Henry Morgan
One of history’s most successful pirates and namesake of a popular brand of rum, Sir Henry Morgan (1635 – 1688) was a Welsh privateer who, operating out of Port Royal, Jamaica, plundered and terrorized the Spanish Main and Spain’s Caribbean colonies in the 17th century. He grew rich off the plunder and loot, went on to become Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica, and retired to the life of a wealthy plantation owner.
He probably first arrived in the Caribbean as a member of the British expedition that seized Jamaica in 1655, and by 1666, he was second in command of a fleet of buccaneers operating against Dutch colonies during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The following year, he rose to top command of the buccaneers and led them in the capture of Puerto Principe in Cuba, and in storming and sacking the wealthy and well-fortified city of Portobello in Panama.
In 1669, he pillaged the wealthy Spanish settlements around Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, and in 1671, mounted his most daring and ambitious expedition, when he led a fleet of 36 ships and 2000 pirates against Panama City. Landing on Panama’s Caribbean coast, Morgan led his men across the isthmus and through thick jungles to attack and seize the city on the Pacific coast.
However, England had signed a peace treaty with Spain by then. To appease the livid Spanish, Morgan was arrested and sent to London for appearances’ sake, but there he was lionized and treated as a hero. In 1674, he was knighted by King Charles II and sent to Jamaica as its Lieutenant Governor. There he remained, a wealthy plantation owner and powerful political figure, subbing as governor on occasion during that officeholder’s absence, until his death in 1688.