How did Captain Henry Morgan pull off one of the most audacious pirate attacks in history?

In the final chapter of our story of Captain Henry Morgan, we follow the legendary privateer as he attempts the seemingly impossible: the capture of Panama City.

After surviving the explosion of his own flagship, Morgan could have walked away. Instead, he assembled the largest Buccaneer force of its kind, bringing together around 2,000 English, French, Dutch, African and Caribbean fighters for an extraordinary expedition across Panama.

But Panama wasn’t waiting to be attacked.

The Spanish knew Morgan was coming. Forts were reinforced, soldiers prepared, routes blocked and supplies removed. To reach the city, Morgan and his men would have to capture heavily defended positions, travel down the Chagres River, cross dense rainforest and survive hunger, ambushes and disease before they could even face the Spanish army.

And then there were the cows.

In this episode of The Chocolate Podcast, we explore the extraordinary Battle of Panama, the disastrous Spanish cattle strategy, the mysterious fate of Panama’s silver and the combination of resilience, brutality and military ingenuity that turned Henry Morgan into a legend.

We also uncover the connection to chocolate. Pirates weren’t simply hunting for chests of gold. Sugar, cacao and other valuable commodities were an important part of the Caribbean economy they were fighting over, and chocolate itself could be treasure.

Finally, we follow Morgan back to England, where the man who should perhaps have been punished for attacking Panama instead found himself celebrated, knighted and ultimately transformed from pirate into politician.

Was Henry Morgan a criminal, a military genius, an entrepreneur or simply the ultimate opportunist?

Probably a little of all four.

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