Background
Henry Morgan was born in 1635 in Wales.
lieutenant governor of Jamaica privateer
Henry Morgan was born in 1635 in Wales.
Later going to Jamaica, he joined a band of buccaneers and in 1666 was in command of a ship in an expedition led by Edward Mansfield which captured the island of Providence, or Santa Catalina, from the Spaniards.
He later sacked the Venezuelan coastal towns of Maracaibo and Gibraltar and sank three Spanish men-of-war at the entrance to Lake Maracaibo.
On his return he was named "Commander-in-Chief of all the ships of war" of Jamaica.
In 1670 he ravaged Cuba and retook the island of Santa Catalina.
The following year, in one of the most brilliant actions of its kind, Morgan seized the whole of Spanish Panama, including Panama City where he took enormous treasure.
In the meantime, however, peace had been signed between England and Spain and both Modyford and Morgan were ordered home under arrest.
Although he has been called a buccaneer, most of his expeditions were commissioned by the governor and were directed against powers with which England was at war.