All language subtitles for Pirates Behind the Legends S01E04 Henry Morgan 1080p HULU WEB-DL DD5 1 H 264-playWEB_track4_[eng]

[Narrator] Henry Morgan,

an obscure soldier
from rural Wales,

sent to the Caribbean as a pawn
in a war of empires.

[Expert 1] He was really
interested in being

on the seas, capturing treasure.

[Narrator] Through cunning,
plunder, and conquest,

he outmaneuvered his enemies...

[Expert 2] Morgan was an agent

of very violent
imperial expansion.

[Narrator] ...to build
a kingdom for himself.

[Expert 3] Morgan,
he's ruthless and brutal

in his military tactics.

[Narrator] Morgan's sins
were continuously overlooked,

his ability to make great sums
of money for the right people

rendering him untouchable.

From lowly privateer to pirate
to lieutenant governor,

Henry Morgan used the power he
seized to transform his life,

building up Jamaica's
earliest sugar plantations,

accelerating
a brutal slave trade.

[Expert 4] Henry Morgan
was a slave trader

as well as a pirate.

[Narrator] So how did
Morgan come to be known

as a fierce pirate?

♪ ♪

The year is 1654.

Across English port towns,

able men join
a rapidly expanding navy...

...to be shipped off to fight
for England's stake

in the New World.

♪ ♪

Some volunteer; others are
conscripted against their will.

Amongst the crowd is
a young man, Henry Morgan.

[Mark Hanna] That navy consisted
often of guys drunk from bars

who would be kidnaped
and thrown on board these ships.

We're pretty sure
that Morgan might have been

one of those guys, someone
who had just been swept up

in this, this fervor
to invade the Caribbean.

[Narrator] Spain and England
have been lodged

in a fierce rivalry
for nearly 200 years.

For decades, the Spanish
have dominated the Caribbean.

To launch a counterstrike,

the English Navy
needs serious manpower.

7,000 troops sail
to the Caribbean;

amongst their ranks,
young Henry Morgan.

Their aim?

To conquer the island
of Hispaniola,

the cornerstone of Spain's
New World empire.

But the Spanish lie in wait.

[Nuala Zahedieh]
They were humiliatingly

defeated at Hispaniola.

[Narrator] Thousands
of English troops

lose their lives
on Hispaniola,

survivors beating a hasty
retreat to their boats.

[Zahedieh] And then
limped on to Jamaica.

It's much smaller,
ill defended,

and very much
a consolation prize.

♪ ♪

[Narrator]
This invading force,

with Morgan amongst them,

have just become the first
English settlers to set foot

on the shores of Jamaica.

But they're at constant
risk of attack.

Four major European
powers subscribed

to the mutual concept
of no peace behind the line,

a mutual understanding
that war will continue

in the Caribbean

regardless of any peace
treaties agreed in Europe.

[Zahedieh] So, whatever
the situation in Europe,

whether there's war or peace,

the Spanish treated anyone
who ventured into these waters

as a pirate.

[Iszi Lawrence]
It's perfect for pirates.

It's very hard to actually
control and police by any state.

Spain is extracting a lot
of wealth from the Americas,

all coming
through the Caribbean,

and where there's trade,
there's opportunity to thieve.

[Harcourt Fuller] When you look

at a map of Jamaica,

it's right in the middle
of the action.

All of the ships coming
into the New World,

there's a point where they
have to go past Jamaica.

[Zahedieh]
It's completely surrounded

by Spanish territories,

and it's a very long way

from the nearest
English outpost,

so there was real fear
about Spanish reprisals.

[Narrator] Within a year,
the English naval fleet

withdraws from Jamaica,

their fight spreading
to other fronts.

But some men remain.

Morgan is one of them.

The young Welshman
harbors fantasies

of raiding treasure
from Spanish colonies,

fed by an insatiable desire
to make his fortune.

♪ ♪

[Hanna] 1660s is the first time

English people started
to use the word "privateer,"

and privateer was a term
coined specifically in Jamaica

to describe these sailors
who had been forced

to come into
the Caribbean to fight,

but now on their own,
acting independently.

[Narrator] Morgan is
eager to prove himself.

Whilst many settle into
quiet lives farming the land,

Morgan has developed
a taste for battle

and a reputation
as a talented tactician.

He decides to put
these skills to good use.

[Hannah Cusworth] He was
very wedded to the life

of a privateer,

of being on the seas,

of capturing treasure.

He was really interested
in Jamaica being a place

that privateering
could flourish.

[Richard Blakemore]
Morgan, by the early 1660s,

is a captain,

and he leads
a series of voyages,

each one striking
at a different part

of the Spanish territories,

and with each one
bringing back more plunder.

[David Wilson] He's part
of different privateering crews.

But then
by the sort of mid-1660s,

he's sort of elevated
to become one of the principal

or dominant privateering
figures in Jamaica.

And part of that
is through the patronage

of Sir Thomas Modyford.

[Narrator] In 1664,

Thomas Modyford becomes
governor of Jamaica.

The English Crown instructs
Modyford to clamp down

on any privateering
in the region.

But Modyford soon grasps
just how essential

these privateers are
to both the security

and economy of his island.

And he finds a like-minded
accomplice in Captain Morgan.

[Wilson] They strike up
a bit of a partnership,

a bit of a relationship,

whereby Modyford commissions
Morgan to attack the Spanish

as part of this idea of
offensive defense, if you will.

It was a really good way
of outsourcing war

at a time when navies
were extremely expensive,

so they couldn't afford
a standard navy, as it were.

But what that meant was
that you had a maritime force

that were focused
on attacking other vessels.

It wasn't really
a defensive force.

All of the wages
for the privateers

came from the plunder,

so if they didn't
attack vessels,

if they didn't take any prizes,
they didn't get paid.

[cannon fire]

♪ ♪

[Narrator] In the 10 years
since his arrival in Jamaica,

Morgan's striking reputation
has grown to attract

colonial officials
and fellow privateers alike.

He is elected Admiral
of the Brethren of the Coast...

...a loose coalition
of free boaters,

better known
as the buccaneers.

[Blakemore] Morgan is
authorized by Thomas Modyford

to take out a buccaneer fleet

and to gather intelligence
about Spanish intentions.

He is not commissioned
to attack Spanish towns,

and in fact, his commission,
by excluding Spanish towns,

gives him an incentive
to attack Spanish towns

because any plunder from shore
is not due to be shared

with the governor and the Crown,
whereas anything he takes at sea

is due to be shared with
the governor and the Crown.

[Hanna] There is a difference

between a buccaneer
and a pirate.

The original buccaneers were
essentially French cowboys,

cattle rustlers,
who also took to piracy,

who were known as "boucaniers."

But among the English,

when they anglicized
the word to buccaneers,

that became individuals
who committed acts of piracy

that involved
amphibious attacks.

They're usually referring
to individuals who start

their ventures on a ship,
but actually their plundering

is typically land-based.

♪ ♪

[Zahedieh] Buccaneers
knew the local geography.

They understood
how to extract resources.

They had local
knowledge and skills.

In fact, much of this knowledge

was gained
from indigenous people.

So, whereas a European
force would come out

and usually die like flies,

buccaneers were
seasoned to the climate.

♪ ♪

[Narrator] To satisfy
their desire for plunder,

the buccaneers
take to the seas

with a fleet of nine ships

packed with a crew
of 500 privateers.

[Blakemore] So the first thing
Morgan does is attack a town

in Cuba, to capture prisoners,

so he's already
instantly gone beyond

the commission
that he was given.

But the prisoners
that he captured,

prisoners who may
have been tortured

to elicit this information,

obligingly say Portobelo is
intending to attack Jamaica,

and so he uses that
as his justification

to go and attack the city.

[Narrator] Morgan
sets his sight on one

of the wealthiest settlements
in the Spanish Empire.

Portobelo is the terminus
for a cache of silver

plucked from
across South America.

As a result, it's one

of the most heavily fortified
cities in the New World,

surrounded by hostile waters

busy with Spanish
fighting ships.

♪ ♪

To snatch
Portobelo's treasures,

Morgan must remain invisible.

[Blakemore] A particular
kind of vessel,

often known as a Jamaica
or a Bermuda sloop,

develops in the Caribbean.

And it has two particularly
important characteristics.

One is they're relatively small

and therefore can fit
into shallow water.

And the other feature
was a different sail plan.

They used what we'd now
call a fore and aft

and a gaff-rig sail, which
was much more maneuverable

than the larger square rigged
sails of frigates or warships.

[Narrator] Anchoring
at Bocas de Toro,

Morgan and his buccaneers

transfer to an agile
fleet of canoes.

For four days, they traverse
the coast undetected.

[Zahedieh] Canoes were faster,
more maneuverable.

They could go
in very shallow waters,

and they were silent, so people
didn't know they were coming.

[Narrator] The men leave their
canoes and continue by foot.

At the gates of the city
looms Santiago Castle.

Gathering his troops,
Morgan prepares to strike.

♪ ♪

[Blakemore] And it's
an astonishingly quick attack.

The buccaneers sweep through
the defenses outside the city.

[swords clashing]

The guard of the city
are caught

almost completely
by surprise.

[Narrator] The buccaneers push
into the heart of the city,

cutting down its terrified
defenders and seizing captives.

One final stronghold
stands between them

and complete control
of Portobelo.

But Morgan has a cruel plan.

[Blakemore] Morgan forces
some friars and some nuns

and the mayor of the city

to walk as a sort of human
shield towards the gate.

So he's ruthless and brutal
in his military tactics.

[Narrator] With innocent
hostages as their shield,

Morgan and his men
storm the final battlement.

Soldiers are captured,
tortured into revealing

the whereabouts of
Portobelo's hidden riches.

Several blood-soaked weeks see
the buccaneers loot the city,

ransoming captives and
reveling in their new wealth.

But Morgan still wants more.

[Blakemore] He writes
to the Spanish governor

and threatens to destroy
Portobelo if he is not paid off.

[Zahedieh] He started off asking
for 350,000 pieces of eight,

but in the end,
settled for 100,000,

mainly because his men were
actually beginning to get fever,

so he wasn't sure that
he could last a long siege.

They left after a month
with a prize

worth about 100,000
pieces of eight.

[Blakemore] A piece of eight,
or a Spanish dollar,

was a peso de ocho,

a Spanish coin
worth eight reales,

hence "pieces of eight."

Pieces of eight became really

the first international
currency, and they traveled

through all of the colonies
in the Americas,

many of them finding their way
there by the way of buccaneers.

A single piece of eight
would probably be worth

a couple of days' wages
for a merchant sailor,

but it could be a very
unreliable currency as well.

It was very common
to clip the edges off

in order to make new coins.

And when people
needed small change,

because there was no
smaller denomination,

people would simply
cut up the pesos.

And so slivers of silver
would be changing hands.

So this really was the coinage
that floated the economy

of the early modern world.

[Zahedieh] Every one
of the 500 men

came away with about 120 pounds,

which was a massive amount
for a 17th-century mariner...

...probably about 20 times
their usual annual wage.

♪ ♪

[Narrator] The victorious
buccaneers return to Jamaica

to a hero's welcome,

their ships crammed
with looted treasure,

their pockets bulging
with Spanish silver.

For a buccaneer with silver to
spend, Port Royal is paradise.

[Fuller] The importance
of Port Royal to the English

cannot be overemphasized.

It was considered
to be the richest

and the wickedest
city on earth.

It was quite the town.
It had taverns, it had brothels.

[Blakemore]
Which are being driven

by the presence
of the buccaneers.

The buccaneers probably make up
somewhere between a third

and a half of the population
of Port Royal at this time.

[Kevin Dawson] Port Royal
becomes this sanctuary

for pirates,
including Henry Morgan,

and so they end up bringing

much of their looted wealth

into Port Royal.

[Narrator] When buccaneers
have silver in their palm,

rum flows like water.

[Hanna] The connection
between pirates and rum

is real for one reason,
which is that sugar

is the primary commodity
produced in the Caribbean.

And rum, of course,
is made from sugar.

So, of course,
pirates drinking rum

would have been quite common.

Morgan himself was probably
more fond of drinking

than many of his contemporaries

and was well known for causing
small riots in Port Royal.

[Lawrence] All of these stories
about Morgan being this drunk,

I think it's very likely

because water couldn't
keep fresh at sea.

You had to drink in order
to not die of thirst.

This is, you know,
part of being a pirate.

And the fact that Morgan
is seen this way

means that he must have
been drinking a lot.

This is, you know, a story
that we keep getting about him,

a rumor that keeps returning

is actually he was very out
of control a lot of the time.

♪ ♪

[Narrator]
Port Royal, however,

is more than a chaotic jumble

of raucous taverns
and brothels.

By the tail end of the 1660s,

the city has grown
to become the largest,

richest English settlement
in the New World,

overtaking
North American towns

such as Boston, New York,
and Philadelphia.

[Cusworth] It was
quite a diverse place.

There were English settlers,

enslaved Africans,
Jewish merchants.

[Lawrence]
People wanted to settle,

and if you wanted to settle,

you can't do that with
just men; you need women.

And so women
were being transported

down to the Caribbean.

[Narrator] Ever more people
begin to settle,

families taking root,
building communities,

men, women, children,
merchants, officials, soldiers,

and of course,
those with growing wealth

from illegal privateering.

[Narrator] Anglo-Spanish
relations remain

on a knife edge.

Morgan has clearly overstepped

the limits
of Modyford's commission.

But he's also made Jamaica,
and its governor, wildly rich.

So long as treasure continues
to fill Modyford's lap,

Captain Morgan is free
to do as he pleases.

Still, the official
has to at least appear

to be reprimanding
the overzealous captain.

Despite a warning
to appease the Crown,

Morgan is gifted
a brand-new flagship,

a frigate known as the Oxford.

Capable of carrying
a crew of around 250 men

armed with 26 cannons,
this two-deck gunship

offers Morgan a level
of firepower and speed

that far surpasses any vessel
he has commanded before.

Sent to protect
Jamaica's coastline,

Morgan decides that the Oxford
is far too magnificent

to be wasted on mere defense.

[Blakemore] He instantly
takes it as his flagship

because even though
it's relatively small

by the standards
of naval ships of the day,

it's one of the most powerful
warships in the Caribbean.

Most of the shipping
in the Caribbean at this time

is relatively small vessels,
and so a frigate like the Oxford

is a pretty big weapon
in the Caribbean at this time.

[Narrator] Plotting his next
attack on the Spanish,

Morgan sails to a small island
off the coast of Hispaniola,

where he's joined
by 900 buccaneers

from across the Caribbean.

A war council is assembled
aboard the Oxford

in preparation
for one of the greatest

buccaneering expeditions
ever attempted.

[Blakemore] He calls a council
on the ship to plan their raid,

and after the council, they
have a big party on the ship,

as is the custom
of the buccaneers.

There's lots of firing of guns
and salutes and drinking.

Doing those two things together
is probably not a good idea.

The spark hits the magazine,
and the ship explodes.

♪ ♪

[distant screams]

All of those who were sitting
on the same side of the table

as Morgan at dinner survive.

All of those sitting
on the other side of the table

are killed
in this enormous blast.

Of about 200 men on board,
fewer than 10 survive.

[man yelling]

[Narrator] What remains
of the HMS Oxford sinks.

Most of Morgan's
best men, dead.

His grand plan
is no longer feasible

with such a diminished force,

and so Morgan settles
on a soft target--

the Spanish city of Gibraltar
and its neighbor, Maracaibo.

If his fleet can safely
navigate the sandbanks

which shield both cities,

this could still be
his greatest raid yet.

[Zahedieh] Gibraltar
is in a huge lagoon.

It was extremely difficult
to get entry.

[Narrator] Once again,
Morgan utilizes canoes,

now as pilot boats
guiding his ships

through the perilous
shallows of the inlet.

Once into the mouth
of the lagoon,

his men head for Gibraltar.

[Zahedieh] They took
Gibraltar fairly easily.

They gathered the prize.

[Narrator] Those unable
or unwilling to flee

the city face torture.

[man screams]

[Narrator] Morgan and his men
thieving vast piles of silver,

stealing a major Spanish
trading vessel,

and seizing enslaved
African captives.

Flush with victory
and treasure,

they head back
through the lagoon.

[Blakemore] A Spanish
squadron arrives

and blockades
the mouth of the lake.

[Zahedieh] Three Spanish
men-of-war were lined up.

There was a moment of panic.

[Blakemore] So, the buccaneers
are trapped within this lake,

and they have to fight their way
out against a Spanish squadron

of much more
heavily armed ships.

[Zahedieh] But Morgan quickly
developed a strategy.

[Narrator]
He has his carpenters

convert his newly stolen ship
into a floating trap.

The decks of the ship
are lined with wooden planks.

[Zahedieh] They put sailor's
hats on the top of them

to make it look as though
it was heavily manned.

They cut holes in the sides of
the ship and stuck logs through

to make it look
as though it was armed.

They put gunpowder
inside with fuses

and sailed towards
the exit of the lagoon.

[Blakemore] So when
this flagship is sailing

towards the Spanish fleet,
the Spanish sailors

think that Morgan
is just overconfident.

[shouting]

[Blakemore] No one would
sail their flagship

straight into the guns
of the enemy fleet.

[Narrator] Morgan times it
to perfection.

As the Spanish realize they've
been tricked, it's too late.

The buccaneers' empty vessel

plows into
the Spanish flagship,

which immediately ignites,
engulfed by flames.

[Zahedieh] The Spanish flagship
was totally burnt in minutes.

Most of the crew drowned.

♪ ♪

[Narrator] Racing past
the smoking remains

of the flagship, Morgan seizes
the second Spanish ship,

while survivors rush
for the safety of dry land

on their third and final boat.

Within minutes, Morgan has
cleared his way to safety.

But he suspects
the sunken flagship

may have carried
great treasures.

[Dawson] The flagship sinks,

and so Morgan comes to realize

that a number of the Africans
that he has stolen

are actually skilled
underwater divers.

These African divers,

they've trained their bodies
to basically work underwater.

So, they're engaged in
what we call free diving,

which is basically just diving
with the air in their lungs.

Most of these divers were
able to hold their breath

two to five minutes.

And so they're not just
kind of diving underwater

and picking things up,

but they're actually having
to dive underwater

and to break into the hulls
of Spanish treasure ships.

They would have a rope with
rocks tied to both ends of it

that they could loop
around their neck.

They'd use these rock weights
to quickly descend

and stand on a ship's deck,

and then using
sledgehammers and pickaxes

to actually gain access.

And so he sends
those divers down,

and they end up recovering
about 17,000 silver coins.

[Narrator]
Morgan is unstoppable.

This expedition has blessed him
with unimaginable wealth,

his unique military cunning

proven by his
spectacular escape.

The infamous captain's
return to Port Royal

is sure to be celebrated.

But upon his arrival,

he receives startling
news from London.

There's been another swing
in Anglo-Spanish relations,

and privateering is
now strictly forbidden.

Without knowing it,
Morgan has just committed

an illegal act of piracy.

Will he face arrest,

or worse?

But silver saves
Morgan's skin once again.

An official scolding
from Governor Modyford

is softened by a share
of the plunder.

♪ ♪

Now in his mid-30s,
Morgan must discover a way

to thrive in a time of peace
between England and Spain.

In a world without privateers,

his raids have made him rich,
and now he seeks status.

Founding sugar plantations

and populating them
with enslaved people,

Morgan's bleak empire
is growing.

[Fuller] Jamaica at the time
was a sugar producing country.

Sugar was essentially
the major commodity.

All of that wealth
Morgan had acquired,

he brought that back to Jamaica
and he owned three plantations.

What does that mean?

It means that Sir Henry Morgan

was a slave trader
as well as a pirate.

When we speak about pirates,

we talk about the gold
and the silver,

but oftentimes
when pirates raided ships,

some of those ships
were slave ships,

and they would also
take those slaves.

Jamaica is one
of the most brutal places

where enslaved Africans went to.

Jamaica is a tropical country,
it's very hot,

and they are working
sunup to sundown,

the sun bearing down
on their backs.

The leaves of sugarcane,
they're almost like razors.

Their skins are being cut
by the extremely sharp edges

of the sugarcane leaves.

Their sweat is running
down into their cuts.

And of course, they can't stop.

[Blakemore] By the 18th century

and through the course
of the 18th century,

Britain becomes
the biggest shipper

of enslaved African people
in the world.

And that's directly
related to the growth

of these Caribbean
sugar colonies.

And in their early decades,
without buccaneering,

these colonies would
not have been viable.

So, there's a direct
personal connection

because Henry Morgan
is himself a slaveholder,

is capturing enslaved people,
is selling enslaved people.

But there's also this broader
economic dimension.

He is boosting the economy
that then leads

to this enormous slave system

that continues
for more than 100 years.

[Narrator] But Morgan isn't
content living out his days

on a plantation.

July 1668.

With trouble brewing
between England and Spain,

he spots an opportunity.

[Zahedieh] Modyford
received instructions

to proclaim peace with Spain.

But ironically,
the Spanish sent out orders

to the Spanish governors
to commission privateers

against the English,
and there was a real feeling

that they were very
vulnerable to attack.

[Hanna] Governor Modyford
told Morgan,

"Hey, I have a feeling
that the governor of Panama

is gonna raid Jamaica.

I don't have proof,

but I have a good feeling
it's gonna happen,"

and that will justify
a raid against the Spanish.

"So, how about you,
Morgan, go out and prove

that this is going to happen,

that there is going to be
a preemptive attack

against Jamaica on the island."

So Morgan said,
"Sure, I can do that."

And so he captured a ship,

and he went up
to the captain and said,

"I have a feeling you are
about to raid Jamaica."

He said, "No, I don't think so."

And Morgan essentially
put a knife to his throat

and said, "No, tell me, you were
about to raid Jamaica, right?"

He said, "Sure.
Yeah, of course I was."

And Morgan said, "Great.

Okay, now I have a right
to do whatever I want."

[Narrator] Upon receipt
of this information,

Modyford issues Morgan
with a wide-ranging commission,

the ruthless pirate given
carte blanche to organize

the biggest
buccaneering expedition

in the history
of the West Indies,

targeting one of
the oldest European cities

in the Americas.

[Zahedieh] Like Portobelo,

Panama had a sort of
legendary wealth.

It was a glittering
sort of prize.

[Narrator] Not only
does Panama boast

a thriving mercantile community
of some 7,000 households,

but it's key to
the Spanish silver route.

Aware this could be
the mightiest conquest

of his pirating career,

Morgan and his invading force
set sail for Panama.

[Blakemore] He gathers
about 2,000 buccaneers,

probably four out
of every five buccaneers

who are present
in the Caribbean at that time,

including Dutch, French,
Spanish, Italian,

also some people
of African heritage,

some indigenous
Americans as well.

[Narrator]
Between the buccaneers

and the treasures of Panama

are 70 long miles
of thick rainforest.

Unable to safely dock
any closer to Panama,

Morgan's men sail to the head
of the Chagres River,

anchor their boats,
gather their weapons,

and set off into the jungle.

[Zahedieh] It's very,
very dense tropical vegetation

either side of the river,

so they were chopping
their way through.

Along the river, there
were regular defense posts

which had been manned
by the Spaniards.

When they realized there was
this massive English force

coming, they all just fled.

But they did take all
their provisions with them.

So the main problem
for the English

was that they actually
had no food.

[Narrator] As the days go by,

hunger and sickness
grip the buccaneers,

and many die of exhaustion.

Seven torturous days
and nights pass

before finally the survivors
emerge from the jungle.

At the shores of the Pacific,

they find Panama
and their salvation.

[moo]

[Zahedieh] They saw fields which
were full of grazing cattle,

so they just fell upon them
and barbecued the meat.

[Narrator] Whilst the
buccaneers gorge themselves

in the fields outside the city,
the people of Panama

prepare as best they can
for the battle ahead.

♪ ♪

[Zahedieh] The town of Panama
was very ill defended.

They were completely
inexperienced.

There was no trained militia
or real defense force,

so they were very vulnerable.

[Narrator] The Spanish governor
makes a difficult decision--

if the city falls
to the pirates,

there will be nothing left
for the invaders to plunder.

He orders barrels of gunpowder
to be wedged between buildings,

to be ignited if and when
their defenses are breached.

The two armies clash
beyond the city's walls.

Morgan rapidly seizes
the high ground,

dispatching a small body
of troops to take a hill

overlooking
the enemy's position.

The Spanish try
to dislodge Morgan's men,

first with a cavalry charge
and then with infantry

but are cut down by a curiously
disciplined pirate force.

In desperation,
the governor unleashes

a huge herd of cattle,

hoping the beasts will
stampede over the attackers.

But the animals, startled
by the crash of gunfire,

turn back on their keepers,
crushing the Spanish troops.

♪ ♪

It's a massacre.

The buccaneers
only lose 15 men,

whilst the Spanish
sacrifice around 500.

The last line
of defense breaks,

and Morgan's men
storm the fabled city.

[Zahedieh] Because
the Spaniards had got warning

that these privateers were
coming, they had actually

managed to ship off
all of the real treasure.

They put it all on ships
and taken it away,

and then by the time
the privateers entered,

the Spaniards burned
the town to the ground.

♪ ♪

[cannons fire]

[Narrator] The buccaneers
had battled the ocean waves,

trekked through miles
of inhospitable forest,

and slaughtered hundreds
of Spanish soldiers,

and yet all that awaits them
are smoldering ruins.

The treasures they were
promised are long gone.

Owing to the sheer size
of the invasion force,

each man takes home
a mere 80 pieces of silver,

the equivalent today of $2,500.

[Blakemore] Ironically, although
Panama is the biggest expedition

and probably
his most well known,

it's also his least successful.

[Zahedieh] The shares
were really quite small,

and there were actually stories

that Morgan had embezzled
some of the prize.

He was shipwrecked,
or cast away,

in a port outside Port Royal
when he was on his way home.

So it would have been
perfectly possible for him

to have unloaded
some of the prize.

[Narrator] Rumors
evolved into accusations.

Could Panama really have
held so little plunder?

Had Morgan taken
the best jewels for himself?

We will never truly
know what happened.

Legend claims that
Morgan's buried treasure

is still out there,

waiting for a lucky adventurer

to unearth
the lost hoard of Panama.

♪ ♪

[Narrator] Back in Jamaica,

controversy grows
around Morgan.

It becomes clear
his raid on Panama

was carried out
under false intelligence.

The Spanish never
did attack Jamaica,

meaning Spain and England
were at peace

when Morgan effectively
destroyed the city

and stole all that remained
of its riches.

A furious Spain demands
immediate retribution

for what it considers
an unprovoked attack.

[Wilson] He is taken,
as is Modyford,

and sent back
to England in chains.

[Blakemore] It seems that Morgan
is going to get into trouble.

Modyford is imprisoned
in the Tower.

Both of them may well be
put on trial for piracy,

but in fact,
no trial ever happens.

It seems like this is
just a sort of way

of calming relations
with the Spanish.

[Hanna] The king himself
clearly interacted

and met Morgan himself
and was also very impressed.

And so rather than
be charged with piracy,

Morgan was actually knighted

and sent back to Jamaica
as lieutenant governor,

meaning the sort of right-hand
man to the governor himself,

which is probably one of
the most dramatic career changes

in the entire history of piracy.

[Narrator] 1676.

Morgan returns to Port Royal
as lieutenant governor.

His mission from the king--

to end piracy
in Jamaican waters.

Former comrades
are now enemies.

Despite his orders,

Morgan is rumored
to support the local pirates,

taking a cut from the bounty
of each of the hundreds of men

operating illicitly
in the area.

When Morgan suspects the French
plan to invade Jamaica,

threatening his land,
his wealth,

he uses his new powers
to declare martial law.

The lieutenant governor
spends the following decade

fortifying the island.

[Zahedieh] By 1680, Port Royal
had 4 castles, about 120 cannon.

It was actually better fortified
then somewhere like Portobelo

had been when
he'd attacked in 1668.

[Wilson] But at the same time,

as a plantation owner
and a slaver,

he is starting to get
more invested in the land

and more embedded in
that plantocracy in Jamaica,

that is mostly actually
emerging through the wealth

that was brought in
by the privateers.

[Blakemore] Morgan becomes
an establishment figure,

and so he ends up being part
of this establishment

who move against the buccaneers

and tries
to suppress buccaneers.

He sends out expeditions to
capture what he calls pirates.

He executes some people
for piracy.

[Narrator] At the age of 53,

Morgan has reached the pinnacle
of Jamaican society.

He has plundered a fortune

in Spanish silver
and African labor.

He now owns more than
100 enslaved people

on three sugar plantations.

But the consequences
of a lifetime

of excessive drinking
finally catch up with him.

[Cusworth] His body had
really taken a battering,

and that he was
in pretty bad health.

[Narrator] On August 25, 1688,

he dies at
his mountaintop estate.

Morgan is given
a state funeral,

and an amnesty is declared

so that pirates,
privateers, and buccaneers

can pay their respect
without fear of arrest.

♪ ♪

Henry Morgan rose from poverty,

through the ranks,
becoming a powerful pirate.

[Lawrence] Morgan's story
is unbelievable.

He goes from absolutely nothing
to becoming a captain.

[Narrator] Stirring up
conflict between nations

only to find himself
coming face-to-face

with a king who pardoned him.

[Hanna] He was
sent back to England

to face charges for piracy,

only to be instead knighted,
appointed lieutenant governor,

and then sent back as one
of the primary political leaders

of the island of Jamaica.

It's a remarkable trajectory
and career transformation.

[Narrator] He had little
respect for the rule of law

other than when
it benefitted him.

He didn't care
for the lives of others.

But his relentless
desire for more

and a masterful
ever-tactical military mind

rewarded him with great wealth.

[Zahedieh] He accumulated
a considerable fortune

through the proceeds of plunder.

[Narrator] Treasure which would
be shared with powerful men

to ensure his
continued prosperity.

[Lawrence] Unlike so many
pirates who end up dead

or hanged,
Morgan is celebrated,

Morgan ends up on top,

and that makes him really
unique among pirates.

[Narrator] Morgan
singlehandedly bolstered

the Jamaican economy

through piracy, theft,
death, and slavery.

[Blakemore] Henry Morgan himself

ends up purchasing
numerous large plantations,

becomes a very large
landholder in Jamaica

and a slaveholder himself.

So there are these really
intricate connections

between slavery and plundering.

[Narrator] He rose
to the role of governor

and defended the lands
he'd helped build,

but only when his own personal
wealth was under threat.

[Zahedieh] I think
in the last 20 years,

Morgan has been recast.

He's no longer seen
as a national hero.

He was an agent of very violent
imperial expansion.

[Narrator] Captain Morgan
might be best remembered today

as a brave, swashbuckling
pirate, but he was, in fact,

a cruel and brutal thug...

[gunshot]

...who would do almost anything

to protect
his ill-gotten treasures.

♪ ♪