A Cruising Voyage Round the World, Begun …1708, and Finished …1711.

Description

xlvi + 320pp., hardcover, full brown cloth, gilted spine, with 8 half-tone plates. With introduction and notes by G.E. Manwaring. William Dampier sailed under Capt. Rogers. When approaching Juan Fernandez Island, they found marooned Alexander Selkirk who became the model for Daniel Defoe’s novel ‘Robinson Crusoe’ after this work was published. Woodes Rogers (ca. 1679 – 1732) was an English sea captain and privateer and, later, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas; he was a member of an affluent seafaring family. His father held shares in many ships, but he died when Rogers was in his mid-twenties, leaving Rogers in control of the family shipping business. In 1707, Rogers was approached by Captain William Dampier, who sought support for a privateering voyage against the Spanish, with whom the British were at war. When the expedition returned to England in 1711, they had circumnavigated the globe; he successfully kept his original ships and most of his men, and the investors in the expedition doubled their money.