The most successful buccaneer of all, Sir Henry Morgan was part rogue, part hero. Born about 1635, he was kidnapped and taken to Barbados to work as a servant. He escaped and joined the buccaneers operating from Jamaica. By 1666 he commanded his own ship. Shortly afterward, the buccaneers elected him their "admiral." His first task, acting as a privateer on the authority of the governor of Jamaica, was to save the island from a Spanish invasion. This he managed in 1668 with a daring raid on Puerto Principe, Cuba, followed with a brutal raid on Portobello. He returned to Jamaica a hero, bearing a ransom of 100,000 pieces of eight. Two years later he was in Panama, raiding the coast and seizing Panama City. Although sent back to England to stand trial for piracy, Morgan was forgiven by King Charles II and even made a knight.
In 1669 Morgan was preparing to raid Maracaibo in Venezuela, when his flagship was accidentally blown up during a drinking bout. Nevertheless, he managed to force his way into the lake on which Maracaibo stood and entered the town. Then news came that the channel to the sea was blocked by three large Spanish warships. Morgan pretended to negotiate with the Spaniards while his men disguised one of their small vessels as a man o war. Fitting her with tree trunk guns and cut out wooden sailors, they launched her toward the Spanish ships. Too late the Spaniards realized it was a fire ship. Their largest vessel went up in flames and Morgan made his escape. Sir Henry returned to Jamaica as lieutenant governor, where he died in 1688, having lived his final years in peace .
