Many people wonder if the Captain Morgan displayed on the spiced rum bottle was a real pirate. Yes, he was. In fact, he was a notorious pirate and a fearless leader who too privateering to a new level.\n\n\n\n
Born in Monmouth County, Wales in 1635, Henry Morgan followed his two uncles into the military during the war between Spain and England. He rose to the rank of admiral and spent a considerable amount of time launching attacks on Spanish ports. While Morgan scoffed at the fact that he was called a pirate, he did in fact wreak a lot of havoc.\n\n\n\n
Many of Morgan’s well-planned attacks target areas that had a certain vulnerability. He famously launched an attack on Portobello in 1667. The rich, Spanish city didn’t have a chance, so it was roundly looted. Morgan didn’t stop there. He decided to hold it for a 100,000 pesos ransom, threatening to burn it down if it wasn’t paid. The city caved and Morgan left Portobello a very rich man.\n\n\n\n
There were more expeditions to come. In 1668, he and a band of other pirates and buccaneers attacked Gibraltar and Maracaibo. It was a hard fought attack, but he prevailed. At this point, Morgan was doing more than lining his pockets. He was also building his fame.\n\n\n\n
Morgan’s next stop was Panama. After building a large coalition of fighters, pirates, and other mercenaries, Morgan marched on Panama and kidnapped San Lorenzo in the process. It is said that the Spanish pretty much stood aside and let the place get sacked. Was it out of fear or because they knew they really had no chance? Either way, he and his men marched in and out before reinforcements could arrive. And he left with a whole lot of loot.\n\n\n\n
And while Morgan spent a lot of time squawking about the legalities regarding his attacks, it should be noted that he did not always have permission for his raids. In fact, prior to is Panamanian attack, England and Spain were right in the middle of a peace treaty. He also put the reputation and safety of politicians at bay for his actions. Governor of Jamaica Thomas Modyford was punished several times due to his constant meddling in political affairs.\n\n\n\n
Sadly, Morgan had achieved celebrity status so he remained unscathed. He was even knighted by England for his efforts. The name of Captain Morgan during the time instilled fear in a lot of people. The Spaniards, in particular, saw first hand what type of terror and power he commanded. It did a lot in ushering them to the negotiating table.\n\n\n\n
One good thing he managed to achieve through all the rapes, pillages, and plundering is help build the Jamaican colony. This was likely unintentional. But he did it.\n\n\n\n
No one can really say for sure exactly how or why Captain Morgan’s name ended up on the rum bottle. Why he was romanticized in history is mostly speculation at best. Perhaps it was because he spend out his post pirate days on a Jamaican plantation guzzling rum and retelling his fearless stories of pirating. But who knows for sure. When he finally died on August 25, 1688, in Jamaica, he received a home going fit for a king. A carriage with his body was carried through town for mourners to see.\n\n\n\n
However, one thing is certain: Morgan is a man who probably should not be celebrated. His actions caused a lot of pain for many people — including innocent civilians. Regardless of how was reckless and cruel he was, his hero status never wavered in England.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Many people wonder if the Captain Morgan displayed on the spiced rum bottle was a real pirate. Yes, he was. In fact, he was a notorious pirate and a fearless leader who too privateering to a new level. Born in Monmouth County, Wales in 1635, Henry Morgan followed his two uncles into the military during […]\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":3263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pastpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pastpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pastpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pastpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pastpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3262"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pastpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3264,"href":"https:\/\/www.pastpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262\/revisions\/3264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pastpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pastpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pastpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pastpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}