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Henry Morgan's raid on Porto Bello
Part of the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1671)
Henry Morgan's attack on the Castillo de San Jeronimo, Porto Bello, 1668
Date July 1668 Location Porto Bello, Real Audiencia of Panama Result English Privateer victory
Belligerents
Spain	England
Commanders and leaders
Agustín de Bracamonte	Henry Morgan
Strength
1,100 soldiers and militia	8 ships 500 men

Henry Morgan's raid on Porto Bello was a military event which took place in the latter half of the Anglo-Spanish war and took place in Porto Bello (now Portobelo in modern Panama) on 10 July 1668. Notable Welsh Buccaneer Henry Morgan led a Privateer force which captured a number of castles protecting the city. One such involved using captured citizens as human shields to seize one of the castles. The privateers subsequently entered the city and then plundered it before Morgan demanded a ransom from the Governor of Panama Don Agustín de Bracamonte. While the negotiations for this was going on - Bracamonte led a sizeable force to recapture the city.

Morgan repelled Bracamonte's Spanish counter attack forcing him to deliver the ransom. Having achieved this, Morgan and the Privateers left Porto Bello intact as promised and went back to Jamaica unhindered. The attack was highly successful and garnered some 100,000 pieces of eight as well as other valuable booty.

Background

Further information: Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660)

England and Spain had remained in a state of war in the Caribbean following the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. England's taking possession of Jamaica since 1657 had yet to be confirmed by Spain in a treaty. As a result Buccaneers were invited, to base themselves at Port Royal, to help defend against Spanish attacks.

Henry Morgan, who had been in charge of the Port Royal militia and the defence of Jamaica, took over further privateering expeditions as Admiral in Chief of the Confederacy of Buccaneers.

In March 1668 Morgan set out on his first commanded expedition to the Spanish island of Cuba and seize Puerto Principe. Outside the town the Privateers defeated the militia in a pitched battle known as the Battle of la Savana. They then captured the town, plundering and sacking the place while also gathering a ransom for the town's prisoners.

After dividing the spoils of the conquest of Puerto del Príncipe, Morgan announced a plan to attack Porto Bello in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. The city was the third largest and strongest on the Spanish Main as it was one of the main routes of high value of goods passing through its port between the Spanish territories and Spain. Porto Bello was protected by two castles in the harbour and another under construction in the town. The port had been attacked by English Privateers before; Francis Drake had been repelled in 1595 and then died of disease not far off the coast, and William Parker six years later captured and ransomed the place.

The 200 French privateers, unhappy with the division of the treasure at Puerto Principe and the murder of their countryman, left Morgan's service and returned to Tortuga. Morgan and his ships briefly landed at Port Royal before leaving for Porto Bello.

Raid

On 11 July 1668 Morgan weighed anchor with his nine vessels and 470 men at Naos, a village twelve miles from the Porto Bello in the Bay of Bocas del Torro. From there he sailed along the coast to the port of El Puerto del Ponton, four miles from Porto Bello and transferred his men to 23 canoes, which they paddled to within three miles (4.8 km) of the target. The Privateers approached a blockhouse at La Rancherria which was guarded by five men - they were asked to surrender by the English but were met with a volley wounding two men. The English then assaulted the blockhouse putting them to the sword. Although the blockhouse was captured the surprise had now been lost. The musket fire had been heard in the city and the mayor had called his men to arms.

Taking the castles

San Gerónimo

Morgan now had to rush his men forward two miles across the beach towards Santiago Castle. Accompanying then was an escaped English prisoner, he guided them and landed. They approached the first castle of San Gerónimo from the landward side, where they arrived half an hour before dawn. Morgan suddenly saw high the walls of the castle were and had second thoughts about assaulting the place. Morgan sent two groups - one to head into town to capture it & approach the hill which would give a commanding view of the castle's rear gate.

The first detachment charged towards the castle - however the Spanish garrison had loaded the cannons with balls and not grapeshot. The shots they fired were ineffective and the men were able to get under the guns at the bottom of the castle walls. The other group penetrated the town and shot at everything they saw to incite terror, taking prisoners and and looting everything they could before the Spanish could hide any of their valuables. The town was captured with ease and both groups now combined and headed towards the other unfinished fort San Geronimo that lay across the other side of the harbour. Realizing the water was shallow - Morgans men then assaulted it in the shallows and the Spanish gunners surrendered. Morgan also released eleven English prisoners - who had been chained and looked tlkike they had been treated badly. The privateers were furious and demanded revenge.

Santiago castle

In the town Morgan's men released some eleven English prisoners, and on the hill the musketeers were picking off men in Santiago castle. Morgan now had to take the castle quickly - he ordered a number of high ladders to be built, and came up with a controversial stratagem. He ordered the prisoners to be placed in front of the assault force to be used as human shields.

Morgan chose a set number of prisoners - the town's mayor, friars and nuns and the sick and the elderly. They were marched towards the castle - and the Spanish realised what was happening. The privateers were crouched behind the prisoners who shouted at the castle not to shoot. As they got closer and closer to the main gates the castle's gunners reluctantly opened fire - despite the pleas of the prisoners. The guns firing chain shot wounded a number of the prisoners and an Englishman. Now close to the walls the English rushed through the prisoners and hacked away at the gate. While this was going on, another force swept round the castle and with ladders scaled the wall. The Spanish defended with all kinds of weapons including stones and anything they could get their hands on.

The privateers managed to cut the defenders down and swept over the ramparts. One Englishman managed to raise the red flag, meaning 'no quarter'. At the same time the main gate was breached and the privateers poured in. The Spanish were all put to the sword with seventy four dead including the commander. The English lost only an eighth of the attacking force.

San Felipe Castle

With the capture of the two fortifications Morgan now only had San Felipe to capture. It stood in the way of the other side of the harbour and was held by fifty men. Morgan needed it taken quickly so he get his ships in to offload and on load supplies and booty respectively. He intended to take it peacefully but when two canoes were sent to ask for its surrender it was clear it had to be taken by force.

200 men in eleven canoes with two Spanish prisoners as guides at gunpoint went in to the attack. One group fired at the men in the castle in the fort and attempted to set fire to the gate. The other group attempted to charge the fort but it stood firm inflicting five casualties on the privateers. Nevertheless the castle was well short of powder and food and surrender was inevitable, after a heated discussion the castle commander surrendered but before he came out of the fort he poisoned himself.

Sack of Porto Bello

Morgan at Porto Bello with a prisoner: published in December 1888 from "Buccaneers and Marooners of the Spanish Main". Harper's Magazine and illustrated by Howard Pyle

Morgan now set the task of interrogating all the Spanish prisoners for treasure and information. Some had escaped into the hinterlands with some of the valuables. More importantly for Morgan he was given information regarding plans of an attack against Jamaica. This was what he needed proof that the Spanish were planning an imminent and large attack. As such this made the attack on Porto Bello justifiable in regards to his letter of marque.

Morgan and his men remained in Porto Bello for a month. He wrote to the Governor Don Agustín de Bracamonte the acting president of Panama, demanding a ransom for the city of 350,000 pesos.

Bracamonte wrote back and accused Morgan of being a pirate which the latter hated being called as. The governor at first refused any concessions and warned his troops would give no quarter to the English. Morgan went one further threatening to kill all the prisoners as well torching the city and demolishing the castles.

They stripped the city of its wealth torture was used on the residents to uncover hidden caches of money and jewels. Nevertheless there were no first-hand reports from witnesses that confirmed claims of widespread rape and debauchery.

Bracamonte was in communication with his Governor and Morgan as well. News of the ransom from Morgan was brought to Bracamonte but the latter swiftly refused, and warned that he would spare no 'pirate' alive. Morgan angry at being called a pirate then built up the defences and threatened a retribution on the town.

Spanish counter attack

Bracamonte quickly set out with some 800 soldiers, militia and natives to try and retake the city. As such he made the mistake of not having enough necessary provisions to keep them sustained – instead they were to be sent later while they were on the march. Bracamonte also sent out hurried appeals to Cartagena and Lima to send out an expedition to pursue and destroy the Privateer fleet.

Meanwhile in Porto Bello natives from the region who were never friends of Spain soon had friendly relations with the English. This was fortunate for Morgan as they gave him news and updates of Bracamonte's Spanish army column which had been approaching over the mountains and through the jungles towards Porto Bello. Morgan acted quickly by setting up defences around the town towards where the Spanish would approach. Having done this he then sent a 100 men down the only passable road to a narrow pass to set up an ambush. As the Spanish approached, the English assaulted the leading elements. The ambush was a huge success, taken by surprise the Spanish retreated causing mass panic – so much so that many lost the will to fight. Bracamonte now had lost a big advantage and then saw the defences that lay before him.

Bracamonte despite this setback ordered an attack as a soon as it was possible. A series of small weak attacks were made but all were however easily repelled by the privateers.

Negotiations and ransom

Bracamonte backed off, and now with news of delays of provision arrivals and his force already weakened by disease, he now decided to change his tone. The Spanish were also concerned that the French were about to join and reinforce them and there were even rumours of an attack on Panama itself. Bracamonte formed a junta and after some discussions reluctantly agreed to offer a reduced ranson. After some more exchange of letters over a week between himself and Morgan a deal was finally struck for 100,000 pesos.

The ransom was brought by mules in the first week of August: 27 ingot bars of silver worth 43,000 pesos, several chests filled with silver plate worth 13,000 pesos, and 44,000 pesos worth of gold and silver coins: 100,000 pesos in total. Morgan was satisfied; this in addition to the rest of the booty which also included powder, guns and arms. The brass guns, some 57 in total from all the castles were collected and loaded aboard the ships. The loot was vast - as well as the ransom money, the Privateers had a huge haul of silk, linens, cloth, slaves and any gold and silver taken from the town.

Morgan kept his promise: he loaded the treasure in addition to what had been found in the city, freed the prisoners and set sail, leaving the city and forts intact but without any weapons.

Aftermath

Following the ransom and the plunder of the city, Morgan returned to Port Royal, with between 250,000 Pesos or £70,000 and £100,000 of money and valuables; The figures were more than the agricultural output of Jamaica, and nearly half Barbados's sugar exports. Each privateer received £120 – equivalent to five or six times the average annual earnings of a sailor of the time. Morgan received a five per cent share for his work; Modyford received a ten per cent share, which was the price of Morgan's letter of marque.

The Spanish eventually sent expeditions from Cartagena and Lima but only arrived several weeks after Morgan and his men had left. They helped Bracamonte reestablish the city.

Back in Spain news of the assault was met with fury and bitterness. The raid also exposed the weaknesses of the empire even though the financial loss wasn't that huge. Spain was going through a financial crisis which was affecting the crown. An English diplomat in Madrid received angry demands about the raid not just from Spanish ministers but also from the public. As Morgan had overstepped the limits of his commission, Modyford reported back to London that he had "reproved" him for his actions although in Britain "Morgan was widely viewed as a national hero and neither he nor Modyford were rebuked for their actions". Historian Zahedieh considers the action at Porto Bello displayed a "clever cunning and expert timing which marked ... [Morgan's] brilliance as a military commander".

Morgan didn't stop there - in retaliation to Spain's privateering against English shipping in the Caribbean launched a wave of further attacks. Morgan set forth the following year to strike at Spanish settlements in Lake Maracaibo. He did this and then defeated the Spanish Armada de Barlovento set to trap him before heading back to Jamaica with few losses.

Libel actions

Exquemelin Terry Breverton, in his biography of Morgan, writes that when a translation of Exquemelin's book was published in England, Morgan sued for libel and won. The passage about the use of nuns and monks as a human shield was retracted from subsequent publications in England.

See also

• Blockade of Porto Bello
• Battle of Porto Bello (1739)

References

Bibliography

• Allen, H. R (1976). Buccaneer: Admiral Sir Henry Morgan. London: Arthur Baker. ISBN 978-0-213-16569-7.
• Breverton, Terry (2005). Admiral Sir Henry Morgan: The Greatest Buccaneer of them all. Pencader, Carmarthenshire: Glyndŵr Publishing. ISBN 978-1-903529-17-1.
• Cordingly, David (2006) [1996]. Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates. London: Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-7722-6.
• Exquemelin, John (2010) [1684]. The Buccaneers of America: A True Account of the Most Remarkable Assaults Committed of Late Years Upon the Coasts of the West Indies by the Buccaneers of Jamaica and Tortuga. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. ISBN 978-1-108-02481-5.
• Davenport, Frances Gardiner; Paullin, Charles Oscar, eds. (2004). European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies: Issue 254. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 9781584774228.
• Earle, Peter (2007). The Sack of Panamá: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-0-312-36142-6.
• Gosse, Phillip (2007) [1932]. The History of Piracy. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-46183-0.
• Latimer, Jon (2009). Buccaneers of the Caribbean: How Piracy Forged an Empire. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03403-7.
• Little, Benerson (2007). The Buccaneer's Realm: Pirate Life on the Spanish Main, 1674–1688. Washington, DC: Potomac Books. ISBN 978-1-59797-101-0.
• Marley, David (2010). Pirates of the Americas, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598842012.
• Marley, David (1998). Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present. Santa Barbara CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780874368376.
• Paxman, Jeremy (2011). Empire. London: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-91957-4.
• Pope, Dudley (1978) [1977 (in the UK, as Harry Morgan's Way)]. The Buccaneer King: The Biography of the Notorious Sir Henry Morgan 1635–1688. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. ISBN 978-0-396-07566-0.
• Rogoziński, Jan (1995). Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend: An A–Z Encyclopedia. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 978-0-8160-2761-3.
• Thomas, Graham (2014). The Buccaneer King: the Story of Captain Henry Morgan (Kindle ed.). Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Maritime. ISBN 978-1-4738-3522-1.
• Talty, Stephan (2007). Empire of Blue Water: Henry Morgan and the Pirates Who Ruled the Caribbean Waves. London: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-0293-7.

Articles and journals

• Barbour, Violet (April 1911). "Privateers and Pirates of the West Indies". The American Historical Review. 16 (3): 529–566. doi:10.2307/1834836. JSTOR 1834836.
• Zahedieh, Nuala (2004a). "Morgan, Sir Henry (c.1635–1688)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19224. Retrieved 10 October 2016. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Zahedieh, Nuala (2004b). "Modyford, Sir Thomas, First Baronet (c.1620–1679)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18871. Retrieved 13 October 2016. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)