Rogers, Woodes

Related Category: Explorers, Travelers, and Conquerors: Biographies

1679?–1732, British privateer and colonial administrator. A romantic figure, Rogers plundered (1708–9) Spanish commerce in the Pacific and rescued Alexander Selkirk from the Juan Fernández islands. He later (1717) leased the Bahama islands and served as the first governor there, expelling pirates and bringing orderly government.