Statue of Woodes Rogers

A bronze Woodes Rogers stands in front of the parliament building, sword at his hip and eyes fixed on the harbor. He was a privateer turned governor who arrived in seventeen eighteen with a simple ultimatum for the pirate crews haunting these waters: accept the King’s pardon or face the gallows. While his predecessors had failed to curb the chaos, Rogers drained the swamps and fortified the town to drive the buccaneers out for good. He left the islands bankrupt, but finally under British control.