Woodes Rogers was an English sea captain and privateer who was twice appointed as the Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He was the captain of the ship that rescued Alexander Selkirk, a Royal Navy officer who spent more than four years marooned on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean. His plight later inspired writer Daniel Defoe to create the fictional character Robinson Crusoe. Rogers is still remembered as a national hero who expelled all pirates and brought an order to the Bahamas and most of the Caribbean. In 1707, during the British’s war with Spain, Rogers led an expedition,and was the captain of the ship Duke. In the next three years, he and his men captured several ships in the Pacific Ocean, and en route, rescued Selkirk from the Juan Fernandez Island onFebruary 1, 1709. Although he became a national hero after the expedition, he was badly wounded, and was also sued by his crewmembers, who claimed that they had not received their fair share of the expedition profits. This led him into bankruptcy. He wrote about his maritime experiences in a book titled ‘A Cruising Voyage Round the World’. Following this, he was appointed as the Royal Governor of the Bahamas. During his first term as governor, he was financially ruined, and on his return to England, he was imprisoned for debt. He died at the age of 53 in Nassau, during his second term as governor.