If there's a success story among pirates, it belongs to this guy. To be entirely accurate, he wasn't, strictly speaking, a pirate, but rather a privateer, holding a Letter of Marque from the English Crown to act as an independent commerce raider.
Henry Morgan was born in Wales and arrived in Jamaica in 1658 where his uncle was Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica. Thereupon he began a career as a privateer. The Spanish, who owned much of the land in the West Indies, treated any foreigners that they discovered in their waters as pirates. The English felt that force would convince the Spanish to open their colonial ports. There was also collusion in the privateering trade from both the Crown of England and the Admiralty, who both received a share of the prizes taken at sea.
Morgan operated with considerable success, raiding in Central America and throughout the Carribbean to the great benefit of the Jamaican economy. In a hugely successful mission capturing ten ships and five hundred men, Morgan attacked Cuba, then captured and ransacked Puerto Principe, and followed it up by sacking Portobello in Panama. The total plunder of Portobello was eighty thousand pounds, about half the value of Barbados sugar exports. The governor of Panama tried to expel Morgan, and eventually agreed to pay him twenty five thousand pounds to evacuate Panama.
This was well beyond the scope of Morgans original commission, but Morgan received a half-hearted reproof for his actions. He continued his campaigns against the Spanish, raiding Cuba, sacking Maracaibo and in true piratical fashion, torturing the residents of Gibraltar on Lake Maracaibo to discover hidden treasure.
Rather than being cast as a criminal, as his pirate sucessors would have been, Morgan was made commander-in-chief of all the warships in Jamaica. In 1671, in his most famous exploit, he led a campaign in Panama. Despite a difficult approach to the city, which saw Morgans men march without food for four days, they found that the city badly defended and easily defeated a rag-tag militia while sustaining miniscule losses. The citizens fled, burning the city, and thereby reducing Morgan's take. On his return to Port Royal he was officially thanked, despite the fact that his actions had violated a peace treaty between England and Spain.
Morgan's luck changed, however, when a new Governor of Jamaica, Sir Thomas Lynch, sent both the previous governor and Morgan to England under arrest. Morgan was imprisoned for two years then released without trial for any offence. He was received at court and knighted, before being appointed lieutenant-governor of Jamaica. He returned to the Caribbean in January 1675, and from that point on took a passive role in the privateering taking place from Jamaica.
In 1681, his fortunes worsened again and he was dismissed as governor, replaced by his old nemesis Thomas Lynch. Morgan died in 1688, probably of liver failure, caused by his excessive drinking. Morgan had built a large fortune his years in office owning 3 plantations, 122 black slaves, and amassing a personal wealth of around 5250.
Morgans bloodthirsty reputation, whilst clearly well deserved, was contributed to by the publication of De Americaensche Zee-Roovers (History of the Bouccaneers of America) by Alexandre Exquemelin. Although Morgan successfully brought a libel suit against Exquemelin, the tales of Morgans exploits established his place in the annals of pirate history.
Whether pirate, buccaneer, privateer or politician, this was the kind of Welshman who made other inhabitants of the British Isles keep an eye on their money.
