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Woodes guaranteed that all pirates who surrendered would receive
amnesty
. He also promised that those who did not surrender would be treat-
ed harshly: their ships would be sunk, and they, if captured, would be exe-
cuted. Hundreds of pirates did surrender. Most of the rest perished in battle
with the governor’s naval forces, were hanged, or fled the Bahamas. The era
of the Bahamas pirates had come to a bloody end, and Britain was now firm-
ly in control of the colony.
America and the Bahamas
Later in the 18th century, Britain would have more trouble with its overseas
colonies—but this time no easy solution would present itself. In April 1775,
skirmishes in the Massachusetts colony ignited the American Revolution.
Pirate’s Paradise 21
A statue of Woodes
Rogers (1679–1723),
the first British royal
governor of the
Bahamas, stands in
front of the British
Colonial Hotel,
Nassau. Once Rogers
arrived in the
Bahamas in 1718, he
succeeded in virtually
eliminating pirates
from the region.