QUARANTINE BLOG # 642

January 1, 2022

The QB Index for 2021 is complete and available as a PDF.

On the return trip from the victory at Gibraltar, Morgan’s ships hit a tropical storm. They faced a storm of a different kind when they arrived home. Because of Portobelo and Maracaibo, Spain began a Council of War of the Indies. In the streets of London, however, Morgan was a hero.

With Spanish privateers in the Caribbean, the Jamaican assembly was in no mood to tie Admiral Henry Morgan’s hands. Drummers marched through the streets calling for volunteers to man Morgan’s ships.

Where would they strike? Morgan had two objectives; to acquire a pile of treasure and strike a smashing blow to the Spanish empire. The buccaneers cast their eyes toward the oldest city in the Western Hemisphere – Panama City. To take Panama would be to show Spain unable to protect its most valuable assets in the colonies. And besides, it was very, very rich.

Panama’s best hope for protection lay in the fact that the journey to reach it was a nightmare: Mountains, deep rivers, swamps thick with fever mist, sudden violent rains, and carnivorous animals waited for anyone brave enough to attempt it. Snakes, yellow fever, and dysentery would make it a memorable trip.

The assault began at Fort San Lorenzo, the door to the isthmus. The first attack, across an open stretch of bare land, left Morgan and his men vulnerable to Spanish fire, and they withdrew. As night fell, they charged a second time across the darkened field. The battle raged on until an act of sheer physical courage altered its course.

One of the pirates was wounded with an arrow in his back, which pierced his body through to the other side. He broke off the point, pulled the arrow out the way it had come in, wound a little cotton around the arrow, put it into his musket, and shot it back into the fort. The cotton was kindled by the explosion of the powder, and caught two or three houses inside the castle on fire.

The fire crept onward until it caught onto a barrel of powder which exploded, raining flame and burning thatch roofs and wooden walls. The garrison’s morale began to crumble; men deserted their posts and escaped in boats tied along the river, heading upstream toward Panama. With 1,500 men Morgan followed them down the Chagres River.

President Don Juan de Guzman led the defense of Panama with only 800 soldiers. Everyone else had either evacuated, disappeared, or been killed. Don Juan led a crowd to the church of Our Lady of Rosario and vowed to die in the defense of the Lady of Pure and Immaculate Conception. The crowd chanted the same oath as their president: death or victory.

On January 28, 1671, the privateers drew up to confront the Spaniards. Don Juan’s cavalry saw the approaching buccaneers, wheeled their mounts toward them, cried, “Viva el Rey!” (“God save the king!”), and charged.

The pirates dropped to one knee, took aim at the line of onrushing horses, and with a sharp crack of muskets the front line fell. With the first volley, Don Juan’s brightest hope, the cavalry, was taken out of the picture.

Soon the Spanish defense collapsed. The buccaneers chased the terrified Spaniards for three miles, while the soon-to-be-conquered attempted to hide in bushes and shrubs. Anyone who made the slightest resistance died.

The devastation was not over. Don Juan had given orders to the commander of the artillery, back in the city: If Morgan won the day, he was to set a match to the garrison’s magazines and blow the fort sky-high. When the commander saw the retreating soldiers, with Morgan in hot pursuit, he lit the fuse and ran for safety. When the gunpowder ignited, the wind blew the flames throughout the city, street by street.

The pirates entered a city of black and orange, embers flying through the air, flames whipping from house to house. Now they took on the strange role of firefighters, trying to save the city so they could pillage it. Valuable booty was being consumed.

The city burned through the night. When daylight came, the buccaneers awoke to find Panama a place of cinders and ash. In full control, they methodically searched Panama for swag. Morgan had done what the illustrious Francis Drake had failed to do: crossed the fearsome isthmus and taken Panama. 

Old Panama City today

But since Morgan set out from Jamaica, a peace treaty had been signed between Spain and England. Spain forgave all the raids and outrages of the privateers against the Spanish Main. In turn, England agreed to stop its undeclared war against the kingdom and to bring in the privateers. The English ratified the Treaty of Madrid on November 28, 1670, and on December 18, 1670, Morgan sailed for Panama with no news that the Spanish were now his friends.

Treaty of Madrid

Henry Morgan spent 28 days raking over the coals of Panama – which had been an enemy of England when he left. Now the two nations were friends and Morgan was on the wrong side. Finally, on February 24, the occupation of Panama ended, and Morgan marched out the way he’d come in. Along with him went 175 mules loaded with “silver, gold and other precious things.”

The pirates floated down the Chagres to San Lorenzo where they counted the spoils. The estimates range from 140,000 pieces of eight ($7 million in modern dollars) to over 400,000 pieces of eight ($20 million). The lower estimate is probably more accurate. It was still a significant sum. 

When the total costs of the raid were added up, the loss of Panama had cost Spain between 11 and 18 million pesos, or between $550 and $900 million.

The story of Henry Morgan concludes next week.

🛐  Today’s close is by Rebecca Barlow Jordan.

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19)

Each time a new year rolls around, I still feel the nudge somewhere in my spirit to make my “lists.” I don’t call them “New Year’s resolutions” anymore. I’ve broken too many. Still, I can’t help evaluating the previous year to see if there are some things I could do better or some attitudes I could change. Like most, I long for my life to imitate Christ’s character more and more.

One day I was reading in Psalms and noticed that the Psalmist David wanted those same things. His “list,” however, did not smack of self-motivated resolutions, but of affirming commitments. David’s shepherd heart knew the power of trusting in God through all kinds of difficulties. Even in the midst of danger, he determined to choose the right action and attitude.

Now as I stand on the threshold of each year and face new choices, I try to adopt some of those same affirmations David wrote about here in Psalms: 

How will I choose to handle adversity? “I will bless the Lord at all times” (Psalm 34:1). 

What will I think about? “I will meditate on your wonders” (Psalm 119:27). 

How can I make God known? “I will tell of your greatness” (Psalm 145:6).

Working on those commitments – and so many others – requires more than an “I will” on my part. It means trusting that on the other side of “I will” is the promise of “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Jesus wants to do a new thing through us, not just at the beginning of each year, but at the start of each day.

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