CaptainHenryMorgan

He's now known as "the king of all pirates," but this is only after he was known during his lifetime as Morgan "the terrible." Yes, Captain Henry Morgan is a legend to us now. A man they say was so fierce, so ruthless, so brutal, that every man feared him, and all who knew him, respected him. If you ask any pirate today who Captain Morgan was, they'll tell you: "he was a man who knew how to get the job done, who knew what he wanted."

I guess you could say it all started back when England took over the little Spanish Island of Jamaica. You see, Jamaica was weak and so the English saw this as an opportunity to extend their colonization to this little island. This was the beginning of Henry Morgan's life as a pirate. He continued to take over such places as Vilahermosa (Capital of the Mexican province, Tobasco) and Gran Granada (the silver mining city of Nicaragua). His attack on Gran Granada alone was worthy enough for the history books. From what I hear, he planned a surprise attack on the city and took away plenty of loot. This was only a glimpse of what was to come from this great man.

Through some circumstances back at Jamaica, where his uncle was commander of the English troops, Captain Morgan ended up becoming the commander of the militia in Port Royal. This was how he gained respect from his friends and enemies alike. He was a master pirate and a brilliant soldier as well.

The turning point in Morgan's career, however, took place in the earliest months of 1670. He gathered together a crew of over 2000 buccaneers in the hopes of successfully attacking Panama. He knew the risk was high, but high risks never seemed to matter to the great Captain Morgan. Like I said before, when he saw something he wanted, he stopped at nothing to get it. Well, the Spaniards were somehow ready for Captain Morgan and his crew and they put up a monster of a fight. They fired muskets, they sent out angry bulls, but the Captain managed to stay strong. They eventually won the city and took out of it a hefty loot of 100,000 English Pounds.

When England got word of one of their soldiers taking over a Spanish city (the war between England and Spain was over) they quickly summoned Captain Morgan home and tossed him in the dungeons to await trial as a pirate.

Well, of all the odd things, King Charles, II, decided to knight Captain Morgan and make him lieutenant governor of Jamaica…all the way back where he started his career as a pirate! Except, now, he was ordered to rid the seas of all buccaneers. Morgan did a pretty good job of taking care of what the king wanted. When Henry Morgan died in 1688, there were almost no buccaneers left.