Fabulous Voyage

Wow, what a great book. I think if this was published as fiction, readers would say it is far-fetched and unbelievable. Published in 1968, this book is also published as ‘The Privateers'.

I don't really even know where to start! Thankfully there is a ridiculously long blurb on the dust jacket, taking up two inside flaps and 2/3 of the back cover: I will pick the eyes from that.

In 1708 two privately owned men-of-war Duke and Dutchess set out from Bristol for Spanish controlled seas of South America. Their objective was booty, and they flew the Red Jack of the privateer. Privateers were described (particularly by the British Navy) as pirates operating under a licence. They were permitted to attack enemy ships and towns only, ie the Spanish and French as the War of the Spanish Succession was in play (er, don't ask me to explain that one, seems like lots of side changing occurred).

The investors had plenty of say, and the main players on the ships were Woodes Rogers, who commanded the expedition and captained the Duke; Dr Thomas Dover, who ranked as second in command; Stephen Courtney - who recently captained another privateer, Captain Edward Cooke; and William Dampier (famous navigator, explorer, hydrographer, naturalist and historian) who was appointed navigator/pilot; the other main player was an investor, and as such had plenty of say as to what happened - Carleton Vanbrugh. Probably the biggest impediment to the expedition was the panel set up to vote on all decisions. This effectively robbed Rogers of his decision making, as he was constantly overruled. While this book is written sympathetically to him, history showed that the decisions he put forward would have worked out far better than those eventually followed.

While plunder and fighting the Spanish was their disclosed goal, they had another, the knowledge of which was limited to the panel initially, but soon got to the crew, and that was the Manilla Galleon, which sailed once a year from Manilla to Panama and back, in one voyage carrying goods from the far east, in the other gold and silver from South America for trade. While this galleon was well known, it was also well defended, being constructed incredibly well from multiple layers of hardwood able to withstand cannon fire (to a degree) and well manned.

And so the route - Bristol; Ireland; Canaries; Grande island, Brazil; Juan Fernandez Islands, Chile; the Galapagos; Guayaquil (now Ecuador, but part of greater Peru at the time); Gorgona Island, Colombia; Three Mary Islands, Mexico; Guam; Batavia (Java) Indonesia; Netherlands and finally back to Bristol!

There were many challenges, not least sailing below Cape Horn to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific (the Strait of Magellan deemed too risky); numerous engagements with shipping; the French Navy fleet rumoured to be tracking them; scurvy (of course); but one of the larger risks was the infighting among the expedition leaders, who broke into cliques and took contrary positions.

One of the many interesting aspects was when they arrived at the Juan Fernandez Islands they were temporarily scared off when they saw a fire, thinking there might have been a ship hunkered down there. Turns out it was a castaway - the famous Alexander Selkirk, a Scotsman who had spend four years and four months alone on the island after he had asked to be set down from the Cinque Ports which he considered unseaworthy. Ironically it was captained by William Dampier (a clever man, but terrible captain or manager of men). Selkirk, after some adjustment to human company, was to join the crew and play a credible part in the remained of this expedition, captaining one of the captured ships.

So with hostages, cities captured and ransomed, slaves freed (and sold), booty and no shortage of engagement with other ships, this story is all action. The fact that Woodes Rogers and Edward Cooke both wrote detailed books about the journey provided the basis for these authors to recreate the expedition in great detail. There were plenty of other contemporary sources (listed in the book) which corroborate the events too.

I won't spoil all the details - the Manilla Galleon features, but isn't the only large engagement. Men are maimed and injured, the make poor decisions and good decisions, and must negotiate their way not only with the Dutch East Indies Company (the VOC) who were neutral, to repair and restock en route home, but avoid the British East India Company who took an aggressive position against any British ships deemed to have stepped into their trade routes.

The final chapters of the book explain the complex manoeuvring of all parties once the ships reach the Netherlands, as politics, the investors and the East India Company all look to extract the maximum they can - unsurprisingly the crew on the ship have the least power and ultimately receive the least reward.

The authors of this book are not necessarily the historians you might expect. MacLeish is a commercial aircraft pilot and novelist, dramatist and translator. Krieger is a plastic surgeon (!) and sculptor. They do a great job of an exciting and enticing narrative.

Worth seeking out.

5 stars