Famous People Henry Morgan

Henry Morgan was born around 1653 (that’s about 355 years ago). He was born in Wales.

Henry and Oliver Cromwell Henry Morgan was a “privateer”. This meant he was paid by the country to help police the seas. Britain was in charge of countries all over the world. As a result we didn’t have enough sailors to do the job to keep them safe.

“Pirates” tried not to fight at sea because they were very difficult with the boats moving on the water. Also if a ship sank, so did it’s treasure!

Henry and Mary Elizabeth Henry was involved in the capture of the island of Jamaica. Whilst he was there me met Mary Elizabeth and married her. They never had any children.

1663 Henry set off for New Spain with 4 other captains. They landed and marched 50 miles to attack a town. When they went back to their ships they found out that the Spanish had stolen them.

So they had to steal 2 Spanish ships and 4 canoes. They sailed 500 miles until they landed again. They attacked the town of Granada. They returned to Jamaica very rich.

Henry Morgan was unlucky. One of his ships exploded under him when one of his drunken sailors put a candle near the gunpowder. Once his ship hit a reef and he had to be rescued off a rock.

In 1670 Henry Morgan gathered a fleet of 36 ships and 1800 men. In a meeting with his men, they decided to attack the Spanish town of Panama. Which was very rich in gold, silver and cloth. To get there they went through thick jungle and over high mountains.

In 1671 Panama was captured. Henry Morgan would have gained £1,000 (in those days £50 was a small fortune). But on returning to Jamaica he was arrested because Britain was beginning to be friendly with Spain.

Henry Morgan was chained up and put on a ship for England. However by the time he arrived England and Spain were not friendly and he never went to jail. Three years later he gave the King some ideas about how to defend Jamaica. The King Charles II made him a knight – Sir Henry Morgan.

Henry Morgan went back to Jamaica and was in-charge for many years. He liked to drink and sit around talking to his sailing mates. He died swollen and yellow in 1688.