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Henry Morgan

Jamaica buccaneer commander who took Porto Bello, Maracaibo and Panama under colonial commission, won a libel action in King's Bench over the printed account of his cruelties, and died a knight and Lieutenant Governor.

Bornc. 1635, WalesDied25 August 1688Also writtenCaptain Henry Morgan (Exquemelin); Admiral Henry Morgan (Modyford's commission; colonial record); Colonel Henry Morgan (colonial record); Lieutenant-General Morgan (colonial record); Sir Henry Morgan of Jamaica, Kt (London Gazette, 1685); Sir Harry Morgan (log-book of the Assistance); John Morgan, Johan Morgan (Spanish and Dutch renderings of the forename)

Morgan sits at the edge of this Archive's period rather than inside it. He was a knight and Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica, and he was in his grave before most of the men in the rest of this gallery went to sea. He is here because he did their work under commission. He rose by title, Captain to Admiral to Colonel to Lieutenant-General, and the London Gazette at last styled him Sir Henry Morgan of Jamaica, knight. Alexandre Exquemelin, barber-surgeon, sailed with him and then published him: the Buccaneers of America came out in Dutch in 1678 and in two rival London editions in 1684, and nearly everything the name now carries comes from it.1,3,2

Where he came from

He was born about 1635, on his own sworn word: an affidavit made in Jamaica on 21 November 1671 gives his age as thirty-six. Wales is agreed. The parish is not. Welsh genealogists make him eldest son of Robert Morgan of Llanrhymney in Glamorgan; William Crooke, printing an apology in 1685, made him a gentleman's son of good quality from the county of Monmouth. Penkarne is fastened to him as a birthplace too, though it turns up in his will as a Jamaican estate.4,5

That he was sold as a servant at Barbados is Exquemelin's, and it is the passage the libel action reached. Crooke's apology of 1685 corrected it: Morgan had never been anybody's servant in his life, it said, unless the late King's. Richard Browne, surgeon to the fleet, had written to Lord Arlington on 12 October 1670 that "Admiral Morgan has been in the Indies 11 or 12 years, and from a private gentleman by his valour has raised himself to now what he is".6,7

What the commission was for

The commission came from Sir Thomas Modyford, Governor of Jamaica. The information Morgan and six of his captains gave in at Port Royal on 7 September 1668 sets out its terms: he had been commissioned about eight months earlier "to draw together the English privateers, and take prisoners of the Spanish nation, whereby he might inform of the intentions of that enemy to invade Jamaica". Intelligence was what he was sent for. Crooke's apology said as much of the whole career, that Morgan never sailed except by commission from the governor of those parts.8,9

Cuba and Porto Bello, 1668

Morgan and his captains went on to say what he did with it. Driven to the south keys of Cuba, the men marched twenty leagues inland and took Puerto Principe "with little resistance"; then, "On the Spaniards' entreaty they forbore to fire the town, or bring away prisoners, but on delivery of 1,000 beeves released all." At Porto Bello the President of Panama came up, was beaten off, and "next day he proffered 100,000 pieces of eight for delivery of the town, castles, and 300 negroes, which being paid, they repaired on board leaving town and castles in as good condition as they found them".10,11

Exquemelin's version is another country: prisoners at Puerto Principe shut in churches and starved for hidden wealth, soldiers shut in a castle at Porto Bello and the castle blown up, friars and nuns driven under fire to plant the ladders. Crooke's apology denies the Cuban cruelties and answers that the castle was left standing, with quarter given to all who yielded. The ladder story is the most repeated thing said about Morgan, and Exquemelin is the only man who tells it. Morgan was answering charges of this shape in 1668, sixteen years before English readers had the book: he and his captains declared at Port Royal, "for the better vindicating themselves against the usual scandals of that enemy", that ladies of quality taken at Porto Bello were offered their liberty and refused it.12,13,14,15

Maracaibo, 1669

The lake campaign is his best soldiering. Don Alonso del Campo y Espinosa's squadron closed the bar behind him; he broke it that April with a disguised fireship and took twenty thousand pieces of eight and five hundred cattle out of Maracaibo. Don Alonso set the affair down in a letter of 24 April 1669. The money was got by torture, in Exquemelin's telling of it, and Crooke retracted by name the racked fool, the rich Portuguese and the slave forced to kill prisoners.16,17

Panama, and after

Modyford sealed the commission on 22 July 1670. The Treaty of Madrid, which made peace with Spain in America, had been signed on the 18th, four days earlier and an ocean away, and the expedition against Panama went in that January. The case against him was never that he sailed without authority, but that the authority had been overtaken. Even the sailing date will not settle: his own relation says 8 December, one account has Cape Tiburon left on the 6th, and Exquemelin the 16th.18,19

He was sent home a prisoner in the Welcome on 4 April 1672 to answer for it, and never tried. He was knighted, and came back as Lieutenant Governor of the island he sailed from. Modyford was told what the proceedings against him were worth: writing to Lord Arlington in November 1671 he set down the assurance that "the proceeding was formal only to give satisfaction to the Spanish interest".20,21

Westminster, 1685

The London Gazette of 8 June 1685 reported the King's Bench judgment in his favour and two hundred pounds damages, and both London publishers printed retractions. No court ever heard the charges of cruelty themselves, and none ever cleared him of them.22,23

The will

He made his will on 17 June 1688 and was dead on 25 August, the log of the Assistance recording death and burial. The will makes Dame Mary Elizabeth Morgan, his wife, sole executrix, names Byndloss kin and a cousin, Thomas Morgan of Tredegar, and names no children.24,25

Nearly all of this was read at one remove. The 1935 Life of Sir Henry Morgan reproduces the commission, the treaty, the will, the Gazette and the ship's log, and those reproductions, not the documents, stand behind the dates. None of those documents is in the working library, and nothing above is quoted from them. The state papers quoted directly are a Victorian editor's calendar, where only matter inside quotation marks is verbatim. The Exquemelin opened here is abridged, so the fuller 1684 passages Morgan sued over have not been seen. No Welsh baptismal record has been opened.26,27

What the evidence does not settle

Birthplace

  • Welsh genealogy places his birth at Llanrhymney, Glamorgan

The Exquemelin cruelties

  • The cruelty accounts derive solely from Exquemelin's uncorroborated narrative

Documentary basis for key dates

  • Key dates rest on a 1935 biography, not archive originals
  • The year comes from his affidavit of 21 November 1671 giving his age as thirty-six

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. Henry Morgan was a Welsh privateer and buccaneer commander operating from Jamaica between the 1660s and the 1680s who led the buccaneers against Porto Bello, Maracaibo and Panama, and who was afterwards knighted and made Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative: The Pirates of Panama; or, The Buccaneers of America (Broadway edition, ed. George Alfred Williams; reproducing the 1684 English translation of Exquemelin, here abridged for general readers), with the London Gazette of 8 June 1685 and the colonial record reproduced in The Life of Sir Henry Morgan
  2. The principal narrative source for Morgan's raids is Alexandre Exquemelin's Buccaneers of America, written by a barber-surgeon present on the expeditions, which appeared in Dutch in 1678 and in two rival London editions in 1684. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative: The Pirates of Panama; or, The Buccaneers of America (Broadway edition, ed. George Alfred Williams; reproducing the 1684 English translation of Exquemelin, here abridged for general readers), with the publishing history set out in The Life of Sir Henry Morgan
  3. The documents style Morgan by rising title, as Captain, Admiral, Colonel and Lieutenant-General, and the London Gazette of 1685 styles him Sir Henry Morgan of Jamaica, knight. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period newspaper report: London Gazette report of the libel judgment (Westminster, 1 June 1685), London Gazette, 8 June 1685, with Modyford's commission, the colonial record and the log-book of the Assistance as reproduced in The Life of Sir Henry Morgan
  4. Morgan was born about 1635 in Wales, the year resting on an affidavit he made in Jamaica on 21 November 1671 giving his age as thirty-six. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern scholarship: The Life of Sir Henry Morgan, deriving the year from Morgan's affidavit made in Jamaica, 21 November 1671
  5. Morgan's birthplace is unsettled: Welsh genealogy makes him eldest son of Robert Morgan of Llanrhymney in Glamorgan, Crooke's 1685 apology makes him a gentleman's son of good quality from the county of Monmouth, and Penkarne, also linked to him, appears in his own will as a Jamaican estate in the parish of St George. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern scholarship: The Life of Sir Henry Morgan, with William Crooke's printed apology and corrections (1685) and the last will and testament of Sir Henry Morgan, Knight (Jamaica Liber of Wills, 6, folio 8)
  6. Exquemelin's English edition alleged that Morgan had been sold as a servant at Barbados, and William Crooke's printed apology of 1685 retracted it, stating that he had never been anybody's servant in his life except the late King's. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Printed apology: William Crooke's printed apology and corrections, prefixed to the corrected edition of The History of the Bucaniers of America (1685)
  7. Richard Browne, surgeon to Morgan's fleet, wrote to Secretary Lord Arlington on 12 October 1670 that "Admiral Morgan has been in the Indies 11 or 12 years, and from a private gentleman by his valour has raised himself to now what he is". Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Richard Browne to Secretary Lord Arlington, on board the Satisfaction frigate at Hispaniola, 12 October 1670, Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 7 (1669-1674), no. 293, calendar page 112
  8. In the information he and six of his captains gave in at Port Royal on 7 September 1668, Morgan stated that Sir Thomas Modyford had commissioned him about eight months earlier "to draw together the English privateers, and take prisoners of the Spanish nation, whereby he might inform of the intentions of that enemy to invade Jamaica". Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Information of Admiral Henry Morgan and his officers, given in at Port Royal, 7 September 1668, Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1838, calendar pages 610-612
  9. Crooke's printed apology of 1685 states that Morgan never sailed except by commission from the governor of those parts. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Printed apology: William Crooke's printed apology and corrections, prefixed to the corrected edition of The History of the Bucaniers of America (1685)
  10. The 1668 information states that Morgan's men, put ashore on Cuba, marched twenty leagues to Puerto Principe and possessed themselves of it "with little resistance", and that "On the Spaniards' entreaty they forbore to fire the town, or bring away prisoners, but on delivery of 1,000 beeves released all." Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Information of Admiral Henry Morgan and his officers, given in at Port Royal, 7 September 1668, Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1838, calendar page 611
  11. The same 1668 information states that the President of Panama came up to Porto Bello and was beaten off, and that "next day he proffered 100,000 pieces of eight for delivery of the town, castles, and 300 negroes, which being paid, they repaired on board leaving town and castles in as good condition as they found them". Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Information of Admiral Henry Morgan and his officers, given in at Port Royal, 7 September 1668, Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1838, calendar page 611
  12. Exquemelin alleges that at Puerto Principe the inhabitants were shut in churches and prisoners starved to make them give up hidden wealth, and Crooke's 1685 apology denies the cruelties stated after the taking of the town. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: The Pirates of Panama; or, The Buccaneers of America (Broadway edition, ed. George Alfred Williams; reproducing the 1684 English translation of Exquemelin, here abridged for general readers), with William Crooke's printed apology and corrections (1685)
  13. Exquemelin alleges that at Porto Bello soldiers were shut in a castle that was then blown up and prisoners racked to death, and Crooke's 1685 apology answers that the castle was left standing and quarter given to all who yielded. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: The Pirates of Panama; or, The Buccaneers of America (Broadway edition, ed. George Alfred Williams; reproducing the 1684 English translation of Exquemelin, here abridged for general readers), with William Crooke's printed apology and corrections (1685)
  14. The account of captured religious men and women being forced to carry and plant the scaling ladders against a castle wall at Porto Bello under the defenders' fire, so that several were killed, rests on Exquemelin alone. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: The Pirates of Panama; or, The Buccaneers of America (Broadway edition, ed. George Alfred Williams; reproducing the 1684 English translation of Exquemelin, here abridged for general readers)
  15. The 1668 information records, "for the better vindicating themselves against the usual scandals of that enemy", that ladies of great quality taken prisoner at Porto Bello were offered their liberty to go to the President's camp and refused it. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Information of Admiral Henry Morgan and his officers, given in at Port Royal, 7 September 1668, Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1838, calendar pages 611-612
  16. In April 1669 Morgan destroyed the Spanish squadron of Don Alonso del Campo y Espinosa blockading the bar of Maracaibo by means of a disguised fireship, and exacted twenty thousand pieces of eight and five hundred cattle from the city, Exquemelin reproducing Don Alonso's own letter of 24 April 1669. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: The Pirates of Panama; or, The Buccaneers of America (Broadway edition, ed. George Alfred Williams; reproducing the 1684 English translation of Exquemelin, here abridged for general readers), with The Life of Sir Henry Morgan
  17. Exquemelin alleges systematic torture of prisoners at Maracaibo and Gibraltar to extort hidden wealth, and Crooke's 1685 apology denies by name the racking of a fool, the torturing of a rich Portuguese and the forcing of a slave to kill prisoners. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: The Pirates of Panama; or, The Buccaneers of America (Broadway edition, ed. George Alfred Williams; reproducing the 1684 English translation of Exquemelin, here abridged for general readers), with William Crooke's printed apology and corrections (1685)
  18. Modyford's commission to Morgan is dated 22 July 1670 and the Treaty of Madrid, which made peace with Spain in America, was signed on 18 July 1670, so the difficulty over the Panama expedition was the timing of the authority rather than its absence. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Colonial document: Commission of Sir Thomas Modyford to Admiral Henry Morgan, and the preceding Order in Council of the Jamaica Council (Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, 1669 to 1674), with the Treaty of Madrid of 18 July 1670, both as reproduced in The Life of Sir Henry Morgan
  19. The date the Panama fleet sailed is unresolved three ways: Morgan's own relation gives 8 December, the departure from Cape Tiburon is dated 6 December in Cruikshank and 16 December 1670 in Exquemelin. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: A true account and relation [by Henry Morgan] of this my last expedition against the Spaniards, Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 7 (1669-1674), no. 504, calendar page 202, with The Life of Sir Henry Morgan and the Broadway edition of Exquemelin
  20. Morgan was sent home to England as a prisoner in the Welcome on 4 April 1672 to answer for the Panama expedition and was never tried, and was afterwards knighted and returned to Jamaica as Lieutenant Governor. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern scholarship: The Life of Sir Henry Morgan, reproducing the colonial record of the recall, the knighthood and the Lieutenant-Governorship
  21. Sir Thomas Modyford recorded in a letter to Lord Arlington endorsed 17 November 1671 that he had been assured "the proceeding was formal only to give satisfaction to the Spanish interest". Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Sir Thomas Modyford to Secretary Lord Arlington, endorsed 17 November 1671, Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 7 (1669-1674), no. 655, calendar page 273
  22. The London Gazette of 8 June 1685 reported the King's Bench judgment in Morgan's favour in his libel action and two hundred pounds damages, and the London publishers printed retractions of the passages complained of. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period newspaper report: London Gazette report of the libel judgment (Westminster, 1 June 1685), London Gazette, 8 June 1685, with William Crooke's printed apology and corrections (1685)
  23. No court ever adjudicated Morgan's personal guilt for any of the cruelties attributed to him, all of which descend from Exquemelin; the only judgment in the record read here is the civil libel judgment of 1685, which went in his favour. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern biography: The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (1935), summarising the record and reproducing the London Gazette of 8 June 1685; the book itself was not opened for this record
  24. Morgan made his will on 17 June 1688 and died on 25 August 1688, his death and burial being entered in the log-book of H.M.S. Assistance. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Ship's log: Log-book entry of H.M.S. Assistance recording Morgan's death and burial (Public Record Office, log of the Assistance), with the last will and testament of Sir Henry Morgan, Knight (Jamaica Liber of Wills, 6, folio 8), both as reproduced in The Life of Sir Henry Morgan
  25. Morgan's will makes his wife, Dame Mary Elizabeth Morgan, his sole executrix, names kin among the Byndloss family and a cousin, Thomas Morgan of Tredegar, and names no children. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Probate document: The last will and testament of Sir Henry Morgan, Knight (Jamaica Liber of Wills, 6, folio 8), as reproduced in The Life of Sir Henry Morgan
  26. The colonial documents behind Morgan's dates, including the commission, the Treaty of Madrid, the will, the London Gazette and the Assistance log, were read here in the verbatim reproductions printed in the 1935 Life of Sir Henry Morgan rather than in the originals, and the state papers quoted directly are from a printed calendar in which only the matter inside the editor's quotation marks is verbatim. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Modern biography: The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (1935), not opened for this record, with the Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vols. 5 (1661-1668) and 7 (1669-1674), ed. W. Noel Sainsbury
  27. The edition of Exquemelin read for this record is the Broadway edition edited by George Alfred Williams, which reproduces the 1684 English translation but is abridged, so the fuller passages Morgan sued over have not been seen. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative: The Pirates of Panama; or, The Buccaneers of America (Broadway edition, ed. George Alfred Williams; reproducing the 1684 English translation of Exquemelin, here abridged for general readers)