hands of “Mr. Fairfax” he left for England, carrying with him a remarkable “Memorial”[55] drawn up and signed by the Council, principal inhabitants and traders of the Bahama Islands, dated 21 March, 1720/1, setting forth the services he had rendered to the colony. In this document they expressed the belief that “too many of these neglects of, and misfortunes attending us, are owing to the want of a power to call an Assembly, and that the colony being in the hands of Proprietors, and Co-partners, who we are sensible have it not in their power to support and defend their settlements, in such a manner as is necessary, more especially in young colonies: and this place being left on so uncertain a foundation, and so long abandoned, has discouraged all men of substance coming to us. We hope,” they added, “his Majesty, and the wisdom of the nation will not suffer this colony to be any longer so neglected and lost to the Crown, as it inevitably must, and will be soon abandoned to the pirates, if effectual care is not taken without any farther loss of time. We thought it a duty incumbent on us, as well to the Country, as to his Excellency the Governor, and his Majesty’s garrison here to put these things in a full and true a light … that we might as much as in us lies, do our Governor justice, and prevent any farther ungrateful usage being offered him at home, to frustrate his good endeavours when please God he arrives there, for the service of his country, to preserve this settlement; for next to the Divine protection, it is owing to him, who has acted amongst us without the least regard for his private advantage or separate interest, in a scene of continual fatigues and hardships. These motives led us to offer the truth under our hands, of the almost insurmountable difficulty, that he and this colony has struggled with for the space of two years and eight months past.” With these assurances of good will and support Rogers left for England, calling en route at South Carolina, where he ordered provisions to be despatched to New Providence sufficient to last the company till Christmas. During the second week in August he landed at Bristol, and then proceeded to London.[56]
On arrival in London Rogers met with as many difficulties as he had encountered in the Colony, and he does not appear to have succeeded to any extent in the objects of his mission. That he strongly objected to return for a further tenure of office under the same conditions is apparent, and in the same year George Phenney was appointed to succeed him as Governor. Within two months of his arrival in England, he addressed a petition to the Lords of the Treasury setting forth his services and impoverished condition, stating that in preserving the islands “from destruction by the Spaniards, or from again being possessed by the pirates, he had disbursed his whole fortune, and credit, and stood engaged for large sums. He prayed that he might be granted an allowance of victualling for the last three years.”[57]
Those who have had occasion to search into the records of the 18th century know the difficulties which confront the searcher, especially in writing for the first time the life of a man like Woodes Rogers. There must inevitably be some missing links in the biographical chain, and such a missing link occurs in the years immediately following his return to England. For some reason or other he seems to have been in bad odour with the Government—possibly on account of his pugnacity and outspoken nature—and there is no record of his petition being answered. On slender authority he is said to have gone in 1724, in the Delicia of 40 guns, to Madagascar for the purpose of buying slaves for the Dutch Colony at Batavia, during which voyage he narrowly escaped capture by the pirates who had settled there from the Bahamas. This, however, seems an unlikely procedure for a man of Rogers’s attainments, and the story is not corroborated by any authoritative source.[58]
The next mention of Rogers occurs in connection with the operations against Spain. In March, 1726, Vice-Admiral Hosier was appointed to command a squadron which was despatched to the West Indies for the purpose of intercepting the Spanish treasure ships lying at Porto Bello. On hearing of Hosier’s expedition and its object the ships were dismantled and the treasure sent back to Panama. Hosier, however, in spite of a virulent epidemic among the crew of his ships, kept up a strict blockade of Porto Bello. In the spring and summer of 1727, while his ships were blockading Havana and Vera Cruz, the epidemic continued, and Hosier himself fell a victim to the disease, dying at Jamaica on the 25th of August.[59] The Government did all in their power to prevent the Spanish treasure ships reaching Europe, and Rogers, who was in London at the time, was consulted by the Government as to the probable means and route the Spaniards would adopt to get their treasure home. The situation was rendered more difficult by a despatch from William Cayley, our Consul at Cadiz, informing the Government of the sailing of a squadron from Cadiz to assist in bringing the treasure home. From past experience Rogers probably knew more than any other person then in England of the difficulties of the voyage and the report which he delivered, in conjunction with Jonathan Denniss,[60] to Lord Townshend the Secretary of State, is of considerable interest and is now printed for the first time.[61]
My Lord—
According to what your Lordship was pleased to command us, we have considered the account given by Mr. Cayley from Cadiz to his Grace the Duke of Newcastle of three men-of-war and a ship of ten guns being sent under the command of Admiral Castañetta from that port in the month of May last, with canon and land forces which, your Lordship apprehends, may be ordered round Cape Horn, in order to bring to Spain the Bullion now detained at Panama, and we give it your Lordship as our opinion, that it is not only improbable, but almost impracticable, for the following reasons:—
First, because of the time of the year in which those ships sailed from Cadiz, which is at least three months too soon to attempt getting round Cape Horn, or through the Straits of Magellan, especially if the nature of the ships be considered, and their being deeply laden, and having canon and land forces on board.
Secondly, because their can be no need of canon in Peru or Chile, those provinces abounding in metal for casting them, and the Spaniards being able to do it (as they always have done) cheaper and full as well as in Spain, and as to the Soldiers, the transporting them that way seems altogether improbable because of the many better methods there are of doing it.
Thirdly, my Lord, as the Bullion is now at or near Panama, the embarking it thence to Lyma, and so to be brought round Cape Horn, will require so prodigious an expence both of time and money, that renders the doing of it extremely improbable.
’Tis true, my Lord, were the money now at Potosi or Lyma ’twould be easy enough to bring it round Cape Horn, or rather overland to Buenos Ayres, where Castañetta might be gone to receive it, but as it is not, the bringing of it from Panama to Lyma will require too long a time, because of the difficulty of the Navigation from the former to the latter place, being against both winds and currents, so that the Spanish ships are commonly from six to eight or ten months performing the voyage, and though the French formerly often came with their money round the Cape to France, yet your Lordship will consider their tract of trade was never to Leeward, or to the Northward of the coasts of Peru, by which means the greatest fatigue of the voyage was avoided.
But, my Lord, what seems to us the most likely is that Castañetta after refreshing at the Havana, may go to La Vera Cruz, and there wait for the Bullion from Panama (from whence it may be sent to La Vera Cruz under a notion of its being re-shipt for Peru) and so bring it to Havana there to join in the Flota, and so come for Spain (or send it home in running[62] ships) and our reason for this suggestion is not only for the above difficulties that must and will attend bringing the Bullion now at Panama to Spain, round Cape Horn, or by the way of Buenos Ayres; but because of the facility and dispatch, with which it may be transported from Panama to Acapulco, and so by land to La Vera Cruz, which is what has been often practised by the Spaniards, even when there was no blockade at Porto Bello nor fear of enemies (as a conveniency for Spain has offered) for the navigation from Panama to Acapulco is very safe and easy, and the carriage from thence to La Vera Cruz is neither so difficult nor expensive as that between Lyma and Buenos Ayres.
This, my Lord, is what occurs to us worthy your Lordship’s notice. We are, with the uttermost respect and submission
My Lord,
Your Lordship’s most devoted and most obedient
