Woodes Rogers was originally a merchant, but in 1708 fellow Bristol merchants, whose ships were being targeted by other pirates, sponsored a retaliatory global expedition and chose Rogers to be in charge of it, with William Dampier as his navigator. Under a letter of marque Rogers set sail in charge of the 350-ton Duke, (it had 36 guns) and the 260-ton Duchess (it also had 36 guns) and 333 men. Rogers described his crews as "tinkers, taylors, hay-makers, pedlers, fidlers etc, one negro and about ten boys." His mission was to harass Spanish shipping, but to the English he was a loyal citizen, but to the Spanish he was a pirate. Woodes Rogers took the weird strategy of harassing the Spanish on the Pacific Coast of the Americas where they would feel more secure from the English.
The expedition was very
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After toasting the British commander with a mug of rum, Blackbeard declared that he would take no quarter and be damned if he gave any. In the hand-to-hand fight that followed, he received "5 pistol balls and 20 cutlass wounds" before he fell. The British commander, Lieutenant Robert Maynard fought Blackbeard hand-to-hand in the bloody battle and although he is credited with dispatching the infamous pirate, it was actually a Scots seaman with a broadsword who beheaded Blackbeard.
The British commander, Lieutenant Robert Maynard fought Blackbeard hand-to-hand in the bloody battle and although he is credited with dispatching the infamous pirate, it was actually a Scots seaman with a broadsword who beheaded Blackbeard. Maynard displayed Blackbeard's "glowering head on the tip of the Pearl's bowsprit."
None of the remaining pirates escaped, all being captured and hanged. Nor perhaps did Woodes Rogers himself escape this life of bloody violence, then he died in Fort Nassau in 1732 because of "mysterious