Pirates 7: Pirates For Hire

then a place to colonize. By the mid seventeenth century, all of that had changed. As their power grew, the English, French and Dutch began to look to the America's and the Caribbean for colony expansion. The islands contained precious metals and a bounty of valuable goods, and naturally this spurred a conflict among the nations who wanted to control them.

England's Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell sent us special force to overtake Hispaniola, headed by experienced captains Richard Venables and William Penn in a bid for power, thousands of troops and eighteen warships converged on the area in April of sixteen fifty five, the endeavor failed. Instead of returning home unsuccessful, though the captains set their sights on Jamaica, this time

they were victorious. While the captains left the island, many of their men stayed behind to start colonies and build forts in their new found paradise. But paradise had a downside. They had arrived in May, Spring gave way to summer, and the unrelenting heat forced colonists to change their way of life. Wool gave way to more practical attire. They avoided hard work during the hottest parts of the day. The volcanoes spewed noxious sulfur steam, and storms thrashed the island,

often for weeks at a time. Diseases they had never encountered before wiped out much of the settlement. Cramped and poorly built houses reminiscent of England worst slums lined the streets, and people empty chamber pots. In a centralized spot not far from Port Royal, the overwhelming stench reached the noses of sailors entering harbor, and then the pirates and buccaneers came. The size of the ports and prime location for raiding Spanish vessels, made the area a base for pirates, buccaneers,

and unscrupulous traders. Authorities profited from illicit activities. Port Royal thrived before long. Taverns and brothels made up nearly a fifth of the port's business. Drunken pirates stumbled through the streets with a woman on each arm. Some men spent upwards of three thousand pieces of eight for a single night at a brothel. By nine estimates put half the town earning a living from the pirate trade, while the

port harbored immense wealth. Visitors likened Jamaica to assess Pool as wicked as the devil and hotter than Hell itself. The pirates reign in Port Royal had already started a slow descent. Peace treaties and legal action began to take their toll. The death knell occurred twenty minutes before noon on June seven. That's when an earthquake struck, followed by more minor quakes. Buildings toppled, and the sea reclaimed the dock on the northern side of the port. The bree

trapped roughly a thousand people. The tsunami swept others away. The quake claimed two thousand lives. Another couple of thousand perished from injuries or illness in the weeks that followed, and then in seventeen a second earthquake hit and the survivors abandoned town, which is why the only things left in Port Royal's harbor today our legends. I'm Aaron Manky and welcome two pirates. When we talk about pirates and

the Caribbean, we often hear about the Spanish Maine. Early on, that meant any mainland or coastal waters around Spanish controlled territory. Toward the end of the Golden Age of piracy, buccaneers used the term to include regions in the Caribbean Sea, except for the Lesser Antilles. During the late fifteenth century,

Spain controlled much of the Caribbean and South America. Ships laden with precious metals and stones brought in great wealth, So much wealth, in fact, that European countries took notice. The English, the Dutch, and French had settlers that moved to the area, hoping to stake acclaim on both land and treasure. To further slow Spain's colonization and tremendous wealth. The country's captured Spanish controlled islands. Sugar and tobacco crops

in Jamaica brought in considerable cash. Hiring privateers to raid Spanish trading ships also became a profitable business. Of course, the new colonies needed protection from other countries and the swarms of pirates looking to take advantage of their riches. In the late sixteen nineties, pirates, buccaneers and privateers found the Spanish main a luke of hunting ground. Often their names seem interchangeable, though there are some differences. Pirates operated

under their own laws and were not government sanctioned. The crew kept bounties for themselves and hunted wherever and on whomever they wished. They sailed on ships that they either owned or stole, and although they occasionally raided towns, they mostly kept their attacks on vessels at sea. Buccaneers, on the other hand, focused on Spanish ships and towns. For the most part, they only operated in the Caribbean. They were more mercenaries, happy to help attack the Spanish who

had once ruled and mistreated them. Now most buccaneers consisted of English, Dutch, Portuguese and frenchmen who found themselves on Hispaniola. For one reason, or the other. Some had escaped servitude and others had survived shipwrecks. The Spanish considered them squatters and ordered bloody raids to rid them from their land. But as their numbers grew, the buccaneers hatred of the Spanish and the need for revenge showed in their violent

and awful brutal raids. As you might imagine, this caused the governments who hired them plenty of headaches. Politically speaking, of course, privateers were essentially government sanctioned pirates who sailed on privately owned ships, usually during times of war. They received government authorization to conduct raids in the form of a letter of mark. The privateers provided their country with captured warships and treasures, and the attacks hindered the opposing

country's wealth. The cruise and the ship owner received a portion of the bounty, though the rest went to the commissioning government. Privateers typically considered themselves patriots, abstaining from attacking ships from their own country. Harassing other country ships didn't bring them esteem, though most saw privateers as nothing more than sanctioned pirates, especially those on the receiving end of their raids, and a great example is a guy named

Henry Morgan. Although he served as a privateer, the Spanish denounced him as a pirate. In reality, Morgan walked the line between both private year and buccaneer, and like some privateers, he didn't behave much better than pirates and often worse. You see, buccaneers often tortured their victims. Beatings, lighting fuses between their toes and fingers, nearly choking them with cords, among other forms, served to strike fear among the Spanish.

Torture served a few purposes for them. The Spanish became more likely to surrender without a fight and to give up information quickly. They also tortured prisoners for revenge and for sport. The use of privateers or buccaneers after peace treaties stems mainly from a colony's lack of funding. Without money, supplies, and proper military might, settlements employed privateers to fund and protect their colonies. Of course, this caused plenty of diplomatic

conflicts between countries. Back in Europe. During the sixteen hundreds, the buccaneers grew large enough to create their own society, referred to as the Brethren of the Coast. Like pirates, they lived by a set of rules. At first, they operated out of Hispaniola, eventually expanding to Tortuga. Over time, their numbers increased, putting fear into any Spanish ship sailing.

The Caribbean. Buccaneers became so successful that they changed the course of history, turning the tide of power and wealth away from the Spanish. But the most famous buccaneer of all time is forever linked with one thing, in particular, spiced rum. Scholars place Henry Morgan's birth sometime around six His parents were Welsh farmers. He had two uncles, Major General Sir Thomas Morgan, who served in the English Civil War, and Colonel Edward Morgan, who became Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica.

There are different accounts of how Morgan ended up in Jamaica. He may have sought opportunity. Others say that the teenaged Morgan had been aboard Pen's failed mission to capture his Spaniola and the eventual successful capture of Jamaica. However, he arrived, he found work with buccaneering crews. Morgan's tenacity during raids moved him through the ranks to captain. In sixteen sixty two, Jamaica's governor granted him a license as a privateer captain.

Morgan successfully led attacks on Via Rmosa and Grand Granada. He returned to Jamaica in sixteen sixty five with substantial plunder. With his share of the bounty, he bought a plantation and wed Mary, his cousin. Instead of settling down, Morgan continued to raid and attack the Spanish, with the governor's blessing. Of course, the governor was also a close friend. Over the next few years, his attacks made him exceptionally wealthy, and he bought more plantations. The governor appointed him the

commander of the militia group, the Port Royal Volunteers. Morgan also became the Admiral of the Brethren of the Coast. He continued taking prizes from the Spanish, and, just as importantly, to Jamaica's government, he collected intel. When the governor received word that the Spanish plan to attack, Morgan doubled his efforts. His methods solidified him as highly creative and intelligent, and one of the most brutal captains on the island. He and his fleet of a dozen ships left Jamaica in

sixty eight. During their travel, he learned two things. The Spanish had begun to gather forces in Cuba, and information about a critical Spanish port. Heavily guarded ships loaded with gold and silver made the Spanish Harbor one of the most formidable fortresses in the Caribbean. Castles flanked both sides of the bay. The San Felipe Castle typically housed a hundred men and twelve guns, while Santiago Castle housed two men with thirty two guns. And Morgan's intel provided him

with critical knowledge. You see, the men who served in those castles hadn't been paid in well over a year. Many had left entirely, leaving the fortresses with just one thirty men on watch. And while the governor hadn't granted him the authority to attack the Spanish on land, Morgan reasoned that a raid could gain them additional informational detail. Oh and while he was at it, he might as well plunder Port a Bellows immense treasure. Morgan loaded five

men into canoes and rowed ashore around midnight. Just before dawn, the men arrived at Port de Bella. His crew quickly overtook the five guards at the outpost. Gunfire jostled the residence awake. Morgan's men stormed towards Santiago Castle, fully expecting gunfire. To their surprise, a single cannon ball plopped harmlessly into the sea behind them, and only one guard fired a shot. It hit no one. The buccaneers then split up. One group took their position on a hill, aiming with long

barreled muskets at the soldiers below. The other group ran through town, killing anyone who resisted and forcing the rest into a church. With a town under their control, Morgan and his men turned their focus on capturing the treasure. At first, soldiers at the yet unfinished fort of San Geronimo refused to surrender. Morgan's men simply waded through the shallow water and overtook them anyway. Santiago Castle proved more difficult.

Morgan gathered the mayor and an assortment of nuns, friars, women, and older men to walk in front of them as they approached. A single gunshot and one cannon fire injured a resident and killed another buccaneer, but that was all the resistance. His men found ladders and used them to gain entry. They killed forty five of the eighties soldiers inside the constable of artillery. Ashamed of the troop's failure to defend the castle begged Morgan's men to kill him.

They obliged and took the others as prisoners. After raiding the castle, the men took to eating and drinking in excess for the remainder of the day. The following morning, the men advanced on San Felipe Castle. After a short standoff, two hundred buccaneers attacked the castle. Morgan had taken all three castles, the port, and the town. He wrote to Panama's president demanding a hefty ransom or he would burn

the city to ash. Although it took weeks of negotiations and a few skirmishes, the president paid up, and with it Morgan had pulled off one of the most impressive land and sea operations of the entire century. Morgan and his crew arrived in Jamaica to a hero's welcome. They spent weeks drinking, eating, gambling, and partaking in brothels until they were broke. Despite the peace treaty between England and Spain, Morgan called for buccaneers to meet on a lavaca off

the coast of Hispaniola. Ten ships and eight hundred men, including French buccaneers from Tortuga joined him. The h MS Oxford also arrived. Officially, England sent the warship to quell piracy. Unofficially, the captain related instructions that granted the Jamaican governor the power to do whatever was necessary regarding raids on Spanish vessels and towns. Morgan transferred his flag to the Oxford, and after holding council, all agreed to target the city

of Cartagena. A celebration followed, which included drinking and the firing of the Oxford's guns and for Sinnately, gunpowder in one of the magazines caught fire. The explosion killed two hundred and fifty men. Rescue crews pulled ten survivors to safety, including Henry Morgan. Without the Oxford and a severe reduction in men, Morgan scratched plans to attack Cartagena and headed to Aruba for supplies and provisions. On March nine, they arrived at Laguna de Maracaibo, a poorly manned port that

made for an easy victory. The buccaneers raided the nearby towns and seaports and imprisoned hundreds of residents. Allegedly, Morgan's men tortured prisoners to extract the locations of even more treasure. In response, Don Alonzo de Campos, an admiral with Spain's West Indian fleet, sailed to Maracaibo with three warships to block Morgan's escape. Outmanned and outgunned, the Buccaneers set to work disguising a Cuban merchant ship as one of their own.

They painted logs to resemble cannons and poked them through holes cut to look like gunports. Men loaded barrels of gunpowder onto the deck, and then, in a scene pulled straight from some lost episode of the nineteen eighties classic The A Team, they transferred Morgan's flag to the ship, and then sailed to the Magdalena, the largest of the Spanish vessels. Using grappling hooks, they tethered the two ships together.

Campos ordered a boarding party to capture Morgan's men. However, they found that the Buccaneers had not only left in canoes, but they'd also lit the fuses on those barrels of gunpowder. A moment later, the Magdalena erupted into flames. As Morgan's men rowed back to their ship. The second Spanish ship stranded itself on a sandbar. Morgan and the crew chased down the last of Campos ships and captured it, but

they weren't in the clear just yet. They still had to get out of the lagoon, and the fort that was guarding the way had been refitted with more soldiers, preventing an exit. Morgan led the guards to believe that he planned an assault by land. With the guard's attention elsewhere, Morgan pulled anchor in the middle of the night and safely drifted out to sea. The crew received another hero's welcome up on arriving home, but all was not well.

Governor Thomas Modiford had received word from England insisting that Jamaica stop all hostilities with Spain. The news devastated the crew, who had spent all their money at the taverns and brothels, but the mandate was an opportunity for Morgan, who had saved his share. He bought more plantations and spent more time with his wife, his family, and his friends. Meanwhile, the Queen of Spain authorized letters of mark against English ships.

Modiford also learned that Spain had declared war on Jamaica. To prepare for what was to come, Morgan received another letter of mark and the title of Admiral and commander in chief. By October of sixteen seventy, he had commissioned thirty eight ships and a couple of thousand men. He chose legendary Panama City, with all its treasures of gold and silver, as his first target. The task would not be easy, though Council President Don Juan Perez de Guzman

had heavily fortified the city. Morgan and his crew traveled up river and proceeded on foot through a dense jungle. When they reached Panama City, nearly six hundred soldiers blocked their path, But these defenders proved less battle season than Morgan's own men, and by noon, five hundred of Don juan soldiers lay dead. Don Juan had also moved the treasures before Morgan's men arrived, and rigged the homes with gunpowder. The explosions tore apart the city, leaving just a stone

tower and a few buildings standing. The buccaneers divided what little treasure they could find and then parted ways. Morgan returned to Jamaica. Unfortunately, he was temporarily arrested and sent to England due to political fallout. Morgan prevailed, though King Charles eventually knighted him for his efforts. He returned to

Jamaica and became lieutenant governor and even acting governor. Henry Morgan died in sixteen eighty eight while still in his early fifties, and for all his raids and buccaneer behavior as governor, he helped curtail piracy and rebuild Jamaica's reputation from a pirate den to a booming economy. We have romanticized pirates over the years, occasionally likening them to a robin hood of the sea, and while that's not accurate, it's easily understood. For England, out of sight, out of

mind rang true. But without funding, colonists found themselves needing lots of support, medicines to combat tropical illnesses, help with Spain constantly rating English ships or attacking outposts, so hiring buccaneers who hated Spain made political and financial sense. Pirates helped the colonies to survive and even thrive. The service came at a cost, though, pirates and buccaneers lived a more seed life, making places like Port Royal appear more

like a slum than a tropical paradise. Henry Morgan helped perpetuate the notoriety of pirate infested cities, and in his later years he did try to work to clean up Jamaica's reputation. Despite his brutality and former buccaneering ways, Morgan died a seafaring celebrity, earning him a twenty two guns salute. That's one more than the average military funeral. When the earthquake of two struck, the sea reclaimed Morgan's body one last time. Today, we look upon his escapades and call

him a pirate. Since Morgan worked for the Jamaican government and operated while he had a letter of mark that made him a privateer instead. But as raids on land and solely on Spanish vessels also qualified him as a buccaneer, perhaps we could safely call him a privateering buccaneer, more in line with many buccaneers. His brutal tactics were not as common among most pirates. In fact, Morgan despised being

called one. Not only did he angrily object to the title of pirates, but he also sued to London publishers for printing articles that depicted him as one. Morgan won the lawsuits and publishers paid out damages to the tune of two pounds, but the damage to his reputation was already done. Today, many sources still quote those publishers early editions. Of course, when we think of the captain, we also think of spiced rum. But that's a misconception that needs

clearing up. You see, rum was a British Island liquor, and the ships that Morgan raided were Spanish. Those ships you see didn't carry rum. It's ironic, really. While Captain Morgan was indeed a heavy drinker, it's not likely that he drank much rum, spiced or otherwise. He and his men most likely stumbled upon an entirely different beverage during the course of their raids, Madeira wine, which admittedly doesn't

taste nearly as good in a glass of cola. Buccaneers were brutal parts of the pirate world, and I hope today's exploration of their world helps shed better light on Captain Henry Morgan and his exploits. But we're not finished just yet. My shipmates, Alie Steed has one more buccaneering adventure to share with you. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. Buccaneer Bartholemew Sharp was probably born in England sometime in the mid seventeenth century.

While in his early twenties, he served as a privateer during the Third Anglo Dutch War. Sometime between sixteen seventy two and sixteen seventy four. He and his crewmates attacked Dutch ships sailing in the Leeward Islands. At some point he worked his way up to captain. When the war ended, Sharp found himself out of the job, along with scores of other privateers whose letters of mark had been revoked.

With work scarce, he joined the ranks of other buccaneers such as John Coxon, Richard Skins, William Dampierre, and Basil ring Rose. On a perfectly fine autumn day in sixteen seventy nine, the newly banded fleet of buccaneers sailed into the Bay of Honduras. The raid of merchant ships and several storehouses netted them a bounty of cacao, indigo, money, and other valuables. In mid January sixteen eighty the men hunted together again, this time under the command of Admiral

John Coxon. The men voted to attack Portobello just as Morgan had done years before. When they drew closer, the fleet decided to anchor and continue their journey on foot in order to avoid detection, but a young boy spotted them in the jungle. He ran to town and alerted the residence, but the townsfolk dismissed him a mistake they'd soon regret. The assault on February seventh was swift and brutal.

The buccaneers plundered a sizable amount of silver, and the next evening they set sail to Boccaste Toro to divide the bounty and meet with a couple other captains. When they later regrouped at the Golden Island, Coxon told the others he intended to follow in Morgan's footsteps and head to Panama. Sharp and over three hundred and thirty men began their trek across the land towards their target. During their journey, they came across a tribe of Cuna Indians

who aired to the buccaneers hatred of the Spanish. The chief added two hundred and fifty warriors to their mission in retaliation for several Spaniards assaulting his daughter. After raiding Santa Maria, they took to the sea, capturing several ships, including the Trinidad Coxon headed to the Caribbean, while Sakins and Sharps sailed towards South America's Pacific coast. During a raid on Pueblo Nuevo, Sawkins was killed and the crew

voted for Sharp to replace him as captain. News of the growing fleet of buccaneers spread, and the Spanish sent out orders to keep all ships in port. Their caution wasn't solely focused on the treasure. Sharp had developed a nasty reputation for cruelty towards Spanish prisoners. You want shot a friar aboard a Spanish ship and then tossed the

dying man overboard, never to be seen again. In an attack on Citadade de la SaRenna, the buccaneers held the town for a ransom of over a hundred thousand pieces of eight. Sharp wrote in his journal that the Spaniards had agreed to their terms at first, but went back on a word. The buccaneers plundered what they could, then burned every house to ash. Tempers among the crew rose with the Pacific coast heat. Some demanded they head home

to England with their bounty. Others requested they returned to Jamaica, while the rest of the crew wanted to continue hunting. Mutiny brood and crewman John Watling replaced Sharp as captain. The crew was forced to reinstate Sharp after Watling's death during a raid on the ports city of Arica. Targets became scarce and the crew voted to return home via the Magellan Straits, but storms pushed them further south, forcing a detour around Cape Horn. Sharp was one of the

first English captains to make such a trip. Meanwhile, a Spanish ambassador sailed to England to file a complaint against the Buccaneers. To satisfy the Spanish and prevent another war, the Crown sent orders to the Jamaican governor to issue a warrant for Sharp and his crew. Sharp arrived in Barbados to discover that the HMS Richmond was waiting for them. The Buccaneers fled to enter equal only to find the

governor there refused to allow them entry. The crew disbanded, some choosing to take their chances on the island, while others headed back to Jamaica, where they were promptly arrested and tried for piracy. Sharp and a handful of men secured safe passage to England in March of sixteen eighty two, where they themselves were promptly arrested. In May, the High Court tried them for piracy. Surprisingly, the court acquitted all the men, and King Charles the Second granted them a pardon,

much to Spain's protests. It said that Bartholome you Sharp negotiated with the court in exchange for a pardon, he provided the crown with detailed maps of Spanish ports, always useful in times of war, and that Jamaican governor who issued a warrant for buccaneer Barthlome you Sharp. Henry Morgan Pirates was executive produced by Aaron Manky and narrated by Aaron Manky and Alexander Steide. Writing for this season was provided by Michelle Mudo, with research by Alexander Steve and

Sam Alberty. Production assistance was provided by Josh Thain, Jesse Funk, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more about this and other shows from Grimm and Mild and I Heart Radio, visit Grimm and Mild dot com