Henry Morgan

People say that history is always written by the winners. Examples of significant winners such as Alexander The Great who remains known as an amazing leader and hero despite the thousands of lives he claimed and horrendous acts he partook in. When two opposing conceptions battle one another, the one that comes out victorious is usually glorified and remembered while the conquered side is belittled. This is why we may never know the truth behind an enormous amount of important events or people. Henry Morgan would be a victim of this same saying being a part of a vast variety of facts and fictions detailing his background. 

In both books “Buccaneers and Pirates” and “Under the Black Flag”, his origins are spoken with differing ideas causing conflict with each other. The novel “Buccaneers and Pirates” characterizes Henry Morgan’s parents as farmers, but he despised that type of lifestyle with such hate he went off on his own to pursue an alternative path of becoming a sailor. On the contrary, “Under the Black Flag” says,”Two of his uncles were distinguished soldiers” (Cordingly 44) and does not speak much about his parents.The author includes his uncles to give a reasoning of inspiration for his chosen path as later on in the book Henry Morgan is granted more opportunities that will eventually lead him to gain a prestige status and a name for himself. This proves that Henry Morgan’s inspiration for his life at sea is heavily fogged with differing stories. Both books vaguely describe his origin story on why he chose the lifestyle he would always be remembered as, but give details that are very much different from the other. 

In addition, Porto Bello would be regarded as one of Henry Morgan’s widely known areas he pillaged and made use of. According to the author Frank R. Stockton in “Buccaneers and Pirates”, he describes Porto Bello being one of many towns that would be heavily fortified and safeguarded in which the Spanish had control over. The author also mentions how Henry Morgan made use of the “religious people” which consisted of nuns and monks. He would give them the task of simply putting up ladders putting their lives at risk, so Henry Morgan and his men could climb the well fortified town. This would cause the Governor to rain fire upon them as he was determined to defend the town no matter the people who had to suffer. Eventually, Henry Morgan and his crew were able to overcome the walls. He would ask the Governor for ransom sending a negotiator between the two; This would soon lead the Governor paying the ransom and cause the pirates to depart from the town. The book “Under the Black Flag” spoke of the forts defending the town to be on a greater extent different from the book “Buccaneers and Pirates”. For example, the author in “Under the Black Flag” writes,” "Morgan had learned that the forts which defended the town from the sea were poorly manned" (Cordingly 45). Additionally, it is detailed that Henry Morgan did not risk the lives of religious people to set up ladders for him and men to climb. This reveals that the books had differing perspectives on what really happened with their plundering of the town. The lack of agreement between the two texts shows a difficult reasoning in separating the fact from the fiction.

In conclusion, there are quite a bit of discrepancies between the facts and fictions surrounding Henry Morgan. His generalized tales and stories of what he has done stands true to the books which is why some of the stories we can believe are true. However, the specific detailing of his plundering varies from each book causing difficulty in identifying the accuracy between the facts and the fictions. Some of the stories written about him have bettered his legacy while others have deteriorated his story. 

Sources Consulted:

Cordingly, David. Under the Back Flag- The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006.

Stockton, Frank. Buccaneers and Pirates. Dover Publications, 2007.