A Cruising Voyage Around the World: First to the South-Seas, Thence to the East-Indies, and Homewards by the Cape of Good Hope. Begun in 1708 and Finish'd in 1711

by Woodes Rogers

Recounts Woodes Rogers wildly audacious 1708-1711 circumnavigation around the world in search of Spanish ships to seize as booty and treasure.

Genres: Pirates, Nonfiction, History

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1712

Reviews

[La Reine Cersei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wealthy son of a wealthy man takes to the sea to prove something to the parents, presumably.
Seeks adventure, finds the limits of his own capacity. Loses everything in the process and then stumbles upon a hell of a story in the process.
If this is defeat for me, then know this. You and I were neck and neck in this race right till the end. But, Jesus, did I make up a lot of ground to catch you.

[Mike Forster Rothbart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an astonishing and disturbing firsthand account of Woodes Rogers' years as a captain and buccaneer — leading a private fleet that pillaged Spanish ships and settlements on behalf of the British, published in 1712. Rogers is best known for rescuing marooned Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, who spent more than four years on an uninhabited island 400+ miles off the coast of Chile.

Here is Rogers' first description of Selkirk: “Immediately our Pinnace return'd from the shore, and brought abundance of Crawfish, with a Man cloth'd in Goat-Skins, who look'd wilder than the first Owners of them.” Selkirk was my reason for finding this book. Although Rogers only devotes a dozen pages to Selkirk and his island, his earnest accounts engaged and appalled me so much that I read the next 100 pages in one sitting. His matter-of-fact descriptions of raids, hostages, slaves, looting, negotiations and deaths of his crew (caused by everything from scurvy to gunshot wounds), is eye-opening in content and in tone. Three men died, one ship missing, a threat of mutiny? Just another day in the captain's log.

Selkirk was inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, published by Daniel Defoe 7 years later; Robinson Crusoe has in turn influenced centuries of this genre of shipwrecked sailors, starting with Gulliver's Travels (1726) and on to Swiss Family Robinson (1812), The Little Prince (1943), Lord of the Flies (1954),
and sixty years of TV and film — Gilligan’s Island, Lost in Space, Cast Away, Lost, The Martian, and Expedition Robinson, a TV show you probably know by the name it's used for the past 48 seasons and 25 years — Survivor.

Clearly, Will Robinson's negotiations with alien robots in Netflix's 2018 show Lost in Space has little to do with Alexander Selkirk's years running barefoot up mountains chasing feral goats. But our fascination for people who find themselves stranded on a forsaken rock and find ways to survive may never die.

[Shaun "AceFireFox" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this is a difficult read due to the spelling, grammar, formatting and general language used but, as a graduated historian who finds the historical figure of Woodes Rogers incredibly interesting and fascinating, I had to track down a copy and read it. The necessity for my project helped.

It's quite literally a primary source of captains journals, committee agreements, logs and descriptive passages of the voyage. It isn't for everyone but it's a great first hand insight into long voyages and what occurs and is found along the way.
I did like reading it myself, first hand, even if published journals do raise questions of reliability.

[Yazan Haddad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think like any other old voyage diary there’s more detail to dates and locations than actual events. The only part I found interesting was in late chapters about Mexico.

[J. Boo]

Contains original account of Alexander Selkirk, who was the model for Robinson Crusoe.