Revenge
The Name of Morgan was now famous at home, and terrible abroad. He himself promised greater things than he had yet attempted; and nothing was thought impossible for such Courage to perform.1
Morgan’s daring Maracaibo raid had once again humiliated the Spanish and they were understandably furious. Port Royal gave the returning heroes a huge welcome when Morgan and his fleet sailed into the harbour at Port Royal on 17 May 1669. When the buccaneers swarmed ashore with their newly won wealth the merchants, innkeepers and prostitutes did their best to relieve them of it while the city celebrated. While they caroused Morgan met with the governor, Sir Thomas Modyford, in Spanish Town to brief him on his exploits.
Modyford, however, was not best pleased. Morgan was supposed to have sacked Cartagena as it was from this place that the Spanish could possibly have mounted an invasion on Jamaica; Maracaibo and Gibraltar were too far away to constitute a threat to the island. Modyford also knew that once King Charles II and his government heard about the raids, they too would be furious and there would be some form of repercussion. Peace still existed between Spain and England and so the government in London wanted to distance itself from the actions taking place in the West Indies.
Prior to the return of the buccaneers a ship had arrived in Port Royal from London. The Isabella carried a letter from Charles Modyford, Thomas Modyford’s son, stating that the government in London denounced the Portobello raid. The Spanish government demanded full satisfaction from this raid but they had not yet heard of Morgan’s latest exploits. However, they soon would.
In London, the king and his government did not want to disgrace Modyford by providing Spain with an abject apology as Modyford was part of the machine of government and so, by implication, the whole of the English government was to blame. Instead the government dithered while it decided on what course of action to take. In the meantime, the inactivity of the English government served to increase the anger in Madrid to the point that the Spanish government commanded their governors in the West Indies to attack British ships and settlements in the region. Once these orders had been received commissions were issued by the governors of the Spanish Main, Cuba, Hispaniola and New Spain to any Spanish ship to turn privateer and attack the English, particularly those sailing out of Port Royal. The minutes of the Council of Jamaica, dated 29 June 1670, made plain the relationship existing between the English and the Spanish in the West Indies at that time:
From the Queen Regent of Spain, dated 20 April 1669, her Governors in the Indies are commanded to make open war against His Majesty’s subjects, and that the Spanish Governors have granted commissions and are levying forces against the English.2
A letter written by Modyford’s brother, Sir James, emphasizes the situation, stating that the Spanish ‘have denounced war against us in Cartagena, and given out commissions.’ He goes on to say that the information coming from Spanish traders was that they ‘have daily in expectation twelve sail of frigates from Europe who have commissions (as all ships shall have that come into the Indies) to take all English they can light on.’ Sir James ended his letter with an ominous warning: ‘For the Duke of Albemarle’s death, that only befriended us, this war, our making a blind peace, no frigates, nor orders coming, gives us cruel apprehensions and makes many remiss.’3
In London, the Duke of Albemarle, George Monck, had been the most sympathetic ear in the king’s circle. He was the leader of the anti-Spanish faction and believed in empire. For him and his supporters, Jamaica was part of the empire and so should have all of the protection and prosperity of any other colony. For him, the buccaneers of Jamaica represented a hard and heavy stick with which ‘to prod and dislodge the Spanish. And so Monck argued their case with vehemence.’4
Almost at the other end of the scale was Lord Arlington, Secretary of State. He wanted closer, peaceful relations with Spain and the actions of the buccaneers were putting this objective into real jeopardy. According to Stephen Talty, Arlington had spent many years in Spain; he identified with their causes and understood them perhaps more than any other man in the English government. He believed that a treaty with Spain that recognized the English colonies in the region would be the best way to end the hostilities. Yet while the English emissary in Madrid, William Godolphin, worked tirelessly to negotiate such a treaty the Spanish continued to demand reparations. They wanted Modyford removed from office and something done about Morgan. Arlington’s response to the increasing Spanish anger was that the actions of the buccaneers were in response to Spanish hostilities in the region.
In addition, London was still reeling from the Great Fire of 1666 and the subsequent plague that swept through the city and the rest of the country. On the military front victories were few and far between. Twice the Dutch had humiliated the navy so the news of Morgan’s exploits struck a chord with the common people. He was, as Talty states, a ‘Protestant Avenger’, and a hero.5
Modyford was no fool. He had to do something to appease London, especially with letters coming in from his son relating the king’s increasing anger with Modyford and the buccaneers. On 14 June 1669, the town crier marched through the streets of Port Royal with a drummer proclaiming that Modyford had withdrawn all the commissions for the buccaneers, including Morgan’s.6 Officially, their exploits were over and now Modyford could point to this as a result. He knew that the Maracaibo affair had not yet reached London. He also knew that he was going to need a defence and set about writing a lengthy letter to Lord Arlington outlining his reasons for granting commissions to the buccaneers against the Spanish. He testified to the ‘aversion he had for the privateers’, and recalled ‘his affectionate letters to the Spanish governors’, since his arrival in Jamaica. He mentioned his harsh treatment ‘by imprisoning them, executing some and restoring their prizes to the great hazard of the peace.’7
However, once Modyford realized he may have made a powerful enemy of the buccaneers:
who not only knew all their ports, bays, and creeks, but every path in the island, and had many correspondents on shore, and that some of them were gone to the French at Tortuga and Hispaniola, and the rest preparing to go, and could better attempt this place than we could defend it, Modyford found the fatal error he was running into, and having notice of the Dutch war by Lord Arlington’s despatch of 12 November 1664, he changed his behaviour so effectually that he persuaded all in or near this harbour to undertake against the Dutch at Curaçao, giving them suitable commissions.
The narrative Modyford sent to Arlington was a potted history of everything he had done concerning the buccaneers from his arrival in Jamaica up to the recent raids on Maracaibo and Gibraltar:
He advised the Duke of Albemarle of the state of this place in relation to the privateers by letters of 6 March 1665; in answer to which he had orders of 30 May 1665 to grant or not commissions against the Spaniards, as to him should seem most advantageous for His Majesty’s service, and letters from Lord Arlington, that from the Lord General he should receive His Majesty’s directions touching the privateers, and also letters from the Lord Chancellor to the same purpose, and from Sir James Modyford, and also His Grace’s own letter in Feb 1667, confirming all the former, and that after the peace with Spain, as by the abstracts annexed may appear. The privateers meantime were driven to leeward, and the admiral fell in with the island of Providence and without any commission took it; to which Modyford sent a governor, which was not only approved of at home, but another governor under the broad seal of England authorized and sent. Yet notwithstanding this full power he would not proceed to grant commissions until the council of this island unanimously affirmed it was for the good of the island and gave their reasons hereto annexed and thereupon in March 1666, there being also war with France, he granted commissions, which was approved by His Grace, his end being only to keep them from joining with the French, but they had only commissions for taking ships, and none for landing. He always reproved them for so acting, especially in the business of Puerto Bello and Maracay; to which they made their defence by writing, which he sent home, but never received any answer to. Meantime, by reason of their numbers and not knowing the sense at home, he thought it prudential to forbear punishing them; and, receiving an intimation of His Majesty’s sense in his son’s letters, and also advice of the intentions of the Spaniards to attempt them, the galleons being daily expected in the Indies, and the New Spain fleet already there, in order to detain the privateers on the island, he repealed all their powers.8
Modyford continued his narrative by saying that the king’s fifteenth shares of the raids he would keep:
to be employed in fortification, which may be about £600 and His Royal Highness’s tenths he always sent home to Sir William Coventry and Mr Wren for His Royal Highness’s account. To myself [the buccaneers], gave only £20 for their commission, which never exceeded £300.
With a bold flourish, Modyford ended his narrative demanding that any ‘bold maligners and rash talkers against his actions’ come forth and challenge the validity of his statements.
In Jamaica the rest of the year was quiet but filled with the tension of waiting for something to happen. When would the Spanish strike? How would they strike? The island of Jamaica was an English colony surrounded by Spanish colonies and the Spanish refused to accept that England owned the island.
In the autumn of 1669, William Godolphin, representing Charles II, was in Madrid trying to negotiate a treaty that would get the Spanish to recognize Jamaica as English.
For there to be any possibility that a treaty could be negotiated, all privateering would have to stop; there should be no revenge for past injustices (they would need to be forgotten); Spain would have to recognize British-held territory; and trading between the two nations would be allowed to flourish. This was no easy matter, for Godolphin needed to ensure the Spanish signed a treaty with such conditions.
In the meantime, Morgan spent the rest of the year with his wife, Elizabeth, and began extending his plantations by searching for land that no one owned and then applying for it. He found more than 800 acres in Clarendon Parish that had the Minho River as one of its boundaries. According to Pope, the land near the village of Chapleton is still called Morgan’s Valley. Already a landowner, Morgan was extending what he had, being interested in clearing the land and planting crops—mostly sugar—as with his other plantations. One of the captains who had been with Morgan on many of his expeditions, Captain Edward Collier, acquired 1,000 acres also in Clarendon Parish.
As the year ended and the New Year of 1670 arrived, Morgan could look to his extended family and be proud. His wife’s father, old Colonel Edward Morgan, had left his estate to his two sons, and they had made it a going concern. All the Morgans had rallied around to help. Elizabeth and Henry remained childless. However, Elizabeth’s younger sister, Anna Petronilla, who had married Major Robert Byndloss, had one son and was again pregnant, while the old colonel’s third daughter, Johanna Wilhelmina, married Colonel Henry Archbold. The families were all landowners and planters. They, along with the other plantation owners, held the greatest power and influence in the little colony, although the Morgan family’s power would soon begin to fade. All the landowners believed that Morgan was the only person in Jamaica capable of defending the island. He was a hero and everyone looked up to him.
In London the balance of power was shifting. The Duke of Albemarle, George Monck, died early in 1670 of dropsy, thus depriving the anti-Spanish faction in the Privy Council of a leader. The subsequent vacuum paved the way for the pro-Spanish group, headed by Lord Arlington, to cast their power in the Privy Council, helped, of course, by the king’s Catholic sympathies.
What this meant in Jamaica was that the buccaneers were more out of favour than ever before and were to be controlled. However, the buccaneers would soon be needed again.
Modyford was trying to hold together a truce with the Spanish in the West Indies and in January 1670, as a gesture of goodwill, he decided to free some Spanish prisoners. He also decided that a friendly letter to the governor of Cuba would be an excellent way of showing his good faith as well as the good faith of the English in Jamaica. Carefully, he chose a ship, registered in Jamaica, under the command of Bernard Claeson Speirdyck, a Dutchman known throughout Port Royal as Captain Bernard. The ship was the Mary and Jane.
In addition to the prisoners and the letter, the ship also carried cargo that the Spanish wanted and needed. Setting sail, he landed the prisoners and cargo in Manzanillo and then set sail back towards Jamaica. However, everything went badly wrong when he spied what appeared to be a ship flying English colours. Sending a boat over to enquire, the ship suddenly turned and headed straight for the Mary and Jane, firing a broadside into her. This ship turned out to be a Spanish privateer, the San Pedro y la Fama, under the command of Captain Emanuel Rivera Pardal.
Five or six days afterwards a Spanish Armadilla was fitted from Cartagena, with eighty-six men, Captain Manuel de Rivera, a Portuguese, saying he had letters of reprisal from the King of Spain for five years through the whole West Indies, for satisfaction of the Jamaicans taking Puerto Bello. On 27 February, Capt Barnard spied a sail with an English ancient, and sent two men to see who it might be; the men were detained and the frigate fired a broadside, they answering one another with the like salutes about three hours. Next day, after a sharp dispute of about four hours, the Captain being killed and the ship on fire in the forecastle and astern, they yielded. The English lost only one man and one boy besides the Captain, the enemy by their own report having lost thirty-six, and several with their legs shot off. Eight or ten days after the Spaniards gave them their own longboat and provision to carry them to Jamaica, carrying four men with them prisoners.9
This action described in a deposition by Cornelius Carstens, the purser of the Mary and Jane, was included in a letter Modyford sent to Arlington dated 20 April 1670. That letter also included two other depositions that illustrated the level of hostility the Spanish had against the English in Jamaica:
Depositions of Capt John Coxend and Peter Bursett. About ten weeks ago deponents were aboard of Capt Thomas Rogers, commander of a privateer of Jamaica, in the Bay of Campeachy, who sixteen days before, having been assaulted by a Spanish man-of-war from Cartagena, did in his own defence board and take it, where said Rogers took, amongst other prisoners, an Englishman by name Edward Browne, who had revolted from his allegiance and lived with the Spaniards of Cartagena. Said Browne being examined by deponents declared that there was war proclaimed in Cartagena by beat of drum against Jamaica.10
Another deposition taken roughly the same time reinforces this point:
Deposition of Nicholas Hicks, gent. Being in the island of Corisa in November last, he happened into the company of one Prince, an Englishman, then pilot or master of a Spanish ship from Puerto Bello, who told deponent that the Spaniard had made proclamation in Puerto Bello that they would give no quarter to any Englishman, merchant or man-of-war, and he was sure they would never have peace with the Englishmen.11
Even this was not absolute proof of the Spanish intentions. For Modyford to act he needed something in writing from a Spanish governor that would provide him with the foundation for which he could retaliate.
On 5 May Modyford again wrote to Arlington, enclosed another deposition, this time from William Lane, the boatswain on the Amity, a ship out of Bristol under the command of William Cands that had been bound for Nevis from Madeira. Lane’s deposition stated:
about nine weeks past, 35 leagues to Wind ward of Antigua, a Spanish frigate boarded the Amity and took her. The Captain’s name was Don Francisco, who sent his prize to Carthagena, and put the English ashore at Corasa, showing that Governor his commission, which was from old Spain against the English and French, and not to give quarter to any Jamaicans, or French that belong to Tortuga.12
Modyford hoped that the presence of yet another deposition indicating the Spanish actions would prompt Lord Arlington to write back and give him permission to retaliate, but for the rest of the month of May there was no response from London.
Finally, Modyford received the proof he needed that Spain was granting commissions against Jamaica signed by local governors when two small Jamaican merchant ships, sailing off the Yucatán Peninsula, were attacked by the San Nicolas de Tolentino, a Spanish ship intending to take the two Jamaican ships as prizes. However, the tables were reversed and the San Nicolas was taken and brought back to Port Royal. Amongst her papers was a copy of a commission where Don Pedro Bayona y Villa Nueva, governor of Santiago de Cuba, had been given permission by the Queen Regent of Spain to use all necessary force permitted in the articles of war by attacking ships, land and other possessions held by the English.13
Whereas by copy of a commission sent by Wm Beck, Governor of Curaçao, to Gov Sir Thos Modyford, from the Queen Regent of Spain, dated 20 April 1669, her governors in the Indies are commanded to make open war against His Majesty’s subjects, and that the Spanish governors have granted commissions and are levying forces against the English.14
Then, in June, the Spanish pushed the war up a notch when news arrived in Port Royal that men from two Spanish ships had landed on the north coast.
The Spaniards have landed to leeward, burnt many houses, taken prisoners, and marched off. They last appeared off Wealthy Wood, but finding armed men on the shore, stood off to sea.15
By the time a hastily assembled militia appeared on the scene the ships had left. A few days later, the population of Port Royal sighted three Spanish ships off the coast, heading westward. They came in close as if to land an invasion force and continue burning plantations and houses but soon sailed away when the militia arrived. However, the following day the Spanish did land and more houses were burned and more prisoners taken.
On 29 June, Modyford called an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Jamaica, held at King’s House in Spanish Town, to discuss the situation. It didn’t take them long to make a unanimous decision. This decision, reflected in the minutes of the council, evoked the latest instructions Modyford had from the king, which stated he was to take the necessary action, with advice of the council, to meet an emergency ‘as fully and effectually as if you were instructed by us’.16
That decision was to give Morgan back his commission.
In accordance with the last article of His Majesty’s instructions to Gov Modyford ‘in this great and urgent necessity’, it is ordered that a commission be granted to Admiral Henry Morgan to be commander-in-chief of all ships of war belonging to this harbour, and to attack, seize and destroy the enemy’s vessels with powers herein set forth.17
Around this time a proclamation arrived from the Spanish challenging Morgan personally. It came from Captain Rivera Pardal, who was the leader of the Spanish ships that had landed on the northern coast, setting fire to many houses and taking prisoners.
I, Captain Manuel Rivero Pardal, to the chief of the squadron of privateers in Jamaica. I am he who this year have done that which follows. I went on shore at Caimanos, and burnt twenty houses, and fought with Captain Ary, and took from him a catch laden with provisions and a canoa. And I am he who took Capt Baines, and did carry the prize to Carthagena, and now am arrived to this coast, and have burnt it. And I come to seek General Morgan, with two ships of twenty guns, and having seen this, I crave he would come out upon the coast and seek me, that he might see the valour of the Spaniards. And because I had no time I did not come to the mouth of Port Royal to speak by word of mouth in the name of my king, whom God preserve.18
Once again, the safety of Jamaica had been thrust onto Morgan’s shoulders. Although by the end of June he had not yet received the commission from Modyford, Morgan was already busy setting up and recruiting his force. It would not be difficult. For many buccaneers, the death of Captain Barnard at the hands of Rivera festered and his public challenge to Morgan was seen by most as an insult to the Brethren.
On the second day of July, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Byndloss mobilized the Port Royal Volunteers. That same day Morgan received his commission from Modyford. It began by retelling the directive from the Queen Regent of Spain to her governors in the Indies to ‘make open war against the subjects of His Majesty’, and that already the Captain General of Paraguay and governor of St Jago of Cuba had:
executed the same, and in most barbarous manner landed his men on the north side of Jamaica, firing all the houses and killing and taking all the inhabitants prisoners they could meet with; and the rest of the governors are diligently gathering forces to be sent to St Jago, their rendezvous and magazine, for invasion and conquest of this island.
Modyford continued, saying that by the virtue of the king and from the advice of the Council of Jamaica Morgan was appointed as commander-in-chief:
of all the ships fitted or to be fitted for defence of this island, and of the officers, soldiers, and seamen upon the same, and commands him to get said vessels into one fleet, well manned, armed and victualled, and by the first opportunity to put to sea for defence of this island, and to use his best endeavour to surprise, take, sink, disperse or destroy the enemy’s vessels, and, in case he finds it feasible, to land and attack St Jago or any other place where he shall be informed are stores for this war or a rendezvous for their forces, and to use his best endeavours to seize the stores and take, kill, or disperse the forces.19
Modyford ended the commission by saying that Morgan was to follow orders from the king, the Duke of York or himself. Copies of this commission were sent to the Duke of York. Along with the instructions in the commission, Modyford wrote another set of instructions for Morgan, far more detailed, specifically on the conduct of his expedition. He wrote that Morgan should ensure the sailors and soldiers were on the ‘old pleasing account of no purchase, no pay, and therefore that all which is got shall be divided amongst them, according to the accustomed rules.’ He continued by saying that for those Spaniards who submitted to the authority of the English government they were to be given ‘mercy and enjoyment of estates and liberty of conscience’. However, if the Spanish did not yield, Modyford instructed Morgan ‘with all expedition to destroy and burn and leave it a wilderness.’ In the treatment of Spanish prisoners Morgan was to:
inquire what usage our prisoners have had, and what quarter has been given to ours, and give the same, or rather, as our custom is, to exceed them in civility and humanity, endeavouring to make all people sensible of his moderation and good nature and his inaptitude and loathness to spill the blood of man.20
England and France were at peace so Morgan knew he could once again rely on the French buccaneers at Tortuga, and so he set a rendezvous for 24 October at that island. One of the largest of the Jamaican ships was the Satisfaction, which had been out of Port Royal for a year and a half. Onboard this ship was surgeon Richard Browne, who was thoroughly bored with his eighteen-month long voyage. The ship finally did return to Port Royal in the early part of August before Morgan had set sail for Tortuga. He made Browne the surgeon general of the expedition.
Found that two Spanish men-of-war had been on these coasts, burnt several houses, taken some prisoners and provisions, and had left a challenge both in Spanish and English; on which account the Governor and Council have made war with them, and Admiral Morgan is preparing a fleet with 1,500 men for some notable design on land, and Browne goes with him as Surgeon General.21
But Modyford was walking a tightrope. He’d heard nothing from Lord Arlington and had no idea how Godolphin was getting on with negotiations in Madrid. His son Charles was able to send him bits and pieces from London about the political scene there. Since the death of the Duke of Albemarle Modyford knew that he now had no friend in the Privy Council and that he needed to find if not a friend then a sympathetic ear. He also knew that there was an inner circle in the Privy Council of five men who were the closest to the king and therefore had the most influence with His Majesty. Arlington was one of these men, as Albemarle had been, but with the duke gone, now Modyford needed an ally.
He chose to write to Lord Ashley, justifying everything he had done, the reasons for pursuing the war against the Spanish at a time when London was trying to negotiate peace. In his letter dated 6 July 1670, Modyford told Lord Ashley that the Spanish had been preparing for the war since April 1669. He wrote that the buccaneers would never ‘be planters, he has employed to keep the war in their own country, and judge you, my Lord, in this exigent, what course could be more frugal, more prudential, more hopeful—the men volunteers, the ships, arms, ammunition their own, their victuals and pay the enemy’s, and such enemies as they have always beaten.’22
Modyford went on to state that the Spanish had already attacked Jamaica, putting many houses to ‘fire and sword’, taking prisoners and challenging the English to come out and fight. He ended his letter by asking Ashley to ‘mediate with His Majesty as that according to his instruction this proceeding may have its due ratification.’ With the letter Modyford included as many documents as he could that would prove his course of action was just: the council minutes of 29 June, the depositions from the purser of the Mary and Jane and other crews, the challenge from Captain Rivera, the commission to Morgan as well as a copy of the 29 April commission by the Queen Regent of Spain telling her governors in the West Indies to make war with Jamaica. In turn, Modyford wanted approval from the king.
Yet by early August nothing had arrived from London. On the 14th, Morgan led the fleet of buccaneers out of Port Royal and they sailed to the western end of the island, anchoring at Bluefields Bay, where they continued to prepare for the expedition ahead.
Finally, on 18 August, a ship arrived bringing a letter from Arlington, which was dated 12 June. It made for sober reading:
Ever since Sir Wm Godolphin’s going last into Spain, they have daily expected he would be able to bring that court to some articles that might make them live like good neighbours in the West Indies, they affording us a safe retreat in their ports, and wood, water, and refreshments for money, forbearing to ask freedom of trade, which neither we in our Leeward plantations nor they in any parts of America, according to their ancient constitutions, can admit of: this they would hardly agree to, such have been their resentments for what the privateers have done.23
Of the buccaneers, Arlington charged Modyford with ensuring that ‘in whatsoever state the privateers are at the receipt of this letter, he keep them so till we have a final answer from Spain.’24 From the letter Modyford knew that Arlington clearly either had no idea of the gravity of the situation in Jamaica or really cared about the colony at all.
The letter put Modyford in an even more difficult situation. Arlington had said in his letter he’d received Modyford’s letter dated 20 March and so would have been aware of the death of Captain Barnard and the capture of his ship. Yet Arlington dismissed these acts. Modyford was now charged with keeping the privateers where they were, which was at sea, and ‘forbear all hostilities at land.’
Modyford decided to follow the orders as best he could and so sent word for Morgan to return to Port Royal from Bluefields Bay. When Morgan arrived he hurried to meet the governor. Modyford told Morgan of:
His Majesty’s pleasure, strictly charging him to observe the same, and behave with all moderation possible in carrying on this war. He replied that he would observe these orders as far as possible, but necessity would compel him to land in the Spaniards’ country for wood, water and provisions, or desert the service, and that unless he were assured of the enemy’s embodying or laying up stores in their towns, for the destruction of this island, he would not attempt any of them.25
Morgan returned to the fleet anchored at Bluefields Bay and prepared to set sail for the rendezvous point. Back in Jamaica, Modyford sent a long letter, dated 20 August, to Arlington, telling him he had obeyed His Majesty’s wishes.
Little did either men know that storm clouds were gathering for them both.