Being a recently graduated college student from the United States, I am all too familiar with Captain Morgan. The captain was my drink of choice (granted it might have been everyone’s drink of choice) and was often accompanied by the singing of countless sea shanties during my college career. Though those tone-deaf ballads would be fun to revisit, instead we are going to focus on the legend who inspired the creation of that delicious brand of rum, Captain Henry Morgan. Though it is named after him, he did not partake in the creation of the rum – although I think it’s safe to say he would approve. It’s likely Morgan had his fair share of sweet Caribbean rum while he was raiding the Spanish colonies in the 17th century.
Early Life
Funny thing about the historical records of people who came from almost nothing is that there usually aren’t any. Very little is known about the early years of Captain Morgan outside of being born in Wales in 1635 and somehow ending up in the Caribbean in the 1660s. From there he joined a group of Privateers while England was at war with Spain (which honestly at this point, when weren’t they) and began raiding colonies along the Spanish Main, something he would eventually turn into a career. Morgan would also marry his cousin which was a total rich person thing to do back then.
Puerto Principe and Porto Bello
In the late 1660s tensions began to heat up again between Spain and England, resulting in our good buddy Morgan being sent out to harass some Spanish trade. He was given orders to only attack Spanish ships… which he immediately ignored and attacked the city of Puerto Principe in Cuba. Just because he has that piece of paper, doesn’t mean he won’t act like a Pirate. Though the raid was successful, the crew only made off with 50,000 Spanish pieces of eight or $2.5 million dollars in today’s US (Don’t hold me to that conversion, I found it on a reddit comment) which split between 500 people today would be $5,000, not a great haul for sacking a city. This would cause some discontent among his crew and result in a small amount of desertion that Morgan would have to deal with during his next raid.
Even after losing a good portion of his crew following Puerto Principe, Henry decided that fortune favors the bold, and attacked another Spanish settlement named Porto Bello. This city along the Panamanian coast was heavily defended by two forts, one in its harbor and another in the center of town. So Henry, being the crafty yet morally questionable captain he was, decided to access the shore via canoe. He then used monks and nuns as human shields to overcome defenses and raided the town for a recorded 14 days. Again, just because he has that piece of paper, doesn’t mean he wont act like a Pirate.
Maracaibo
Following the success of Porto Bello, our totally not a war criminal Captain Morgan began planning his next raid on the Spanish Main. He originally set his eyes on Cartagena de Indias, the main city for Spanish silver exports from South America, but as he was gathering his men to discuss the attack on his flagship, there was a spark in the ships powder magazine resulting in a massive explosion that destroyed the ship and killed 200 of Morgan’s crew. Word to the wise, don’t smoke around flammable substances.
With this loss to Morgan’s fleet, he was forced to adjust his plans and decided to attack Maracaibo, a port located on the coast of modern-day Venezuela. Upon reaching their target, the privateers captured the undermanned fort overseeing the city, and used intel from captured and totally not tortured citizens to loot the city and surrounding countryside. Piece of paper… pirate… something. Morgan would use this same totally no torture involved tactic when he moved into the connected Lake Maracaibo and besieged the city of Gibraltar. At this point it should be very clear that the whole ‘don’t attack cities’ guideline wasn’t taken very seriously.
In order to get out of Lake Maracaibo, Morgan had to go back the way he came and sail past the port of Maracaibo once more. However, by the time he would leave Gibraltar the mouth of the lake was blockaded by a Spanish defense force. After negotiations broke down Henry dug into his bag of tricks and decided to use the classic ‘lets light a ship on fire and sail it right into the enemy fleet’ maneuver. This move was somehow successful, and using the confusion caused from the fire ship, the buccaneers were able to defeat the Spanish force. They would go on to secure 20,000 pesos from negotiations with the city of Maracaibo following the battle and returned to Port Royal as heroes.
The Panama Campaign
The raid on Maracaibo further spread the legend of Captain Morgan, and soon Jamaica was swelling with Privateers looking to get in on the action. These new recruits would soon have their chance as Morgan had begun planning for a grand invasion of Panama. The campaign would go smoothly as the Privateers captured the city of Chagres and occupied Fort San Lorenzo. Once the fort was occupied the remaining crew crossed the isthmus of Panama on foot to Old Panama City, which sat on the Pacific coast.
Upon arrival at Old Panama City, Morgan prepared for battle. His battle hardened 1,500 men were to face off against 1,600 Spanish soldiers led by Don Juan Pérez de Guzmán, the governor of Panama. What would follow was one of the most one-sided battles in pirate history. The Spanish, ever so crafty, decided to release a herd of oxen hoping they would stampede and cause disorganization among Henry’s crew. The trick didn’t work, and the cattle turned on the Spanish, killing hundreds of soldiers in the ensuing stampede. When all was said and done, Morgan would lose only 15 men, while Guzmán would lose around 500. Old Panama City was then put to the torch on Guzmán’s orders, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Privateers. Despite the city being reduced to rubble, Henry’s crew looted what remained of the city, and returned to Port Royal after 3 weeks. There were reports of civilian torture following the battle, but there’s no way our good pal Henry would do that right?
Arrest, Politics, and Death
While Captain Morgan was off pillaging Panama, England and Spain decided to sign the Treaty of Madrid. This peace treaty ended the current war between England and Spain and dismissed any previously granted letters of marque. Upon his return to Port Royal Morgan found himself in a bit of a mess. Since word of the treaty had not reached Port Royal prior to his departure, Morgan had technically raided Panama illegally and was arrested and sent to England to stand trial. The English government weren’t too eager to prosecute him however since relations with Spain varied day by day, so Morgan was essentially on vacation for a little over 2 years in London. Eventually he was released and traveled back to Jamaica after being knighted by King Charles II.
When the Captain returned to Jamaica, he was made deputy governor of the island and put in charge of its defenses along with the order to rid English waters of Piracy. Being a former Privateer himself, Morgan didn’t exactly follow the whole get rid of pirates’ thing and kept friendly relations with other privateers. He had previously worked with many of them and made Port Royal accessible for their trade. The famous Captain Morgan would pass in August of 1688 on one of his plantations in Port Maria, Jamaica. He was buried in Port Royal in the Palisadoes cemetery, which four years after his death would sink into the Kingston Harbor of Jamaica during an earthquake, returning our legendary Captain Morgan to the sea one last time.