Monday, March 13, 2006
Real Pirates of the Caribbean!
If you have been to the movies the last couple of years or rented a movie you have probably seen Johnny Depp as pirate Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean. If you are more accustomed to the classics, then you probably remember the swashbuckling Errol Flynn. Of course both were fictional but there were real pirates of the Caribbean. You might be wondering why I am not writing about pirates of the Bering Sea or other Arctic climes. I don’t know of any. Pirates tend to go where there is gold and there just was not any during the heyday of the buccaneers. The Russians were virtually giving away Alaska. Nome and the Klondike would come much later. I have read, however, that an Arctic Pirate uttered the phrase “Shiver my timber!” If true, that would explain why there are almost no pirates around here. They prefer to drink their rum on warm, sandy beaches.
One of the most famous of the real pirates of the Caribbean was Admiral Edward Vernon. Of course he did not start out as an admiral, but he did apprentice as a buccaneer. His home base was Jamaica—plenty of rum there. The British had seized this lightly guarded island from the Spanish in 1655 and had set up pirate operations there. In 1739 Vernon sailed to Portobello, Panama, along with Lawrence Washington, the brother of George, and destroyed the city. Thousands of medals were struck by the British to commemorate this event. In fact Vernon became the most celebrated Brit in the eighteenth century. The Spanish naturally took strong exception to this dastardly deed. So strong that it started the War of Jenkins Ear. To be certain, Jenkins had lost his ear eight years earlier. But no matter. When he showed the severed ear to the members of Parliament as proof of a Spanish atrocity, they were aghast. They voted for war. Back in the 13 colonies George Washington paid homage to his brother’s commanding officer by naming his estate Mount Vernon in honor of the pirate Edward Vernon.
In 1555, Mary Tudor had married her cousin Philip II, the Emperor of Spain. She soon became known as Bloody Mary. She died in 1558. Elizabeth I, a protestant, then came to the throne. Philip II was soon courting his sister-in-law. No dice. She kept him at bay. However, she was in desperate need of money to shore up her shaky regime. She turned to the private sector and befriended Francis Drake. He agreed to split his loot with her royal majesty. He was dispatched to the Caribbean to prey on Spanish galleons laden with gold and silver. He plundered scores of ships in the Caribbean. When Philip asked his sister-in-law about Drake, she protested that she knew nothing of the man. Philip did not buy into this at all. In 1579 Francis rounded the tip of South America and pillaged Spanish settlements along the Pacific. He seized the treasure ship Cacafuego and got access to all the Spanish nautical maps of the Pacific. With his ship now heavily laden with gold and silver he decided it would be unwise to sail back to England the way he had come. He continued across the Pacific and finally reached home in 1580 becoming the second man to circumnavigate the globe. Queen Elizabeth was overjoyed—not necessarily because of the circumnavigation, but more probably because of her share of the booty. She boarded the Golden Hind and knighted the pirate—officially making him Sir Francis. Philip was not pleased. He simmered for seven years. He was even less pleased when Sir Francis raided the port city of Cadiz in 1587 burning all his seasoned barrel staves that he needed for the Armada that he was going to send against England the next year. When the Armada was launched in 1588 the ships carried their provisions in green barrels that slowly poisoned their food and water—a situation that proved fatal when the Spanish ran out of ammunition and were forced to sail around the British Islands.
In 1596 Drake was back in the Caribbean. He launched another attack on Portobello. This time he was unsuccessful. He died of dysentery and was buried at sea in a lead coffin just outside Portobello.
The final Chapter in Portobello History focused on Thomas Gage, an English Jesuit priest. In 1637 Gage had visited Panama and wrote a vivid memoir of his travels. There was so much silver in Portobello that it had to be stored on the streets because there was insufficient room in the customs house. Now that caught the attention of everyone—especially the pirates on Jamaica. Everyone coveted the Spanish gold, but no one had the means or the wherewithal to get to it. None that is until Henry Morgan. In 1668 Morgan dropped his rum and headed for Portobello. The first two forts fell quickly but Morgan finally was forced to use priests and nuns to shield his troops as they scaled the walls. Victory was theirs but the plunder was small. There was no silver on the streets and no silver in the customs house. Poor pirates!
If you have been to the movies the last couple of years or rented a movie you have probably seen Johnny Depp as pirate Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean. If you are more accustomed to the classics, then you probably remember the swashbuckling Errol Flynn. Of course both were fictional but there were real pirates of the Caribbean. You might be wondering why I am not writing about pirates of the Bering Sea or other Arctic climes. I don’t know of any. Pirates tend to go where there is gold and there just was not any during the heyday of the buccaneers. The Russians were virtually giving away Alaska. Nome and the Klondike would come much later. I have read, however, that an Arctic Pirate uttered the phrase “Shiver my timber!” If true, that would explain why there are almost no pirates around here. They prefer to drink their rum on warm, sandy beaches.
One of the most famous of the real pirates of the Caribbean was Admiral Edward Vernon. Of course he did not start out as an admiral, but he did apprentice as a buccaneer. His home base was Jamaica—plenty of rum there. The British had seized this lightly guarded island from the Spanish in 1655 and had set up pirate operations there. In 1739 Vernon sailed to Portobello, Panama, along with Lawrence Washington, the brother of George, and destroyed the city. Thousands of medals were struck by the British to commemorate this event. In fact Vernon became the most celebrated Brit in the eighteenth century. The Spanish naturally took strong exception to this dastardly deed. So strong that it started the War of Jenkins Ear. To be certain, Jenkins had lost his ear eight years earlier. But no matter. When he showed the severed ear to the members of Parliament as proof of a Spanish atrocity, they were aghast. They voted for war. Back in the 13 colonies George Washington paid homage to his brother’s commanding officer by naming his estate Mount Vernon in honor of the pirate Edward Vernon.
In 1555, Mary Tudor had married her cousin Philip II, the Emperor of Spain. She soon became known as Bloody Mary. She died in 1558. Elizabeth I, a protestant, then came to the throne. Philip II was soon courting his sister-in-law. No dice. She kept him at bay. However, she was in desperate need of money to shore up her shaky regime. She turned to the private sector and befriended Francis Drake. He agreed to split his loot with her royal majesty. He was dispatched to the Caribbean to prey on Spanish galleons laden with gold and silver. He plundered scores of ships in the Caribbean. When Philip asked his sister-in-law about Drake, she protested that she knew nothing of the man. Philip did not buy into this at all. In 1579 Francis rounded the tip of South America and pillaged Spanish settlements along the Pacific. He seized the treasure ship Cacafuego and got access to all the Spanish nautical maps of the Pacific. With his ship now heavily laden with gold and silver he decided it would be unwise to sail back to England the way he had come. He continued across the Pacific and finally reached home in 1580 becoming the second man to circumnavigate the globe. Queen Elizabeth was overjoyed—not necessarily because of the circumnavigation, but more probably because of her share of the booty. She boarded the Golden Hind and knighted the pirate—officially making him Sir Francis. Philip was not pleased. He simmered for seven years. He was even less pleased when Sir Francis raided the port city of Cadiz in 1587 burning all his seasoned barrel staves that he needed for the Armada that he was going to send against England the next year. When the Armada was launched in 1588 the ships carried their provisions in green barrels that slowly poisoned their food and water—a situation that proved fatal when the Spanish ran out of ammunition and were forced to sail around the British Islands.
In 1596 Drake was back in the Caribbean. He launched another attack on Portobello. This time he was unsuccessful. He died of dysentery and was buried at sea in a lead coffin just outside Portobello.
The final Chapter in Portobello History focused on Thomas Gage, an English Jesuit priest. In 1637 Gage had visited Panama and wrote a vivid memoir of his travels. There was so much silver in Portobello that it had to be stored on the streets because there was insufficient room in the customs house. Now that caught the attention of everyone—especially the pirates on Jamaica. Everyone coveted the Spanish gold, but no one had the means or the wherewithal to get to it. None that is until Henry Morgan. In 1668 Morgan dropped his rum and headed for Portobello. The first two forts fell quickly but Morgan finally was forced to use priests and nuns to shield his troops as they scaled the walls. Victory was theirs but the plunder was small. There was no silver on the streets and no silver in the customs house. Poor pirates!
