QUARANTINE BLOG # 621

December 11, 2021

When word reached Port Royal that Henry Morgan was on his way back in, the townspeople were amazed, having considered the men lost at sea or long dead in some wretched jungle. The buccaneers had been gone two years. Morgan, now only 30 years old, sailed triumphantly into the port, dressed in the spoils of war.

But the politics on Jamaica were changing. The Spanish were furious about the privateers like Morgan. English King Charles II ordered that his Jamaican subjects stop their raids on all parties, which to the islanders was like an open invitation to every nation to attack them at will.

King Charles II

Many of the Port Royalists reacted with bitterness; the king did not seem to realize that on any given day, a Spanish, Dutch, or French ship could appear on the horizon and disgorge hundreds of soldiers or pirates, who would then proceed to plunder your house, rape your women, and squeeze your eyeballs out of your head (a favorite torture of the time). The king provided no funds for beefing up the island’s militia and no Royal Navy ships to protect the harbor. Into this desperate situation stepped Henry Morgan.

In Port Royal, Governor Sir Thomas Modyford received reports that in Cuba troops were being mustered, and a fleet was being readied. Jamaica was said to be the target: Spain was finally going to take it back. 

Governor Sir Thomas Modyford

Ignoring London, Modyford and the council issued Henry Morgan a commission to sail to Cuba and gain information about any impending enemy attack on Jamaica. Modyford elevated Morgan from “colonel” to “admiral” of the militia. 

The pirates decided that Havana, one of the strongest places in the West Indies, was more than they could handle. They decided on the city of Puerto del Principe, one of the seven original settlements founded by the Spanish sitting 45 miles inland from the Cuban coast, which had never been raided by pirates. Buccaneers loved fresh, untouched cities, and here was a prosperous one.

Morgan marched on Puerto del Principe and the actual battle took just four hours. The Spaniards lost most of their men, the pirates only a few. Morgan sent a message to the town’s men: Surrender, or see the town in flames, and your wives and children torn in pieced before your faces. The Spanish relented. After the town was looted and ransom collected, they counted their booty, 50,000 pieces of eight (or $2.5 million in today’s dollars).

Surrender, or else!

Not satisfied with $2.5 million, the privateers sailed for Portobelo, Panama, the terminus for tons of raw silver dug which was made into pieces of eight at the king’s mints.

It was a major stronghold with two large castles, one on each side of the harbor that would fix any enemy ship with cannon fire. Morgan rallied his men with the words, “If our numbers are small, our hearts are great, and the fewer we are, the better share we shall have in the spoils!”

As formidable as it appeared, the soldiers inside Portobelo hadn’t been paid in over 18 months, leading some of them simply to disappear from their posts and others to take up side jobs in the town, where they slept at night, leaving the castles seriously undermanned. In the entire operation Morgan lost only 18 and 32 wounded.

The President of Panama, Don Agustin de Bracamonte, had led the Spanish forces, but when faced with the reality of defeat, he sent an intermediary under a white flag. Morgan demanded 350,000 pesos ($17.8 million), payable immediately, or the cily would go up in flames.

Don Agustin de Bracamonte

At length a deal was struck: 100,000 pesos in cash. Morgan had taken a total of $12.5 million in Portobelo. The average pirate received about $12,000. This was three years wages for an average laborer in London – enough to set himself up in business, or buy a good piece of land, or a long stretch of unrestrained debauchery.

Next week, Morgan takes on Venezuela.

👉  Today’s close, “Hopeful Along with the Others,” is from Celebrating Abundance, by Walter Brueggemann.

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this (Isaiah 9:6-7).

What Jews and Christians have in common – alone with no one else – is that we believe that there is one who is coming to make the world right. We believe that God has not given up on His own will for the world and His  promise to make the world whole and safe and peaceable. We believe that this one who is to come to make all things new and good and safe and whole is a human agent, a human person who is committed to God’s way. We believe that the dreams of heaven wall come to be earthly reality, which is why we pray regularly, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

What distinguishes Christians from all others – including Jews – is that we believe that this one who is to come from God has already come and begun his work. It is Jesus of Nazareth. We call him Christ, which is a Greek translation of the Jewish word “messiah.”

Since the very earliest church, we Christians have watched Jesus, and we have seen his work: We have listened to his teaching and noticed his wisdom. We have noticed his attentiveness to the needs of the poor and the lame and the blind and the lepers. We have watched as he gives new life where none seemed possible. We have noticed and concluded that God’s power for life is present in Jesus, and we believe – as Jews wait for Messiah – that this Messiah-Christ, Jesus, will come again to make the world right.

Do I need to tell you that waiting for this Man from God is what Christmas is all about? Do I need to tell you that Christmas is a time to ponder and notice what has already begun of this new age, because Jesus has already been here? Do I need to remind you that in baptism, we Christians have signed on for the work of justice and righteousness and compassion and forgiveness that is the hallmark of God’s presence in Jesus? That waiting and doing gives us a plate full of joy and work, without being overburdened with the excessive Christmas demands of our culture? We believe that. We believe God is keeping his promises even among us in our time and place.

In this season, we look to the hope of the Scripture and trust that you are not through with this world. As we await Jesus’s coming anew, fill us with your Spirit to do the work of justice, righteousness, compassion, and forgiveness in our time and place. Amen.

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