TOW #3 - The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodard

This picture is a popular depiction of Woodes Rogers with his family.  Rogers is portrayed specifically so that his disfigurement from a musket ball wouldn't be shown. Source: wikimedia.org

            In a section of The Republic of Pirates, Colin Woodard attempts to give an account of the adventures of Woodes Rogers, a famous English privateer who legally plundered merchant vessels for his country, to the audience of adventure-lovers. Rogers's journey started with a visitor named William Dampier, a formal captain of his ship HMS Roebuck. Rogers decided to support Dampier's plan of plundering the Spanish treasure fleets that were shipping unbelievable amounts of riches from the new world to Spain. With the two ships Duke and Duchess, Rogers and his crew started to head towards the Pacific on August 1, 1708. The group faced numerous adversities such as mutinies, dangerous ocean waves, scurvies, bubonic plagues, and quarrels between officers. Along the way, the crew met and rescued Alexander Selkirk, a castaway who was once a crew member of Dampier's ship who decided to "take his chances on the island" (Woodard 76) due to Dampier's poor leadership. Selkirk would later inspire Daniel Defoe to write his famous novel, Robinson Crusoe. Much time had passed without a single treasure fleet in sight, when suddenly a galleon appeared on the horizon. The privateers managed to take over one Manila ship, but when the privateers reached their homeland, most of their plunders were seized by the East India Company's agents. Rogers received about £1,600 for his three years of service, and most of the crewmen received nothing even though the riches the privateers got were over £100,000. Rogers, however, forever became a national hero for capturing a Manila ship and circumnavigating. Throughout the story, the author uses raw diction in order for the audience to vividly imagine the adventures of Rogers. Woodard describes  the privateer by saying, "Rogers, his face mutilated, his foot mangled..." (Woodard 84), which creates a gruesome picture in people's minds. I believe that Woodard's account is accurate because he supports his claim with statistics and quotes. Woodard is also an award-winning journalist, adding on to the story's credibility. I think that he accomplished his purpose by successfully using rhetorical devices.