Nassau in 1718: landing was the beginning of government

Rogers reported entering the port on 26 July and landing on 27 July after grounding delayed him. He described a burning captured ship, the risk to Rose and Vane escaping in a faster sloop. The hostile company was displaced rather than captured intact. ^[1]

The distinction between entering, landing and the later date of writing prevents a dispatch from becoming one misleading timestamp.

The governor said he took possession of the fort and read his commission before officers, soldiers and inhabitants. He then formed a council from men he brought and men already present, making judgments about their reliability and local knowledge. ^[1]

The act was ceremonial and administrative. Authority still needed people who could make it work after the reading ended.

The October dispatch describes a damaged fort, a fallen bastion, costly hired labor and deaths among the newcomers. Rogers sought more troops, provisions and assistance. His period explanation of the sickness is not a modern diagnosis. ^[1]

These constraints limited what government could do immediately. The presence of a governor did not create healthy soldiers, sound walls or an unlimited treasury.

Hornigold’s reconnaissance and later operation with Cockram supplied knowledge and prisoners. Rogers meanwhile worried about trading with continuing pirates and about naval vessels leaving without the assistance he wanted. ^[1]

The boundary between the governed population and the people being pursued was being remade through particular decisions and relationships.

Rogers described further fort work, proceedings against captives and his reasons for delaying earlier trials when he feared a rescue or insurrection. He praised progress while explaining the risks and expense he had borne. ^[1]

Read the haven’s earlier functions, Hornigold and Rogers. The transition becomes clearer through the work of maintaining government than through a slogan about the end of a pirate republic.