On this day the renowned Welsh pirate, Henry Morgan, sacked the city of Panama. Morgan was a British ‘privateer’, a legalised pirate with permission to attack Spanish ships and towns. Both Britain and Spain made extensive use of privateers to avoid having to finance a large navy, allowing the privateers to divide the spoils among themselves. Morgan already had a reputation as a brilliant but utterly ruthless commander after his destruction of the Spanish fleet at Maracaibo in 1669 and other successful raids, but his attack on Panama City came after a peace treaty had been signed between Britain and Spain. Britain was obliged to formally arrest Morgan but he was never seriously punished and two years later returned to Jamaica as Lieutenant Governor.
