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Dutchess

The Bristol private ship of war, about 260 tuns by measure with 26 guns and 108 men at her fitting out, that sailed as consort to the Duke under Stephen Courtney on the voyage round the world of 1708 to 1711.

LaunchedFitting out at Bristol, 1708Tonot establishedAlso writtenDutches (Rogers's Cruising Voyage, 1712); Duchess (a modern spelling)

She is the other ship. Burden about 260 tuns by measure, 26 guns and 108 men, in consortship with the Duke, both of them private men of war fitted out at Bristol under letter of marque by a syndicate of merchants there. Stephen Courtney commanded her and Edward Cooke was her second captain, and the popular habit of handing Cooke the command is an error. Later writers standardise her name to Duchess; both 1712 narratives print her Dutchess.3,4,2

Her officers and her people

Her officers were William Stretton chief lieutenant, John Rogers second, John Connely third, William Bath the owners' agent aboard her, George Milbourn master, and five mates under him. The sailors in the two ships together came to 333, above a third of them foreigners from most nations. She had shipped 108 men at Bristol. Leaving Cork at the beginning of September 1708 she had 151, and Rogers set both ships down as very much crowded and pestered.5,6,7,2

Round the Horn

On 27 December 1708, after a chase, she put back into the hold the guns she had got up on deck for it. In the first days of January a violent gale and a great sea came on. Rogers watched her lowering her main yard, the tack flying up and the lift unreeving, and on 5 January she kept scudding south with an ensign in her maintopmast shrouds as a signal of distress, which made him think she had sprung her mainmast. When he spoke her at five in the morning the answer came back that the sea had broken in her cabin windows and over her stern, filled her steerage and waist, and had like to have spoiled several men; that they were intolerably cold, and everything was wet. Later in January, off the coast of Patagonia, he wrote that she had always more sick men than the Duke and had them still.8,9,10,11

Juan Fernandez and Guayaquil

She was at Juan Fernandez at the beginning of February 1709, when Alexander Selkirk came off the island after four years and four months alone. The Duke's boats went in. The Dutchess kept turning to get in, heavy squalls coming off the high land, and Selkirk was signed as a mate of the Duke. The Duke carried him away, and carries the rest of the voyage with her.12,1

Guayaquil cost her a lieutenant. On 15 April 1709 the two pinnaces attacked a French-built ship out of Lima in the bay of Guayaquil. Hers, with Cooke in her, was worse provided than the Duke's and had not arms enough for her men. Her second lieutenant, John Rogers, the commander's younger brother and a little above twenty years of age, had gone as a volunteer in the other boat. He was shot through the head and died at once, and the next day the prayers for the dead were read and he went over the side.13,14

The town was stormed and ransomed at the end of April for 30,000 pieces of eight, two new ships and six barks, and the agreement was drawn in three names: Thomas Dover, Woodes Rogers and Stephen Courtney. Then the fever came aboard. In May Rogers had about fifty men down and the Dutchess upwards of seventy; on the 17th, near sixty in his ship against upwards of eighty in hers.15,16

The two ships out of Manila

At eight in the morning of 22 December 1709, off California, the Duke began to engage the smaller of the two Manila ships by herself, the Dutchess lying to leeward with little wind and unable to come up. By the time she did, the Spaniard, Nostra Seniora de la Incarnacion Disenganio, Sir John Pichberty commander, had struck her colours two thirds down. The Dutchess fired about five guns and a volley of small shot, and the enemy, having submitted, made no return. Accounts that hand this galleon to the Dutchess have the two ships the wrong way round. She shared the prize by consortship, not by the action.17,18

On 26 and 27 December the squadron went after the bigger ship out of Manila, called the Bigonia and the admiral of that port, about 900 tuns with some forty brass guns mounted, and could not take her. The Dutchess and the Marquiss engaged her by themselves on the first night, and the boat Rogers sent across at midnight brought back her state: foremast much disabled, the ring of an anchor shot away, a shot in her powder room and several in her upper works, all stopped, several men wounded and one killed. Next morning she lay thwart the Spaniard's hawse firing so fast that her shot flew over the Duke and between his masts, which is why Rogers laid alongside rather than rake from the quarter as he had meant to. She came out of it with about twenty killed and wounded, three of the wounded and one of the killed being Duke men lent to her. The Duke had eleven wounded, the Marquiss none at all. The committee resolved to forbear attempting the Spaniard further.19,20,21

Home, and then nothing

She came home in consort with the Duke and the prizes by way of Guam, Batavia and the Cape of Good Hope, then north about to Holland: the Texel on 23 July 1711, the Downs on 1 October, and Erith in the Thames on 14 October.22,2

After Erith she is not heard of again, and nothing of her has been identified on any seabed.23,24

Almost everything here is Woodes Rogers watching another ship from his own deck, in a book he published to justify the voyage, read here in a modern reprint. Her own second captain printed a rival account of the same voyage in the same year, and it was not read for this record. Nothing written aboard the Dutchess herself has been read at all: no owners' papers, no muster book, no letter of marque. That is why her builder, her build year and her end are blank here, and why her sick lists and her dead are counted by another ship's commander.

What the evidence does not settle

Construction

  • Dutchess's builder, build place and build yearLikely

Measurements and company

  • A survey, muster book or owners' account for Dutchess

Later fate

  • What became of Dutchess after October 1711Possible

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. Rogers commanded the Bristol privateer Duke, with the Dutchess in consort and William Dampier as pilot, on the circumnavigation of 1708 to 1711; the owners' Constitution of 14 July 1708 states the object as "our grand design Being to seek out one or bothe the Ships belonging to Acapulco", and the expedition took Alexander Selkirk off Juan Fernandez in early February 1709. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Printed book (own journal) and venture papers: A Cruising Voyage Round the World (1712), journal and Constitution; Cooke's rival 1712 account
  2. The voyage was fitted out by a syndicate of Bristol merchants, among them Thomas Goldney, to whom with fourteen others Rogers dedicated his book as his surviving owners. It was made by two private men of war, the Duke of about 320 tons, 30 guns and 117 men under Woodes Rogers, and the Dutchess of about 260 tons, 26 guns and 108 men under Stephen Courtney, with Edward Cooke as her second captain. Thomas Dover, a doctor of physick, sailed as second captain of the Duke and President of the ship's council, and the buccaneer and hydrographer William Dampier as pilot for the South Seas. They weighed from King road near Bristol at about four in the afternoon of 1 August 1708 and came to an anchor at Erith in the Thames on 14 October 1711. The command of the Dutchess is not open on the printed journal, which gives her to Courtney and makes Cooke her second captain; the popular attribution of the command to Cooke is an error. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative, the commander's printed journal: Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage Round the World: Begun August 1. 1708. and Finished October 14. 1711 (London, 1712), read in the Seafarers' Library reprint edited by G. E. Manwaring (London, 1928) on the Internet Archive. The dedication runs "To the Worthy Gentlemen my surviving Owners, the Worshipful Christopher Shuter Esq., Sir John Hawkins Kt., John Romsey Esq; Capt. Philip Freake, Mr. James Hollidge, Francis Rogers, Thomas Goldney, Thomas Clements, Thomas Contes, John Corsely, John Duckinfield, Richard Hawksworth, William Saunders, John Grant, Laurence Hollister, and Daniel Hickman, Merchants in Bristol." The first entry runs "1708. August 2. Yesterday about four in the Afternoon we weigh'd from King road near Bristol, on board the Duke frigate, whereof Capt. Woodes Rogers was Commander, in Consortship with the Dutches, Capt. Stephen Courtney Commander; both private Men of War... the Duke Burden about 320 Tuns, having 30 Guns and 117 Men; and the Dutches Burden about 260 Tuns by Measure, 26 Guns and 108 Men." The lists of officers give "Thomas Dover, a Doctor of Physick, second Captain, President of our Council, and Captain of the Marines", "William Dampier, Pilot for the South-Seas, who had been already three times there, and twice round the World", and, for the Dutchess, "Stephen Courtney, Captain, a Mariner; Edward Cook, second Captain". The last entry runs "Octob. 14. This Day at 11 of the Clock, we and our Consort and Prize got up to Erith, where we came to an Anchor, which ends our long and fatiguing Voyage"
  3. The Dutchess sailed as consort to the Duke, and not as the flagship, on Woodes Rogers's Bristol privateering voyage round the world of 1708 to 1711; both 1712 narratives print her name Dutchess, where later writers standardise it to Duchess. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, First to the South-Seas, thence to the East-Indies, and Homewards by the Cape of Good Hope, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text edited by G. E. Manwaring; A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World, Perform'd in the Years 1708, 1709, 1710, and 1711, vol. 2
  4. The Dutchess was a frigate-built private ship of war sailing under letter of marque, fitted out at Bristol in 1708, and her builder, her build place and her build year are not stated in the sources read for this record. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, First to the South-Seas, thence to the East-Indies, and Homewards by the Cape of Good Hope, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the opening journal entry of 2 August 1708
  5. Rogers's journal lists the officers of the Dutchess under Courtney and Cooke as William Stretton chief lieutenant, John Rogers second lieutenant, John Connely third lieutenant, William Bath the owners' agent, George Milbourn master, and five mates under the master. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the list headed Officers of the Dutchess in the entries at Cork
  6. Rogers gives the complement of sailors in the Duke and the Dutchess together as 333, above one third of them foreigners from most nations. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the entries at Cork before 1 September 1708
  7. Leaving Cork at the beginning of September 1708 the Dutchess had 151 men aboard against the Duke's 183, and Rogers described both as very much crowded and pestered ships. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal entry of 1 September 1708
  8. On 27 December 1708, running south towards Cape Horn, the Dutchess put back into her hold the guns she had got up on deck for a chase the day before. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal entry of 27 December 1708
  9. A violent gale and a great sea came on, and on 5 January 1708/9 the Dutchess was seen lowering her main yard, the tack flying up and the lift unreeving, before she kept scudding to the southward with an ensign in her maintopmast shrouds as a signal of distress, which made Rogers think she had sprung her mainmast. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal entry of 5 January 1708/9
  10. Hailed at five the next morning, the Dutchess answered that the sea had broken in her cabin windows and over her stern, filling her steerage and waist, and had like to have spoiled several men, and that her people were intolerably cold with everything wet. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal entry of 5 January 1708/9
  11. Off the coast of Patagonia on 22 January 1708/9 Rogers recorded that the Dutchess had always more sick men than the Duke and had them still, both ships having many men down with the cold and some with the scurvy. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal entry of 22 January 1708/9
  12. The Dutchess shared the call at Juan Fernandez in early February 1708/9 at which Alexander Selkirk was taken off after four years and four months alone, keeping turning to get in against heavy squalls off the land while the Duke's boats went ashore; Selkirk was signed as a mate of the Duke and not of the Dutchess. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal entry of 2 February 1708/9
  13. John Rogers, second lieutenant of the Dutchess and the commander's younger brother, a little above twenty years of age, was shot through the head and killed at once in the boat attack on the French-built Lima ship on 15 April 1709, and was buried at sea the next day. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal entries of 15 and 16 April 1709
  14. Rogers records that in that attack the Dutchess's pinnace, with Cooke in her, was worse provided than the Duke's and had not arms enough for the men in her. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal entry of 15 April 1709
  15. The Dutchess shared the taking and ransom of Guayaquil in late April 1709, the ransom of 30,000 pieces of eight, two new ships and six barks being agreed in the names of three principals, Thomas Dover, Woodes Rogers and Stephen Courtney. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the ransom agreement printed in the journal under April 1709; A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World, Perform'd in the Years 1708, 1709, 1710, and 1711, vol. 2
  16. In the sickness that followed Guayaquil Rogers recorded about 50 men down in the Duke against upwards of 70 in the Dutchess, and on 17 May 1709 near 60 against upwards of 80. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal entries of May 1709 and of 17 May 1709
  17. The smaller Manila ship, Nostra Seniora de la Incarnacion Disenganio, Sir John Pichberty commander, was engaged off California at about eight in the morning of 22 December 1709 by the Duke alone, the Dutchess lying to leeward with little wind and not coming up. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal entry of 22 December 1709
  18. The smaller Manila ship struck her colours two thirds down to the Duke, and the Dutchess came up afterwards and fired about five guns with a volley of small shot, to which the enemy, having submitted, made no return; she shared the prize, which was renamed the Batchelor, by consortship and not by the action. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal entry of 22 December 1709
  19. In the action of 27 December 1709 against the bigger Manila ship the Dutchess lay thwart the Spaniard's hawse firing very fast, and her shot flew over the Duke and between the Duke's masts, so that Rogers laid alongside the enemy rather than rake her from the quarter as he had intended. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal under the running head Engaging the bigger Manila Ship, 27 December 1709
  20. The Dutchess and the Marquiss engaged the bigger Manila ship by themselves on the night of 26 December 1709, and the boat Rogers sent across at midnight reported the Dutchess's foremast much disabled, the ring of an anchor shot away, a shot in her powder room and several in her upper works, all stopped, with several men wounded and one killed. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the journal for the night of 26 December 1709
  21. The Dutchess had about 20 men killed and wounded in the action against the bigger Manila ship, three of the wounded and one of the killed being men of the Duke serving aboard her, while the Duke had eleven wounded and the Marquiss none killed or wounded, and the ship was not taken. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the reckoning of losses after the action of 27 December 1709
  22. The Dutchess returned home in consort with the Duke and the prizes by way of Guam, Batavia and the Cape of Good Hope, reaching the Texel on 23 July 1711, the Downs on 1 October and Erith on the Thames on 14 October 1711. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the closing entries of the journal
  23. What became of the Dutchess after she came up to Erith in October 1711, whether she was sold, broken up or sent to sea again, is not established in the sources read for this record. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text, the closing entries of the journal
  24. The Dutchess is not a located or excavated wreck, and no archaeological or material evidence of the ship has been identified. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative: A Cruising Voyage Round the World, read in the 1928 Seafarers' Library reprint of the 1712 text