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Henry Morgan became known as the most
successful of all the privateers that
operated with the consent of the British
Parliament.
British ship owners were encouraged to
attack Spanish, French and Dutch ships as
long as they shared any treasures
captured with the British Parliament and
Royalty. As with Francis Drake 1542 -
1596, Henry Morgan was also sometimes
referred to as a pirate.
Morgan was born during the reign of
Charles I 1625 - 1649. By 1629, Charles I
had dissolved parliament in an attempt to
rule the country alone. He adopted a High
Anglican form of worship and married a
French catholic princess.
After trying to enforce his religious
beliefs across England and Scotland,
which many puritans saw as close to
Catholicism, the parliamentarians
(roundheads) rose against the king, this
seeing the English Civil War break out in
1642.
Charles I was defeated by the
parliamentarian leader Oliver Cromwell in
1648 and beheaded outside Banqueting
House at Whitehall January 30th 1649.
Oliver Cromwell then became Lord
Protector of Britain until his death
September 3rd 1658.
Morgan grew up during the civil war
with many of his relatives fighting for
Cromwell. After Cromwell became ruler of
the country, in 1654, he sent an army led
by General Venables to the Caribbean to
attack the Spanish colonies. It was at
that time Henry Morgan joined Venables
forces and learned how to become a
privateer.
Venables forces of over eight thousand
men and many ships failed in their
attempt to capture the Spanish stronghold
of Santo Domingo so moved south to take
control of the lightly defended island of
Jamaica.
With this action seen as a total
failure in England, Venables was thrown
in the Tower of London on his return.
Morgan had remained at Port Royal in
Jamaica at that time where he worked on
privateer ships based in the
Caribbean.
In 1662, he captained one of the
British ships that made a successful raid
on the Spanish stronghold of Santiago de
Cuba. Morgan again captained a ship in
1663/64 during the successful raids on
San Francisco de Campeche, Hermosa,
Trujillo and Granada.
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After Morgan was made Colonel of
the Port Royal Militia in 1666, he
led successful attacks on the
Spanish strongholds of Puerto del
Principe on Cuba and Puerto Bello
on the Northern coast of the
Isthmus of Panama.
These raids captured over
250,000 pieces of eight and other
treasures. In 1668, Morgan was
instructed the Spanish were
planning an attack on the British
privateers based at Jamaica.
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In response, Morgan set out with three
ships to attack the Spanish bases in the
area. His attacks on Maracabo and
Gibralter were met by little resistance,
although they later met three Spanish
Men-o-War ships at sea off Maracabo. The
following battle saw one Spanish ship
sunk, one fleeing the battle and the
other captured.
In 1670, Morgan set out in command of
36 captains and 1800 men. They captured
the small island of Old Providence, Fort
San Lorenzo, and Panama City where they
acquired over 400,000 pieces of
eight.
During these attacks, the British and
Spanish Governments had signed a piece
treaty. Morgan was subsequently arrested
in 1672 and sent back to Britain for
questioning.
By 1675, Morgan had been Knighted and
sent back to Jamaica to serve as Deputy
Governor. He spent the rest of his life
between this role and managing his sugar
plantation.
The most successful privateer
‘ever’ died of an alcohol
related illness August 25th 1688. He was
buried in Palisadoes cemetery in
Kingston/ Jamaica, which sank beneath the
sea after the 1692 earthquake.
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