A Cruising Voyage Round the World

If still waters run deep, then so do banal titles belie riveting stories. Despite the nondescript name, Captain Rogers’s memoir of privateering expeditions are the stuff of legend – almost literally. While leading raids against the Spanish Armada, Rogers and his crew rescued a marooned Scottish sailor named Alexander Selkirk. The rescue mission, as described in this book, later inspired English writer Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe.

The illustrious Captain Rogers was also the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe: a lucrative three-year tour that, upon his return in 1711, made him a national hero. More than tales of swashbuckling adventure, Rogers’s account served a more mercenary purpose by advocating strongly for increased trade in the South Pacific. Included are detailed descriptions of various locales the acquisitive captain believed were ideal for colonization.