Editing History of the Bahamas (section)

== Reasserting British control ==
{{Main|British Bahamas}}
Starting in 1713, [[Woodes Rogers]] had conceived the idea of leading an expedition to [[Madagascar]] to suppress the pirates there and establish it as a British colony. Rogers' friends [[Richard Steele]] and [[Joseph Addison]] eventually convinced him to tackle the pirates' nest in the Bahamas, instead. Rogers and others formed a company to fund the venture. They persuaded the Proprietors of Carolina to surrender the government of the Bahamas to the king, while retaining title to the land. In 1717 [[George I of Great Britain|King George]] appointed Rogers governor of the Bahamas and issued a [[1717–1718 Acts of Grace|proclamation granting a pardon to any pirate]] who surrendered to a British governor within one year.<ref>Albury:69-74<br>Craton:93-6<br>Johnson:7-8<br>Woodard:117-121, 163-168</ref>
[[File:Woodes Rogers and his Family RMG L9135.jpg|thumb|''[[Woodes Rogers]] and his family'' by [[William Hogarth]], 1729. Rogers, the first royal governor of the Bahamas, is  seated as he is shown a map of New Providence.]]
Word of the appointment of a new governor and of the offer of pardons reached Nassau ahead of Rogers and his forces. Some of the pirates were willing to accept a pardon and retire from piracy. [[Henry Jennings]] and Christopher Winter, sailed off to find British authorities to confirm their acceptance of the amnesty.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

Others were not ready to give up. Many of those were [[Jacobitism|Jacobites]], supporters of the [[House of Stuart]], who identified as enemies of the [[House of Hanover|Hanoverian]] King George. Still others simply identified as rebels, or thought they were better off as pirates than trying to earn an honest living. When a Royal Navy ship brought official word to Nassau of the pardon offer, many pirates planned to accept. Soon, however, the recalcitrant parties gained the upper hand, eventually forcing the Navy ship to leave.<ref>Woodard:226-29</ref>

[[Blackbeard]], [[Stede Bonnet]], [[Nicholas Brown (pirate)|Nicholas Brown]] and Edmond Condent left the Bahamas for other territories. [[Charles Vane]], with "[[Calico Jack]]" Rackham and [[Edward England]] in his crew, came to prominence at this time. Vane worked to organise resistance to the anticipated arrival of Royal authority, even appealing to [[James Francis Edward Stuart]], the Stuart [[pretender]], for aid in holding the Bahamas and capturing Bermuda for the Stuarts. As aid from the Stuarts failed to materialise and the date for Rogers' arrival approached, Vane and his crew prepared to leave Nassau.<ref>Woodard:236-40, 245-47, 259-61</ref>

Woodes Rogers arrived in Nassau in late July 1718, with his own 460-ton warship, three ships belonging to his company, and an escort of three ships of the Royal Navy. Vane's ship was trapped in Nassau harbor. His crew set that ship on fire, sending it towards Rogers' ships, and escaped in the ensuing confusion in a smaller ship they had seized from another pirate. The remaining population welcomed Rogers; they comprised about 200 settlers and 500 to 700 pirates who wanted to receive pardons, most prominently [[Benjamin Hornigold]].<ref>Woodard:247-48, 262-67</ref> After the pirates' surrender, the Proprietors leased their land in the Bahamas to Rogers' company for 21 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Woodes Rogers |url=http://www.bahamasnationalarchives.bs/assets/woodes-rogers.pdf |website=Bahamas National Archives |access-date=21 January 2024}}</ref>

Rogers controlled Nassau, but Charles Vane was loose and threatening to drive the governor and his forces out. Learning that the King of Spain wanted to expel English from the islands, Rogers worked to improve the defenses of Nassau. He lost nearly 100 men of the new forces due to an unidentified disease, and the Navy ships left for other assignments. Rogers sent four of his ships to Havana to assure the Spanish governor that he was suppressing piracy and to trade for supplies. The crews of ex-pirates and men who had come with Rogers all turned to piracy. The ex-pirate Benjamin Hornigold later caught ten men at [[Green Turtle Cay]] as part of Rogers' suppression effort. Eight were found guilty and hanged in front of the fort.<ref>Woodard:268-72, 286, 301-04</ref>

Vane attacked several small settlements in the Bahamas but, after he refused to attack a stronger French frigate, he was deposed for cowardice and replaced as captain by "[[Calico Jack]]" Rackham. Vane never returned to the Bahamas; he was eventually caught, convicted and executed in Jamaica. After nearly being captured by Jamaican privateers, and hearing that the king had extended the deadline for pardons for piracy, Rackham and his crew returned to Nassau to surrender to Woodes Rogers.
[[File:Nassau harbor 1720-08-22 scene PON.JPG|thumb|Diarama of [[Anne Bonny]] and [[Mary Read]] at Nassau harbor at the Pirates of Nassau Museum in Nassau. The two began their pirating careers at Nassau.]]
In August of 1720, Rackham stole the sloop William out of Nassau harbor.  Alongside him was a small crew that included female pirates [[Anne Bonny]] and [[Mary Read]].  In October, Rackham, Bonny and Read were captured and taken to Jamaica. They were convicted of piracy, and Rackham was executed. Bonny and Read were sent to prison, after claiming to be pregnant and therefore excluded from execution. Read died in prison, while Bonny's fate is unknown.<ref>Woodard:304-10, 315-20</ref>

When Britain and Spain went to war again in 1719, many of the ex-pirates were commissioned by the British government as privateers. A Spanish invasion fleet set out for the Bahamas, but was diverted to [[Pensacola, Florida]] when it was seized by the French. Rogers continued to improve the defenses of Nassau, spending his personal fortune and going heavily into debt to do so. In 1720, the [[Raid on Nassau (1720)|Spaniards finally attacked Nassau]]. Rogers returned to Britain in 1722 to plead for repayment of the money he had borrowed to build up Nassau, only to find he had been replaced as governor. He was sent to debtors' prison, although his creditors later absolved his debts, gaining him release.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

After the publication in 1724 of ''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates,'' which praised Rogers' efforts to suppress piracy in the Bahamas, his fortunes began to improve. The king awarded him a pension, retroactive to 1721. In 1728 Rogers was appointed Governor of the Bahamas for a second term. He dissolved the colony's assembly when it would not approve taxes to repair Nassau's defenses. He died in Nassau in 1732.<ref>Woodard:311-14, 325-28</ref>