the evening of the 10th of January, 1710, the four ships Duke, Dutchess, Marquis and Batchelor, all heavily laden, left the coast of California for the Island of Guam, one of the Ladrones, that being the first stage on their journey home to Great Britain. Provisions were now extremely short, and 5 men were forced to subsist on 1–½ lb. of flour, and 1 small piece of meat between them per day, with 3 pints of water each “for drink and dressing their victuals.” Stern measures were therefore necessary, and a seaman who stole several pieces of pork was punished with the cat-o’-nine tails by his mess-mates. During this extreme scarcity, Rogers was forced to adopt a measure which is perhaps rather a humiliating episode in his career. To his Negro sailors, whom he had promised to treat as Englishmen, and who had behaved themselves well, he could only allow 6 in a mess to have “the same allowance as 5 of our own men, which will but just keep those that are in health alive.”
The long voyage to Guam, a distance of over 6,000 miles, occupied two months, during which the best day’s run was 168 miles, and the worst 41. Nothing of importance occurred until the 14th of February, when “in commemoration of the ancient custom of chusing Valentines,” Rogers drew up a list of all “the fair ladies in Bristol” who were in any way related or known to them. Assembling his officers in the cabin of the Duke “every one drew, and drank the lady’s health in a cup of Punch, and to a happy sight of them all.” Three days later Rogers was troubled with a swelling in his throat “which incommoded” him very much, and he succeeded in getting out a piece of his jaw-bone that had lodged there “since I was wounded.” On March the 11th they arrived at Guam, where Rogers after a little diplomatic dealing with the Spanish governor succeeded in getting such provisions as he wanted for his depleted stores. In return the governor and others were entertained on board the Duke, the crew “diverting them with musick, and our sailors dancing till night.” On the 21st of March they sailed from Guam for the Moluccas, encountering very stormy weather, and owing to the unseaworthy nature of the Duke, the crew were “wearied almost to death with continual pumping.” By the 15th of May provisions had again reached a low ebb, and “with the shortest allowance” it was estimated that they could only “subsist at sea 3 weeks longer.” A fortnight later the four ships were safely anchored at the island of Bouton, by which time the Dutchess was using her last butt of water. Here the King of Bouton supplied them with various commodities, all of which “were very dear.” Nevertheless, as some return for the hospitality received Rogers made the King a present of a “Bishop’s Cap,” which it is of interest to note “he highly esteemed and gratefully accepted.” Being now “pretty well supplied” with provisions “for a fortnight or three weeks,” the ships left the island on the 8th of June en route for Batavia, having taken on board a pilot who promised to carry them “through the Channel the great Dutch ships generally went.”
On the 17th, near the north coast of Java, they met a Dutch ship of 600 tons—the first eastward-bound merchantman they had seen for nearly two years. From her they had their first items of home news, the death of Prince George of Denmark, the Consort of Queen Anne, and the continuation of the wars in Europe. Three days later they anchored safely in the roadstead of Batavia “betwixt 30 and 40 sail, great and small.”
After such a long and perilous voyage the crew were naturally overjoyed at being in port. To them Batavia was a perfect paradise. They hugged each other, and thanked their lucky stars that they had found “such a glorious place for Punch, where they could have Arrack for 8d. per gallon, and sugar for 1 penny a pound.” In spite of the humours of his ship’s company Rogers was still very ill, the doctor having recently cut a large musket shot out of his mouth, and while at Batavia several pieces of his heel bone were also removed. As the Marquis was found unfit to proceed to Europe, she was sold for 575 Dutch dollars, “an extraordinary bargain,” remarks Rogers.
On October the 12th, after a stay of nearly four months, they sailed from Batavia and proceeded direct to the Cape of Good Hope. The Duke was in such a leaky condition that she was kept afloat with the greatest difficulty. By the end of October she had 3 feet of water in the hold, “and our pumps being choaked,” says Rogers, “we were in such danger, that we made signals, and fired guns for our consorts to come to our relief, but had just sucked her (i.e. pumped her dry) as the Dutchess came up.” On the 28th of December the three ships arrived at the Cape, and 16 sick men were sent ashore. Several days were now spent in watering and re-fitting, and on the 18th of January, 1711, it was agreed that some of the plate and gold from the ships should be sold to buy “several necessaries and provisions.”
On account of his valuable cargo Rogers deferred his departure until a number of homeward-bound ships collected, and it was not before April the 6th that the combined fleet, numbering 16 Dutch and 9 English ships, sailed for Europe. On the 14th of May the Duke and Dutchess crossed the line for the eighth time. A course was now steered to the westward of the Azores, and from thence north-eastward round the Shetlands to the Texel, where the whole fleet anchored on the 23rd of July. Here Rogers remained some little while, having received orders from the owners that the East India Company resolved to trouble us, “on pretence we had encroached upon their liberties in India.” Finally all difficulties were amicably settled, and at the end of September the Duke, Dutchess, and Marquis sailed from Holland, convoyed by four English men-of-war. On the 1st of October they arrived in the Downs, and on the 14th came to an anchor at Erith, which finished their “long and fatiguing voyage” of over three years.
Thus ended one of the most remarkable expeditions that ever left the shores of Great Britain. The cost of fitting it out was less than £14,000 and the net profits amounted to at least £170,000.[19] Of this sum, two-thirds went to the owners, and the other third was divided, according to their rating, among the officers and men. The prizes taken, including the ships and barks ransomed at Guiaquil, amounted to twenty sail.[20]
A rousing welcome must have been accorded Rogers and his plucky crew when they arrived home in Bristol. By their daring and skill they had ranged the seas in defiance of the enemy, and by their superb seamanship and courage they had added a brilliant page to our naval history. Their voyage was epoch making. In the words of a contemporary writer “there never was any voyage of this nature so happily adjusted.” Once and for all it stripped distant and tedious navigations of those terrors which haunted them through the incapacity of their commanders, and it opened a door to the great South Sea which was never to be closed again.[21] Rogers was a born leader, besides being a magnificent seaman. He had a way of maintaining authority over his men, which Dampier and others before him sadly lacked, and whenever the occasion arose he had a happy knack of ingratiating himself with the various authorities ashore. Whether friend or foe he invariably parted with them cheerfully.
In many respects the voyage of Woodes Rogers is more noteworthy than that of Anson thirty years later. Rogers had only two small merchant ships fitted out by private enterprise, whereas Anson’s squadron was fitted, manned, and armed, by the Admiralty. It comprised six ships of the Royal Navy (with 236 guns and 2,000 men), in addition to two victualling ships of the size of the Duke and Dutchess. Rogers was able to bring both his ships safely home, but fate was not so kind to Anson, and only one, his flagship the Centurion, succeeded in reaching England.
The success of the expedition naturally stimulated public interest, and at the request of his many friends, Rogers agreed to publish his “journal,”[22] which appeared in the following year under the title of “A Cruising Voyage round the World.” It is written, as its author informs us, in “the language of the sea,” and as such it is a picturesque human document, enlivened with a quaint humour which makes it delightful reading. During the eighteenth century the book was widely read; three editions appeared within the space of fourteen years, and it was also translated into French and German. It was used as a model by later voyagers, and it is interesting to note that when Anson sailed on a similar expedition thirty years later a copy of the “Cruising Voyage,” found a prominent place in his cabin.
On returning to England Rogers took up his residence at a house in Queen Square,
