Short history of Henry Morgan

[Salty Dog]

After playing this game I’ve acquired a thirst for the true history of Pirates and Privateering. There are many excellent web sites out there and I hope others will go visit them. Here’s a short, “snapshot” bio on the game’s No. 1 Pirate – Henry Morgan.

Henry Morgan was technically a privateer, not a pirate. He was granted a Letter of Marque from the Governor of Port Royal and stayed true to the English all his life.

As others have noted, Morgan was born in Wales. In 1654 or 1655 he ended up with the English Army as part of a massive invasion force sent to take out a major Spanish City in the Caribbean area. They chose to attack Santiago and sent 9000 men against the city. They were beaten badly and ran back to their ships. Wanting to claim at least SOME victory, the invasion force, led by General Venables, attacked the island of Jamaica and defeated the tiny force of 200 Spanish there. At the time, Jamaica was completely undeveloped and worthless. Seeing this as no reward at all for sending 9000 troops to the New World, Venables was yanked back by the English government and thrown in the Tower of London for his fine work.

Morgan stayed in Jamaica and went on with Navy, serving under Vice-Admiral Goodson and then a Commodore Mings. He apparently worked hard and rose thru the ranks to become Captain of a ship under Mings. In 1662, they attacked Santiago again and this time it was successful, they plundered it but good! In 1663, Morgan and Mings attacked and plundered Campeche, another resounding success. They then went on to attack and plunder Villa Hermosa, a city names Trujillo and Gran Granada the same year. By this time Morgan was very wealthy and bought a big sugar plantation near Port Royal. He also got married in 1665 (not to the Gov’s daughter and I don’t know if she was Plain, Attractive or Beautiful).

In 1666 Morgan was named Colonel of the Port Royal Militia and had many Dutch friends on the island of Tortuga they named him an Admiral there. Later that year, Morgan led another raid, this time on Puerto Principe and made off with 50,000 pieces of eight. Then they went off and sacked Puerto Bello and made off with 250,000 pieces of eight.

In 1668, Morgan set off again. He intended to sack Cartegena but had to change his plans and went after Maricaibo instead. This time the villagers were tipped off and ran away with their gold, so Morgan was pretty much unrewarded. He then sailed south down to Gibraltar and attacked them with the same results – they ran away with the loot before he could get there. Well, Morgan limped back to Maricaibo and intended to hold the people there for 20,000 ransom. He was met by three huge ships (two large Frigates and a SOTL!). Morgan engaged these Spanards (led by Don Alonso) near Maricaibo. He sent a fireship ramming into the SOTL (a full 48 gun big boy) and that drove it off. One of the large Frigates also took off. The third ship, also a large Frigate, Morgan rammed, boarded and captured. Now you know how he got is large Frigate!

Morgan was now trapped in Maricaibo because the Spanish had forts on the entrance to Lago Maricaibo. In a stroke of military brilliance, Morgan faked them out by sent men in rowboats at night to a position behind the forts and and having them return back lying down in the boats. The Spanish thought he moved all his men behind them and they turned their big artillery around to fight him there. As soon as they did that, Morgan sailed right out of Lago Maricaibo and back to Port Royal.

Morgan’s next and last expedition was also his most successful. In 1670, he assembled 36 ships and 1800 men and sailed southwest. He landed and sacked Santa Catalina, and then went on a place called Fort San Lorenzo at Chagres (could be Nombre de Dios), where he sacked that too. Then on to the biggest prize of them all – Panama! Morgan’s troops were outnumbered 2300 to 1800 but Morgan easily beat them and really sacked Panama but good – 400,000 pieces of eight! Morgan returned to Port Royal in 1671 expecting to be received as a hero as usual.

Well, things did not turn out that way. After Morgan set sail on his expedition the year before, news of a peace treaty between England and Spain arrived at Port Royal. That entire expedition took place while the two countries had a peace treaty. The English Gov’t called Morgan back to England in 1672, where he was put under house arrest.

Well, things turned worse for Jamaica when Morgan left. War broke out between England and Holland, and they were missing their most effective military man in Morgan. The King of England asked Morgan’s advice and apparently it was so good he decided to send Morgan back to help defend Port Royal. In fact, he was Knighted and named SIR Henry Morgan (read that Baron in this Pirates game), and returned to Port Royal on March 6, 1676.

The war with the Dutch subsided on it’s own and Morgan retired from privateering and became Deputy Governor of Port Royal and a super-rich plantation owner. He really did live happily ever after until dying of natural causes in 1688. Morgan is considered one of the “good” privateers/pirates. If you wish to match his feats, become a Dutch Admiral, and English Baron and ransack Santiago, Puerto Principe, Campeche, Puerto Bello, Maricaibo, Gibraltar, Santa Catalina, Nombre de Dios and Panama. Earn at least 700,000 in gold and sink lots of ships while you are at it, also get married and retire in Port Royal.

I got this info from an excellent web site, it is:
http://www.cavazzi.com/morgan/index.html

later.....Salty

[Capm Bucklebeard]

SOme viewers may not have as much common sense as I, but I noticed you jumped back a century when telling of his beginnings in the Navy. The next 17th Century mentioning was 1670 You could edit it couldn't you?

[Gun Pierson]

For those interested...here's another link to a site giving info about Henry Morgan:

http://www.data-wales.co.uk/morgan.htm

[Capm Bucklebeard]

Makes some good reading, both of them do. Thanks Amigos.

[dhankskunk]

Excellent post Salty! Thanks for the history lesson. I have recently become inerested in Caribbean pirates & that period of history in general due to my recent trip to St. Thomas & Sid Meier's Pirates! .
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Nothin' ain't worth nothin', but its free.

[pnm967]

"Cup of Gold" by John Steinbeck is about Morgan. Good read,although fictionalized.
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"But why's the rum gone?"

[Airsaw]

I'd only add that the assault on Panama, while outnumbered, was won by a tactic Morgan used which worked. The garrison he fought had arrayed itself in an opening surrounded by jungle. Morgan sent a contingent through the jungle, around to the Spanish flank. The flanking force attacked, and the garrison took them to be the main attack force. The garrison swung around their lines to face the assault and left their new flank open to Morgan's main force, which crashed upon them. The garrison wasn't well-commanded and being hit on two sides this way confused them, causing them to think THEY were outnumbered. So, they ran back to town allowing Morgan to win without defeating them.

Combat experience: Something you get just after you need it.
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[Howie]

Very interesting read Salty Dog. I am very interest in history. Thanks for posting it.
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[PrinceScamp]

hahaha lol! neat! now i remember why I named my pirate henry morgan in another game 7 years ago...