28. The Real Captain Morgan
Sir Henry Morgan (1635 – 1688), familiar to many as the swashbuckling figure gracing bottles of Captain Morgan’s Rum, was one of history’s most successful pirates. A Welsh privateer who operated out of Port Royal, Jamaica, Morgan plundered and terrorized the Spanish Main and Spain’s Caribbean possessions in the 17th century. He grew rich off the plunder, went on to become Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica, and retired to the life of a wealthy plantation owner.
Morgan first arrived in the Caribbean with a British expedition that seized Jamaica in 1655. By 1666, he was second in command of a fleet of buccaneers operating against Dutch colonies during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. A year later, Morgan was the buccaneers’ top commander, and he led them in capturing Puerto Principe in Cuba, and in storming and sacking the wealthy and well-fortified city of Portobelo in Panama.