Galleons and Guam

Rogers was one of only two casualties, suffering a shattered jaw in the fighting, but the injury did not keep him out of the action. 

The 900-ton galleon Nuestra Senora de Begona was not far behind the frigate, and on Christmas Day she was one of three sails that came into sight. 

The Begona, however, proved to be a much tougher proposition than the Disengano

Two days fighting, during which the privateers fired five hundred shots into the galleon without much effect,  saw Rogers wounded again, and the privateers were forced to cut their losses and discontinue the action.

However, they still had the Disengano, renamed the Batchelor, which Dover insisted on commanding. Rogers protested in writing from his sick bed, but in the end, Dover was given nominal command with no say in the ship's navigation.

The four ships (DukeDutchessMarquis and Batchelor) left Puerto Seguro on the California coast on 21 January 1710 and reached Guam, after a two-month voyage that covered nearly ten thousand kilometres, very short of provisions.

The threat of 'Military Treatment' if they were refused and an offer of payment enabled them to refit and take on fresh provisions at Guam before they moved on to Batavia, via the Moluccas. 

Homeward Bound

© Ian Hughes 2017