Qualla: Henry Morgan's Raid on Porto Bello

Henry Morgan's Raid on Porto Bello: Introduction

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Only the captains knew where they were going. When Henry Morgan's nine vessels weighed anchor on July 10, 1668, the 470 men aboard had been told nothing about the destination. Morgan, a Welsh privateer operating under a letter of marque from Jamaica's governor, understood that secrecy was survival. His target was Porto Bello -- the third-largest city on the Spanish Main, a fortified terminus where Peruvian silver arrived by mule train and departed in the holds of treasure galleons. Three castles guarded the harbor. The city had repelled Francis Drake in 1595. And Morgan planned to take it with canoes.

Henry Morgan's Raid on Porto Bello: Canoes Against Castles

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Morgan's fleet sailed from the Bay of Bocas del Toro to El Puerto del Ponton, four miles from Porto Bello, where the men transferred into 23 canoes. Fortune intervened almost immediately: six emaciated English prisoners who had escaped from Spanish captivity appeared and offered ...

Henry Morgan's Raid on Porto Bello: Prisoners at the Gates

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Santiago Castle still held, and Morgan devised a stratagem that would haunt his reputation for centuries. He ordered ladders built and then marched captured civilians -- the town's mayor, friars, nuns, the elderly, and the sick -- toward the castle as human shields. The privateer...

Henry Morgan's Raid on Porto Bello: The Ransom of an Empire

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

With all three forts taken, Morgan's privateers stripped Porto Bello of its wealth. Torture was used on residents to reveal hidden caches of money and jewels, though no firsthand witnesses confirmed the claims of widespread rape that later appeared in Exquemelin's biography. Morg...

Henry Morgan's Raid on Porto Bello: Silver, Silk, and Consequences

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On August 1, 1668, mules carried the ransom into Porto Bello: 27 silver ingots plus gold and silver coins totaling 100,000 pesos. Combined with loot already taken -- silk, linens, cloth, weapons, 57 brass cannons stripped from the forts, and enslaved people seized from the town -...