One of the, if not, THEE most famous buccaneer of all time was a man known as Sir henry Morgan. Morgan was tasked with the job of disrupting Spanish trade in the New World. Not only did Henry Morgan do just that, he robbed the Spaniards of their gold and ships, often leaving them with nothing but the clothes on their back. Henry Morgan also attacked civilian ships for their property and fled to the Galapagos islands for refuge to regroup and set sail once again. Eventually, Morgan was given credit for his work on disrupting Spaniard ships and bringing the wealth back to England. Little did the queen know, Sir Morgan had already taken a large cut of the loot before brining it back over seas. Sir Morgan's reputation had become so notorious that on his last recruitment day before October 24, 1670, more than 2,000 men in 37 ships appeared.
What's so special about October 24 1671?
October 24, 1671 was they day they set to rendezvous in Tortuga to discuss their next attack. An attack on a major city non other than, Panama City. Morgan assembled close to 2,000 pirates. Morgan was versed in strategy and left different amounts of his men in key locations in case something went wrong. 120 in their base of operations in St. Catherine, 500 in Chagre and 200 behind them in case of retreat. Morgan took about 1,200 pirates to attack the Panama City. Interestingly, the ship's crew was incredibly diverse. Among the crew were criminals, blacks, Dutch, English, Spanish, Native American were all together in charge against Panama. Panama city fell in a matter of a few hours to a band of Pirates, who immediately began to pillage. Panama continued to burn for four weeks as the pirates began going to adjacent cities in search of possible caches of loot. Morgan and his crew returned to Chagre where he ordered most of the crew to burn the city to the ground while he made a sneaky get away and leaving the remaining pirates under the mercy of the Spaniards. Morgan Escaped with around 400,000 pesos.
Crime Pays
In 1672 Morgan was eventually captured and shipped back to England where he was to be tried for piracy as an attempt to ease tensions with Spain. On his arrival, instead of being brought in as a typical prisoner, Morgan was given a hero's welcome by the public. Morgan was welcomed into
rooms in high society where he would be asked to recount his travels and "adventures" in the New World. Major General Bannister had written a letter to the Lord Arlington asking him to let Morgan go and the he would be a, "Great asset to a possible war with Spain." Morgan was never charged with an offense and said he was unaware of a treaty on Panama prior to his attack. Morgan was sent back to Jamaica as a Chief Justice of Jamaica.
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| Chief Justice Morgan |
Sources consulted
http://www.historynet.com/henry-morgan-the-pirate-who-invaded-panama-in-1671.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morgan#Attack_on_Panama_.281669.E2.80.931672.29
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