Woodes Rogers who had not yet accepted it, and started to rebuild the island's fortifications, which had fallen into decrepitude under pirate domination. Less than a month into his residence on New Providence, Rogers was faced with a double threat: Vane wrote, threatening to join with Edward Teach (better known as Blackbeard) to retake the island, and Rogers learned that the Spanish also planned to drive the British out of the Bahamas. Rogers' expedition suffered further setbacks. An unidentified disease killed almost a hundred of his expedition members, while leaving the long-term residents nearly untouched. Two of the three navy vessels, having
Edmund Cooke (pirate) Edmund Cooke (pirate) Edmund Cooke (fl. 1673–1683, also named Edward / Edmond or Cook) was a merchant captain, buccaneer, and pirate. He is best known for sailing against the Spanish alongside Bartholomew Sharp, John Coxon, Basil Ringrose, Lionel Wafer, and other famous buccaneers. Cooke’s flag was red-and-yellow striped and featured a hand holding a sword. Cooke’s 130-ton merchant vessel "Virgin" was bound to Jamaica from London when Irish pirate Philip Fitzgerald, who was serving the Spanish in the Caribbean, seized it in May 1673. Fitzgerald accused Cooke of transporting logwood – which the Spanish considered contraband – and took the