Sir Henry Morgan

Sir Henry Morgan 1635?-1688, Welsh buccaneer. In his youth he went to the West Indies, eventually joining the buccaneers there. On the death (1667) of Edward Mansfield , Morgan took his place as commander of the buccaneers. He operated as a privateer, and was commissioned in his activities by the British authorities. His exploits included the capture of Puerto Príncipe (Camagüey, Cuba) and the sack of Puerto Bello (1668), the capture of Maracaibo (1669), the ravaging of the Cuban and American coasts (1670), and the famously daring capture of Panama (1671). His operations were always marked by brutality and debauchery, but were sometimes executed with skill against great odds. Ordered arrested by Charles II and sent (1672) as a prisoner to England on complaints of piracy, he was never imprisoned or punished, but instead soon became a hero, was knighted (1673), and named lieutenant governor of Jamaica, where he spent the rest of his life and was acting governor (1680-82).

Bibliography: See biographies by P. Lindsay (1950), H. R. Allen (1976), D. Pope (1978), and T. Breverton (2005); studies by J. Ure (1983), S. M. Petrovich (2001), P. Earle (1982 and 2007), and S. Talty (2007).

Morgan, Sir Henry (1635–88) Welsh adventurer in the Caribbean. He led a band of buccaneers against Spanish colonies and ships, capturing and looting Panama (1671). In 1672, he was sent back to England on a charge of piracy, but was greeted as a hero and returned to the West Indies with a knighthood as lieutenant governor of Jamaica.

Morgan, Sir Henry (c.1635–88) Welsh BUCCANEER, the scourge of Spanish settlements and shipping in the Caribbean between the 1660s and 1680s. Although he had semi-official employment as a privateer, he was little more than a pirate. Among his exploits were the capture and ransom of Porto Bello (1668), the sacking of Maracaibo (1669), and the taking of Chagres and Panama (1670–71). Although knighted and appointed lieutenant-governor of Jamaica in 1674, he continued to encourage piracy and lawlessness. He was disgraced in 1683 but restored just before his death.