Sir Henry Morgan
It is said that Sir Henry Morgan was born in South Wales (Llonrtymni) in Glamorgan in 1635.
As a young boy, he was sent to the island of Barbados as a junior Officer in an expedition sent out by Oliver Cromwell, under the command of General Venables, to attack the Spaniards. In 1655, Henry joined the army to escape his indenture on the island. At that time, it was a form of white slavery that was widely used.
Sir Henry Morgan was not a pirate. He is regarded as a privateer or a buccaneer, who was a ‘licensed pirate’. He was issued a paper by a representative of the English Government, the Governor of Jamaica, empowering him to fight the Spaniards on England’s behalf. From this, his income would be what he managed to steal from Spain.
Henry was a daring buccaneer of the 17th century who battled the Spaniards for control of the Caribbean.
In 1662, he appears as a captain of one of the ships involved during Mings’ raid on Santigo De Cuba. The attack was a success, as the entrance to the bay, which was guarded by the notorious Castillo del Mario, was wholly destroyed.
In 1663, another attack was made on San Francisco de Compeche. Morgan had joined forces with Mings, and so, was once again captain of a privateer ship. The privateer was rewarded with great plunder. Later that year, Villa Hermosa, Grenada, and Trujilla were all victims in Henry’s attacking campaign. By this time, he was indeed a wealthy man.
With the disappointing loot from Puerto del Principe in Cuba, they brought in another 50,000 pieces of eight. At the end of June, Morgan was once again off to the great harbour of Puerto Bello on the Northern coast of the Isthmus of Panama. In his attack, he took the town and held the citizens at ransom, and defeated 3,000 troops that were aiding the town from the city of Panama. Morgan and his troops returned to Port Royal with 250,000 pieces of eight, with other looting as well.
Henry Morgan married his cousin, Mary Elizabeth, in early 1665. By then, the Morgan’s family arrived in full force in Jamaica in 1666, a year after Morgan was made Colonel of the Port Royal Militia.
On May 1, 1669, the battle began with Vice-Admiral Alonso del Campo y Espinosa, who had commanded three powerful men-o-war. Morgan’s buccaneers calculatingly sailed a ship, which was set afire, into the Vice Admiral’s 48-gun ship Magdalene, which burnt and sank. The third Spanish ship Morquesa was captured by the buccaneers, but Santa Louisa escaped.
Vice-Admiral Alonso managed to escape the attack, and thus materialized a deadlock between the buccaneers. Morgan had control of the city Maracaibo and all the ships. However, Alonso managed to control the only exit that the buccaneers had, which was the fort of San Carlos Island, which ranged guns across the narrow entrance of the lagoon of Maracaibo.
Alonso refused to agree with the Spanish citizens to pay the ransom to free their city from being torched by the buccaneers. They were willing to pay 20,000 pieces of eight.
Morgan’s men brought in another 15,000 pieces of eight and more gold plates from the Spaniard’s warship that was sank.
Morgan return triumphantly to Port Royal on 17th May 1669 after escaping (slipping through the Lagoon) that was guarded by Vice-Admiral Alonso, who was preparing for an attack, but was tricked by the cleverness of Henry Morgan.
Morgan’s main goal was Panama, which was understood to be one of the richest cities in the world. Their attacks on Panama were also a success and they managed to steal an estimate of 400,000 pieces of eight. But most men were disappointed by the amount, because the silver gathered from the Peruvian mines and fortunes of the merchants were taken to safety before Morgan raided Panama.
On April 1672, Morgan was arrested and deported to England, because he made an attack on Panama once again during the times of treaty between England and Spain. Only shortly after Morgan had left Port Royal, the message arrived with Governor Modyford.
Morgan’s memorandum is said to have made a good impression with His Majesty, and it was decided for Morgan to return to Jamaica as Deputy Governor to Lord Vaughan. Just before Christmas 1675, the 34-year-old Welsh man was knighted.
On March 6, he went back to Port Royal, overseeing the defenses and expanding his fortunes in sugar plantation. At age 45, he was acting Governor of Jamaica, Vice-Admiral, Commandant of the Port Royal Regiment, and Judge of the Admiralty Court of Justice of the Peace. On the 25th August 1688, Henry Morgan died in Port Royal, but this time, there were almost no buccaneers left.
Henry Morgan was one of the most ruthless buccaneers, but, to Jamaicans, he can be considered a hero for freeing the slaves from the Spaniards. His courage and intelligence made him superior to, and respected by all.
Shortly after Morgan’s death on June 1696, a huge earthquake destroyed Port Royal, almost wiping all traces of his deeds on earth.
