The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-01-08
WAS kNIGHTED FOR PIRACY.
Sir Henry Morgan was Rewarded In.
stead of Punished for Buccaneering.

Ere he comes back again!
Sir Henry Morgan, who won title
by able work at piracy, has long since
ceased to sail, and his name is only a
whisper in the southern seas today.
Yet it is not wholly forgotten, as was
proved the other day, when several
Kansas City men announced their
intention of starting on an expedition
to Sabine Pass, Texas, where they be-
iieve, Captain Morgan buried some
gold few centuries ago. They mean
to find it by the aid of wonderful
scientific instrument that shows just
where to dig for buried treasure
To return, however, to Sir Henry
Morgan. He wasn't Sir Henry to be-
gin with-just plain Henry Morgan,
SON of a Welsh farmer, and he ran
away to sea because he didn't like to
stay at home, and the sailing master
with whom he sailed sold him into
bondage in America at the end of
the voye ge, which proves the unwis-
dom of running away from home
with sailing masters about whose
characters you are not informed. An
active lad like Henry, however, soon
succeeded in getting away from the
sweatty bonds of toll, escaped from
Barbados and went to jamaica
There he started in the buccaneering
business. and eventually demonstra-
ted what w. S. Gilbert later announ-
ced that 1T is, it is glorious thing
to be a pirate king"
You must understand that piracy.
or buccaneering, as it was called,
was much more respectable calling
In the seventeenth century than it
is today. Spain was the natural
enemy of England, and, it was con-
sidered perfectly good form to rob
and murder a Spaniard wherever you
found him, whether England happen
ed to be officially at war with Spain
or not. There might be times of
peace between His Most Catholic Ma
jesty and the King of England on the
other side Of the Atlantic, but in
America the other two nations were
always at war.
Henry Morgan, after trip or two
on other mems ships and thriftily
saving his share of the booty, went in
with number of other ambitious
young pirates and bought a ship
of his own. He was elected captain,
and from that day on Henry Morgan
continued to be captain of every ex-
pedition he attended.
His first big success came at Porto
Bello. Porto Bello was a large Span
ish town in Panama, whence the
treasure ships sailed every year for
Spain. 1t was strongly fortified by
two castles, one on either side of the
harbor mouth, and had it been pre-
pared, would have been almost inn
possible to captue. But Morgan took
the place by surprise. When he left
Jamaica with fleet of the small
ships carrying 460 rufians of assort
ed races, he did not tell even his cap
tains where he was going. A secret
wasn't secret if more than one man
knew it, the astute captain believed.
Not until the coast of Central Ameri-
ca was reached did he pass around
word that Porto Bello was to be ta-
ken.
The ships themselves were left in
a harbor some miles from Porto
Bello, and, under cover of dusk. the
pirates moved stealthily upon the
doomed town in long boats and ca
noes. At midnight, when no human
sound disturbed the chorus of the
southern jungle, they reached Porto
Bello. They seized Spanish sentry
so swiftly and so effectually' did
they gag him that he had no chance
to cry out or to fire his flintlock.
Brandishing their long knives they
made him describe to them ali the
defenses of the city. Then the pirates
surrounded one of the castles which
guarded the town and commanded
the garrison to surrender, lest they
should every one be put to death.
The Spaniards replied with a volley
and the fight began. In short time
Morgan's men had battered down the
defenses and were swarming through
the castle All the Spanish officers
who were not slain at once were shut
up in one great room and then the
powder magazine was fired. Not a
Spaniard escaped.
But this was only one of many
castles The fighting continued from.
dawn to noon of next day. The Span
iards defended themselves gallantly.