Under the Black Flag

by David Cordingly

  Once again Morgan returned to Port Royal in triumph, though the plunder was on a smaller scale than previously and, according to one reliable authority, amounted to half the booty from the Portobello raid.15 While the buccaneers repaired to the taverns to spend their loot, Morgan reported to the Governor, Sir Thomas Modyford. He learned that Modyford had just received a letter from Lord Arlington informing him that hostilities with Spain must stop. This was bad news for the buccaneers, but for Morgan it provided a breathing space. It gave him the opportunity to spend time with his wife, to look up his many friends and relations in Jamaica, and to buy some real estate. He had already bought one plantation and he now purchased 836 acres in the parish of Clarendon near Chapelton village. The area is still called Morgan’s Valley today.

  At around the time that the news reached Jamaica that there must be no more raids against Spanish ships or settlements, the Governor of Cartagena received a letter from the Queen of Spain authorizing war against the English in the Indies. The challenge was taken up by a Portuguese corsair called Captain Rivero, who raided the Cayman Islands and then attacked a Jamaican privateer ship off Cuba. In June 1670 he landed thirty men at Montego Bay on Jamaica’s north coast and destroyed most of the houses in the settlement. A month later he raided a coastal village on the south coast and burned two houses. Rivero was never a serious threat to Jamaica, but his attacks naturally provoked demands for retaliation. News then came from the Dutch Governor of Curaçao that Spain had officially declared war on Jamaica. The Council of Jamaica assembled and agreed that “a commission be granted to Admiral Henry Morgan to be Admiral and Commander in Chief of all the ships of war belonging to this harbour,”16 and authorizing him to assemble a fleet “and to attack, seize and destroy all the enemy’s vessels that shall come within his reach.” He also had authority to land in the enemy’s country and to take and destroy anything that would “tend to the preservation and quiet of this island.”

  Morgan received his commission on August 1, 1670, and once again sailed to Isla Vaca to rendezvous with the buccaneers. By the end of September no less than thirty-eight ships and around two thousand men had joined Morgan’s flagship. On December 12, 1670, a council of war was held aboard the flagship, and it was agreed that the city of Panama was to be the target. A week later the biggest buccaneer fleet ever seen in the Caribbean set sail and headed for San Lorenzo at the mouth of the river Chagres. The castle at the river entrance put up a fierce resistance, and it took three assaults and the loss of many men before it was captured. Not till the English flag was flying over the battlements could Morgan’s fleet sail past the silenced guns and head upriver. When they were several miles upstream, the buccaneers transferred into small boats and canoes. These took them a few miles further, but then it was time to leave the river and begin the march through the jungle.

  Panama was the principal treasure port on the Pacific coast of Central America for the gold and silver which was brought by ship from Peru and Potosí. It had a population of around six thousand, most of whom were black slaves. The President of the city’s council (Audiencia) was Don Juan Pérez de Guzmán, who had made strenuous efforts to improve Panama’s defenses. He had ensured that there was a good supply of weapons and ammunition and had done his best to increase the city’s garrison. When Morgan and his men emerged from the jungle and onto the plain in front of Panama, they saw that Don Juan had stationed his troops across the road so that they blocked the way into the city. There were about twelve hundred defenders on foot and some four hundred horsemen, but the majority of them were inexperienced recruits and were no match for Morgan’s battle-hardened buccaneers.

  At 7:00 A.M. on January 28, 1671, Morgan gave the order for his men to advance. They were in four squadrons and carried red and green banners which billowed out in the fresh breeze blowing across the plain. As he approached the waiting army, Morgan decided that a frontal assault would be costly and therefore ordered one of his squadrons to wheel aside and capture the hill to the right of the city. Don Juan’s men thought the buccaneers were retreating and charged forward; the Spanish horsemen also charged. The buccaneers, finding themselves facing a disorganized rabble of men and horses, stood their ground and fired with deadly accuracy into the advancing hordes. The leading horses were shot down by French sharpshooters who were in the buccaneer vanguard, and the surviving horsemen turned around and headed back to Panama. The men on foot were at the mercy of a devastating volley from the main body of the buccaneers, which killed around a hundred men and caused the remainder to turn tail and run. Don Juan’s secret weapon had been two herds of oxen which were to be stampeded toward the buccaneers by black cowboys. The oxen lumbered onto the battlefield, but were simply shooed away by the buccaneers and sent back to the city. Morgan’s men now charged at the fleeing army, hacking and slashing their way across the plain. By midmorning some five hundred men lay dead or wounded under the tropical sun. The buccaneers lost only fifteen men in the action.

  Don Juan had made sure that if the battle was lost, the buccaneers would be left with an empty city. Much of Panama’s treasure had been loaded onto ships while Morgan’s men were still hacking their way through the jungle. Barrels of gunpowder had been placed in many of the houses, and the captain of artillery had orders to blow up the ammunition store if the buccaneers advanced on the city. As the fleeing army ran through the streets, the captain lit the fuses and the resulting blast could be heard six miles away. The gunpowder barrels were then ignited, and as they exploded, they began the fires which would soon burn most of the buildings to the ground. For several hours there was chaos as angry buccaneers ran from house to house looking for gold and valuables, and blacks darted here and there with flaming torches, carrying out Don Juan’s orders to set fire to all the wooden buildings. By nightfall the whole of the central part of the city was in flames, and by morning only the stone tower of the cathedral and some of the public buildings built of stone were still standing.

  “Thus was consumed the famous and ancient city of Panama, the greatest mart for silver and gold in the whole world,”17 wrote Morgan in his report to Modyford. His men searched the smoking ruins and the surrounding countryside for treasure, and even raided the islands which lay offshore. The inhabitants were savagely tortured to reveal where they had hidden their money, and by the end of February a considerable pile of plunder had been assembled. Morgan gathered his army and headed back through the jungle to his ships. According to Exquemelin, the buccaneers took with them 175 mules loaded with silver plate and coin, and six hundred prisoners. Morgan later reported that the total value of their plunder was £30,000. When divided among so many men, this amounted to little more than £15 per head. There was much anger, and many of the buccaneers suspected Morgan of cheating them out of their share. Exquemelin was among the disappointed buccaneers, and this may explain why he painted such a black picture of Morgan and portrayed him as a cruel and unscrupulous villain.

  When the English edition of Exquemelin’s book was printed in London by two publishers, Morgan was sent copies and decided to sue both publishers for libel. He was particularly outraged at being called a pirate, and strongly objected to the passage which said that he had first gone out to the West Indies as an indentured servant. He insisted that he “never was a servant to anybody in his life, unless to his Majesty.”18 The matter was settled out of court. Subsequent editions were amended and Morgan received £200 damages in the King’s Bench Court against each of the publishers. Unfortunately for Morgan, the earlier editions continued to circulate and are still quoted today in many histories of piracy.

  Morgan hurried home to Jamaica, leaving the buccaneers to disperse in different directions. Most of the French contingent, who made up nearly one third of the army, returned to Hispaniola and the offshore island of Tortuga. Many buccaneers headed north along the coast to Honduras and the Bay of Campeche to join the growing settlements of logwood cutters. Some followed Morgan to Jamaica and joined the crew of trading sloops
or fishing boats, or settled down to a more peaceful life ashore. The sack of Panama was the last major action of the buccaneers. Piracy continued, of course, and was to become an increasing menace to trade in the West Indies, but the pirates who followed in the wake of Morgan were freelance raiders who attacked the ships of all nationalities and rarely carried commissions authorizing their activities.

  News of the Panama expedition was well received in Jamaica. “I think we are pretty well revenged for their burning our houses on ye north and south side of this island,”19 wrote Modyford’s brother with masterly understatement, and the Council of Jamaica met on June 10, 1671, and publicly thanked Morgan for carrying out his commission. The authorities in London were not so pleased. In spite of the Queen of Spain’s letter of April 1669 and the subsequent raids by Spanish corsairs, England was officially at peace with Spain. Sir Thomas Modyford had no authority from London to issue a commission to Morgan giving him carte blanche to attack and destroy anything in reach. The Spanish authorities in the New World and in Madrid were humiliated and outraged by the destruction of Panama. The news threw the Queen of Spain “in such a distemper and excesse of weeping and violent passion as those about her feared it might shorten her life.”20

  The British endeavored to distance themselves from “ye late accident in America” by blaming it all on a bunch of privateers who had got out of hand. It was decided that Modyford must be replaced as Governor, and Sir Thomas Lynch was sent out in his stead with secret orders to arrest Modyford and send him back England. On his arrival in London, Modyford was sent to the Tower of London. This was clearly a propaganda exercise to appease the Spanish. He was treated like a gentleman, and after two years’ confinement was allowed to rejoin London society; eventually he was sent back to Jamaica as Chief Justice. The Spanish were not appeased and continued to demand that the British take action against the infamous corsair who had led the attack on Panama. In April 1672 Henry Morgan was arrested and sent home to England in the frigate HMS Welcome. He had been very ill with fever for several months and there was much sympathy for his plight. Even Lynch wrote on his behalf: “To speak the truth of him, he’s an honest, brave fellow, and had both Sir T. M. and the Council’s commission and instructions.…”21 Morgan spent two years in London waiting to learn his fate. He was never imprisoned and was free to visit friends and relations. He used his time well, and was even asked by Lord Arlington to submit a memorandum to the King on how the defenses of Jamaica might be improved.

  Governor Lynch had been sending a constant stream of letters to London. He was worried by the increasing activities of pirates, and was concerned that the French might attempt an attack on Jamaica. It was felt that he was no longer the right man for the job, and in January 1674 Lord Arlington informed the Council of Trade and Plantations that Lynch was being replaced as Governor of Jamaica by Lord Vaughan. He was to be assisted by Henry Morgan, who was to be appointed to the post of Lieutenant Governor. Before he left England, Morgan was given a knighthood by King Charles II. Whether this was conferred on him because of the dignity of his new office or in recognition of his exploits against the Spanish is not clear. Certainly he had many friends at court, and was widely admired as a brilliant and courageous commander.

  Morgan traveled out to the West Indies on the ship Jamaica Merchant and was shipwrecked on the shores of Isla Vaca, the place he had used as a rendezvous before the attacks on Maracaibo and Panama. Everyone got ashore safely in the boats, but the Jamaica Merchant sank, taking to the bottom the cannon which Morgan was bringing with him to boost the defenses of Port Royal. Before too long the passengers and crew of the wrecked ship were picked up by a passing merchant ship and taken to Jamaica, where they landed on March 6, 1676.

  The qualities which made Morgan such an effective buccaneer leader were not those required in the role of Lieutenant Governor. He attended meetings of the Assembly, acquired more land, and spent much of his time supervising his estates. He did not get on well with Lord Vaughan, who complained of his “imprudence and unfitness to have anything to do with the civil government”22 and his habit of drinking and gaming in the taverns of Port Royal. But he came into his own when Vaughan was recalled and he was left as Acting Governor. A powerful French fleet commanded by Comte d’Estrées was reported off Curaçao and was considered a serious threat to Jamaica. Morgan declared martial law, mobilized the militia, and ordered the building of two new forts to guard the approaches to Port Royal harbor. He also sent a ship to Isla Vaca to recover the guns and shot from the wrecked Jamaica Merchant. The salvage operation succeeded in raising twenty-two guns, which were brought back to Port Royal and mounted in an emplacement which was called “Morgan’s Lines.”

  When Hans Sloane came out to Jamaica in 1687 with the newly appointed Governor, the Duke of Albemarle, he found Morgan seriously ill and wrecked by years of dissolute living and the unpleasant effects of dropsy. He prescribed various medicines, which seemed to work well, but Morgan continued to indulge in gargantuan drinking bouts with his friends. “Falling after into his old course of life and not taking any advice to the contrary, his belly swelled so as not to be contained in his coat.”23 Morgan consulted a black doctor who plastered him all over with clay and water, and gave him clysters of urine, “but he languished and, his cough augmenting, died soon after.”

  The harbor at Nassau is a long stretch of shimmering blue water which lies between the wharves lining the town’s waterfront and a low offshore island of sandy beaches and palm trees. Today the harbor welcomes cruise ships and visiting yachts, but in the eighteenth century it provided a sheltered anchorage for small trading vessels and the occasional man-of-war. It was also a well-known refuge and meeting place for pirates. On August 22, 1720, a dozen pirates rowed out to a single-masted sailing vessel which was anchored in the middle of the channel. The vessel was a twelve-ton sloop called the William, which was owned by a local man, Captain John Ham. She had four guns on her broad, sun-bleached decks, and two swivel guns mounted on her rails. She was well equipped with ammunition and spare gear, and had a canoe lying alongside which was used as a tender.1 The pirates climbed on board, heaved up the anchor, and set the sails. They were soon clear of the other vessels in the anchorage and heading out to sea in the stolen sloop. Thefts of this type were not uncommon in the Caribbean, but a keen-eyed observer might have noticed something about the pirate crew which was unusual. Although they were dressed in men’s jackets and long seamen’s trousers, two of the pirates were women.

  The leader of the pirates was John Rackam, a bold and somewhat reckless character whose colorful clothes had earned him the nickname of Calico Jack.2 He was fond of women, and it was said that he kept a harem of mistresses on the coast of Cuba. He had been quartermaster in Captain Vane’s pirate company, but in November 1718 he had challenged his captain’s decision not to attack a French frigate in the Windward Passage. The crew branded Vane a coward and elected Rackam as captain in his place. Taking command of Vane’s ship, he proceeded to plunder a succession of small vessels in the seas around Jamaica. There is no record of Calico Jack using torture or murder, and he seems to have gone out of his way to treat his victims with restraint. When he had finished looting a Madeira ship, he returned the vessel to her master and arranged for Hosea Tisdale, a Jamaican tavern keeper, to be given a passage home. Compared to Bartholomew Roberts and Blackbeard, who commanded forty-gun warships and sailed into action with a flotilla of supporting vessels, Calico Jack was a small-time pirate. He preferred to operate with a modest sloop, and he restricted his attacks to small fishing boats and local trading ships. His chief claim to fame lay not in his exploits during his two years as a pirate captain but in his association with the female pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny, whose lives were considerably more adventurous and interesting than his own.

  Calico Jack met Anne Bonny in New Providence. He had sailed to the island in May 1719 to take advantage of the amnesty being offered by the Governor of the Bahamas. He accepted the r
oyal pardon and for a while abandoned his life as a pirate. While frequenting the taverns on the waterfront at Nassau, he came across Anne Bonny and proceeded to court her in the same direct manner he used when attacking a ship: “no time wasted, straight up alongside, every gun brought to play, and the prize boarded.”3 He persuaded her to abandon her sailor husband and took her to sea with him. When she became pregnant, he took her to his friends in Cuba, and there she had their child. As soon as she was up and about, Calico Jack sent for her and she rejoined his crew, dressed as usual in men’s clothes. He had taken up piracy again, and it was around this time that Mary Read joined his crew. She too was dressed as a man, and had been sailing on a merchant ship which he had captured. Anne Bonny found herself strongly attracted to the new member of the pirate crew, and in a quiet moment when they were alone she revealed herself as a woman. Mary Read, “knowing what she would be at, and being sensible of her own capacity in that way, was forced to come to a right understanding with her, and so to the great disappointment of Anne Bonny, she let her know that she was a woman also.”4 To avoid any further misunderstandings, Calico Jack was let into the secret.

  By the summer of 1720 they were all back in New Providence, and were evidently well known to the authorities there. When they stole the sloop William from Nassau harbor, the Governor had no doubt about their identities. On September 5 he issued a proclamation which set out the details of the sloop and gave the names of Rackam and his associates. The list included “two women, by name, Ann Fulford alias Bonny and Mary Read.” The proclamation declared that “the said John Rackum and his said Company are hereby proclaimed Pirates and Enemies to the Crown of Great Britain, and are to be so treated and Deem’d by all his Majesty’s subjects.”5