Portobelo

"'It matters not, man,' he would cry to any croaker that repined.

"'God hath many things in store for us, and I know many means to do Her Majesty good service and to make us rich, for we must have gold before we see England.' he called his council of war together and showed them on the map chuxillo the famous port of honduras and the el dorado where the golden towns lay clustered around the lake of nicaragua he asked which they would have and stout-hearted sir thomas baskerville cried both so it was resolved without much ado all the spanish shipping in the port was given to the flames and thus still marking with fire the road to his grave and abandoning himself to the old adventurous dreams of his boyhood he led his desperate treasure-seekers across the mosquito gulf it was a quest as wild as any his buoyant youth had dared he knew no more of what lay before him than what the ill-drawn maps revealed nor had he now the high spirits that were wont to make a sport of danger damped with failure and in cold blood he was bent on saving his reputation or dying with it the very hand of god seemed to wave him back as he struggled westward against contrary winds until so foul and boisterous grew the weather that driven at last into the depth of the gulf he had to take shelter behind a desert island called escudo de in all the indies no spot displayed in fouler guise the black side of the western paradise the radiant tropic growth of flower and palm invited the sick to seek recovery upon the putrid soil beneath and as the ships bore them into the fairy creeks loathsome reptiles started from a slime that reeked of death but drake would not give way day after day he clung under the lee of the deadly shore hoping each hour for a wind to carry him on with his eyes still bent forward he kept the men busy setting up the pinnaces which would be required to ascend the san juan river that the delay might not be lost time but day after day the wind continued foul and with each returning dawn new victims sank in the poisonous air drake himself was stricken with dysentery but still he strove against his fate till he had no strength to leave his cabin nor was it till his sickness had imprisoned him a week that he consented to weigh and let god take him where he would but it was now too late he had drunk too deep of the island's breath he had defied his fate too long as the fleet sped back eastward the pestilence ran riot through the ships and the admiral lay still and conquered in his bed broken in spirit he could not shake off the disease and when after a week's tempestuous voyage the fleet anchored off puerto bello he was lying speechless at death's door but it was not thus a soul so stubborn could pass away it was the twenty eighth of january fifteen ninety six and as the dawn of his last day broke a delirium seized him he rose from his bed and clothed himself called like a dying viking for his arms and raving in words none cared to record yet we can hear him railing at traders who had stolen his life with poison and see in his last frenzy the origin of those envenomed rumours that whispered of foul play his fury past they led him back to bed and there at last as quiet as a sleeping child the sea-king died in the fine roadstead of the newly-founded port the fleet cast anchor and as the news spread from ship to ship the first desire of all was to hurry home as best they could like sheep that have lost their shepherd of continuing the venture there was not a thought save to seize the half-built settlement for a burnt sacrifice to grace the burial of the dead commander on the morrow the last rites were performed enclosed in a leaden coffin the body was carried a league to sea and there in sight of the spot where his first victory had been celebrated amidst the lament of trumpets and the thunder of cannon the sea received her own again at his side was sunk two of his ships for which there was no longer need and all his last taken prizes and for a pall he had the smoke of the latest fort which his lifelong enemy had raised against him so the fleet went its way and left him lying like a viking dead and alone amidst his trophies on the scene of his earliest triumph and his last defeat at home while the weed waved over that silent resting-place every dockyard was noisy with the hum and clatter of shipwrights as the great fleet grew and gathered and while the spanish indies made high holiday over the dragon's fall england in busy anticipation watched vainly westward the arm for which she was forging the mighty weapon was never to wield it to such a supreme effort drake had toiled to spur her through long years of labour with his life in his hand too often with a rope round his neck and now on the eve of accomplishing his life's work he was dead like a sick girl of an inglorious death Others were to reap where he had sowed, and hands unfit were to prove the hero's sword.

In their eager grip it bit deep and hard.

The giant reeled with a gaping wound in his side.

There must be some way out.

Thirty miles down the coast is Puerto Bello, senor.

It was once the hiding place for pirates.

In Puerto Bello is a cafe called the Geisha Girl.

The Geisha Girl? Si.

And the proprietor is Senor Kamamoto, in Japanese.

Then the long-pent rage of England suddenly burst in war with Spain.

The people went wild when the British fleet took Porto Bello, a Spanish port in Central America.

The news was cried through the streets all night.

The noise of battle seemed to be sounding all round Swinden's school, where most of the boys belonged to naval and military families.

Morgan was very familiar with all this region and was thoroughly acquainted with the avenues to the city.

In the dusk of the evening, he ran his little fleet into a solitary harbor called Nause, about thirty miles from Puerto Bello.

There was a river flowing into the harbor from the west, threading a dense, tangled, almost uninhabited wilderness.

Leaving their ships at anchor under guard of a few men, the pirates, armed to the teeth in crowded boats and canoes, ascended the river until at midnight they reached a point but a few miles distant from the city.

A veil must be cast over their horrid deeds.

When satiated with drunkenness and every conceivable excess, they commenced plundering the city.

End of chapter 14 Chapter 15 of Captain William Kidd and others of the buccaneers by John S. C. Abbott This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Chapter 15 The capture of Puerto Bello and its results The torture, sickness and misery, measures of the governor of Panama, the ambuscade, awful defeat of the Spaniards, ferocity of the pirates, strange correspondence, exchange of courtesies, return to Cuba and division of the spoil, wild orgies at Jamaica, complicity of the British government with the pirates, the new enterprise, arrival of the Oxford, destruction of the surf volant, rendezvous at Samona The wretched citizens of the captured city of Puerto Bello were exposed to every species of torture to force from them the discovery of where their riches were concealed.

Many of them had no knowledge they could give of any hidden treasure.

The success of this first great victory of Morgan as an independent pirate chieftain brought hundreds of men clamoring to join him, and within a short time he again sailed away with nine ships and nearly five hundred men bent on what was the most daring exploit of pirate history up to that time.

It was nothing less than an attack on the supposedly impregnable fortress at Puerto Bello.

It met with phenomenal success, and the pirates found themselves the richer by over a quarter of a million dollars in ready cash, aside from vast quantities of merchandise.

By this victory, Morgan was raised to the pinnacle of fame as a pirate chieftain.

There must be some way out.

30 miles down the coast is Puerto Bello, señor.

It was once the hiding place for pirates.

In Puerto Bello is a cafe called the Geisha Girl.

The Geisha Girl?

Si, and the proprietor is Señor Kamamoto in Japanese.

[instrumental music] And now with our star, John Lund, we bring you the second act of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

[instrumental music]

One of the areas can be the city of Panama Viejo here in Panama City, which was the, uh, official city founded by the Spaniards.

Otherwise, you have on the Caribbean side, the San Lorenzo Fortress, which is also spectacular because it's combined with rainforest, the site of Portobelo as well on the Caribbean side.

And then in Chiriqui, there are a lot of archeological sites to be discovered.

You know, they're just sitting there not really protected.

Lord Southampton, as Shakespeare's only patron and greatest personal friend, is forever famous through the world.

the chief prospector chosen by the company was george weymouth who landed on the coast of vane explored a little of the surrounding country kidnapped five indians and returned to england with a glowing account of what he had seen the cumulative effect of the three expeditions of gosnold pring and weymouth was a revival of interest in colonization prominent men soon got together and formed two companies which were formally chartered by king james on the tenth of april sixteen hundred and six the first or southern colony which came to be known as the london company because most of its members lived there was authorized to make its first plantation at any place upon the coast of virginia or america between the four and thirty and one and forty degrees of latitude the northern or second colony afterwards called the plymouth company was authorized to settle any place between thirty eight degrees and forty five degrees north thus overlapping both the first company to the south and the french to the north in the summer of the same year sixteen hundred and six henry challons took two ships of the plymouth company round by the west indies where he was caught in a fog by the spaniards later in the season pring went out and explored north virginia in may sixteen hundred and seven a hundred and twenty men under george popham started to colonize this north virginia in august they landed in maine at the mouth of the kennebec where they built a fort some houses and a pinnace finding themselves short of provisions two-thirds of their number returned to england late in the same year the remaining third passed a terrible winter popham died and raleigh gilbert succeeded him as governor when spring came all the survivors of the colony sailed home in the pinnace they had built and the enterprise was abandoned the reports of the colonists after their winter in maine were to the effect that the second or northern colony was not habitable for englishmen in the meantime the permanent foundation of the first or southern colony the real virginia was well under way the same number of intending emigrants went out a hundred and twenty on the twenty sixth of april sixteen hundred and seven about four o'clock in the morning we described the land of virginia the same day we entered into the bay of chesapeake thus begins the tale of captain john smith of the founding of jamestown and of a permanent virginia the first of the future united states now that we have seen one spot in vast america really become the promise of the english nation which raleigh had longed for we must return once more to raleigh himself as mocked by his tantalizing vision he looked out on a changing world from his secular mount pisgah in the prison tower of london by this time he had felt both extremes of fortune to the full during the travesty of justice at his trial the attorney-general having no sound argument covered him with slanderous abuse these are three of the false accusations on which he was condemned to death viperous traitor damnable atheist and spider of hell hawkins drake frobisher and grenville all were dead so raleigh last of the great elizabethan lions was caged and baited for the sport of spain six of his twelve years of imprisonment were lightened by the companionship of his wife elizabeth throgmorton most beautiful of all the late queen's maids of honour another solace was the history of the world the writing of which set his mind free to wander forth at will although his body stayed behind the bars but the contrast was too poignant not to wring this cry of anguish from his preface yet when we once come in sight of the port of death to which all winds drive us and when by letting fall that fatal anchor which can never be weighed again the navigation of this life takes end then it is i say that our own cogitations those sad and severe cogitations formerly beaten from us by our health and felicity return again and pay us to the uttermost for all the pleasing passages of our life past at length in the spring of sixteen sixteen raleigh was released though still unpardoned he and his devoted wife immediately put all that remained of their fortune into a new venture twenty years before this he thought he could make discovery of the mighty rich and beautiful empire of guiana and of that great and golden city which the spaniards called eldorado and the natives call manoa now he would go back to find the eldorado of his dreams somewhere inland that mysterious manoa among those southern mountains of bright stones which lay behind the spanish main the king's cupidity was roused and so in sixteen seventeen raleigh was commissioned as the admiral of fourteen sail in november he arrived off the coast that guarded all the fabled wealth still lying undiscovered in the far recesses of the orinocan wilds guiana manoa eldorado the inland voices called him on but spaniards barred the way and raleigh defying the instructions of the king attacked them the english force was far too weak and disaster followed raleigh's son and heir was killed and his lieutenant committed suicide his men began to mutiny spanish troops and ships came closing in and the forlorn remnant of the expedition on which such hopes were built went straggling home to england there raleigh was arrested and sent to the block on the twenty ninth of october sixteen eighteen he had played the great game of life and death and lost it when he mounted the scaffold he asked to see the axe feeling the edge he smiled and said tis a sharp medicine but a cure for all diseases then he bared his neck and died like one who had served the great queen as her captain of the guard chapter chapter twelve drake's end drake in disfavour after fifteen hundred and eighty-nine seems a contradiction that nothing can explain it can however be quite easily explained though never explained away he had simply failed to make the lisbon expedition pay a heinous offence in days when the navy was as much a revenue department as the customs or excise he had also failed to take lisbon itself the reasons why mattered nothing either to the disappointed government or to the general public but six years later in fifteen ninety five when drake was fifty and hawkins sixty-three england called on them both to strike another blow at spain elizabeth was helping henry the fourth of france against the league of french and spanish catholics henry astute as he was gallant had found paris worth a mass and to elizabeth's dismay had gone straight over to the church of rome with terms of toleration for the huguenots the war against the holy league however had not yet ended the effect of henry's conversion was to make a more united france against the encroaching power of spain and every eye in england was soon turned on drake and hawkins for a stroke at spanish power beyond the sea drake and hawkins formed a most unhappy combination made worse by the fact that hawkins now old beyond his years soured by misfortune and staled for the sea by long spells of office work was put in as a check on drake in whom elizabeth had lost her former confidence sir thomas baskerville was to command the troops here at least no better choice could have possibly been made baskerville had fought with rare distinction in the brest campaign and before that in the netherlands there was the usual hesitation about letting the fleet go far from home the purely defensive school was still strong elizabeth in certain moods belonged to it and an incident which took place about this time seemed to give weight to the argument of the defensivists a small spanish force obliged to find water and provisions in a hurry put into mouse-hole in cornwall and finding no opposition burnt several villages down to the ground the moment these spaniards heard that drake and hawkins were at plymouth they decamped but this ridiculous raid threw the country into doubt or consternation elizabeth was as brave as a lion for herself but she never grasped the meaning of naval strategy and she was supersensitive to any strong general opinion however false drake and hawkins with baskerville's troops all in transports and many supply vessels for the west india voyage were ordered to cruise about ireland and spain looking for enemies the admirals at once pointed out that this was the work of the channel fleet not that of a joint expedition bound for america then just as the queen was penning an angry reply she received a letter from drake saying that the chief spanish treasure-ship from mexico had been seen in porto rico little better than a wreck and that there was time to take her if they could only sail at once the expedition was on the usual joint stock lines and elizabeth was the principal shareholder she swallowed the bait whole and sent sailing orders down to plymouth by return and so on the twenty eighth of august fifteen ninety five twenty five hundred men in twenty seven vessels sailed out bound for new spain surprise was essential for new spain taught by repeated experience was well armed and twenty five hundred men were less formidable now than five hundred twenty years before arrived at the canaries las palmas was found too strong to carry by immediate assault and drake had no time to attack it in form he was two months late already so he determined to push on to the west indies when drake reached porto rico he found the spanish in a measure forewarned and forearmed though he astonished the garrison by standing boldly in the harbor and dropping anchor close to a masked battery the real surprise was now against him the spanish gunners got the range to an inch brought down the flagship's mizzen knocked drake's chair from under him killed two senior officers beside him and wounded many more in the meantime hawkins worn out by his exertions had died this reception added to the previous failures and the astonishing strength of porto rico produced a most depressing effect drake weighed anchor and went out he was soon back in a new place cleverly shielded from the spanish guns by a couple of islands after some more manoeuvres he attacked the spanish fleet with fireballs and by boarding when a burning frigate lit up the whole wild scene the spanish gunners and musketeers poured into the english ships such a concentrated fire that drake was compelled to retreat he next tried the daring plan of running straight into the harbour where there might still be a chance but the spaniards sank four of their own valuable vessels in the harbour mouth guns stores and all just in the nick of time and thus completely barred the way foiled again drake dashed for the mainland seized la hacha burnt it ravaged the surrounding country and got away with a successful haul of treasure then he seized santa marta and nombre de dios both of which were found nearly empty the whole of new spain was taking the alarm the dragons back again meanwhile a fleet of more than twice drake's strength was coming out from spain to attack him in the rear nor was this all for baskerville and his soldiers who had landed at nombre de dios and started overland were in full retreat along the road from panama having found an impregnable spanish position on the way it was a sad beginning for fifteen ninety six the centennial year of england's first connection with america since our return from panama he never carried mirth nor joy in his face wrote one of baskerville's officers who was constantly near drake a council of war was called and drake making the best of it asked which they would have truxillo the port of honduras or the golden towns round about lake nicaragua both answered baskerville one after the other so the course was laid for san juan on the nicaragua coast a head wind forced drake to anchor under the island of varagua a hundred and twenty-five miles west of nombra de dios bay and right in the deadliest part of that fever-stricken coast the men began to sicken and die off drake complained at table that the place had changed for the worse his earlier memories of new spain were of a land like a pleasant and delicious arbour very different from the vast and desert wilderness he felt all round him now the wind held foul more and more men lay dead or dying at last drake himself the man of iron constitution and steel nerves fell ill and had to keep his cabin then reports were handed in to say the stores were running low and that there would soon be too few hands to man the ships on this he gave the order to weigh and take the wind as god had sent it so they stood out from that pestilential mosquito gulf and came to anchor in the fine harbor of puerto bello which the spaniards had chosen to replace the one at nombra de dios twenty miles east here in the night of the twenty seventh of january drake suddenly sprang out of his berth dressed himself and raved of battles fleets armadas plymouth hove and plots against his own command the frenzy passed away he fell exhausted and was lifted back to bed again then like a christian he yielded up his spirit quietly his funeral rites befitted his renown the great new spanish fort of puerto bello was given to the flames as were nearly all the spanish prizes and even two of his own english ships for there were now no sailors left to man them thus amid the thunder of the guns whose voice he knew so well and surrounded by consuming powers afloat and on the shore his body was committed to the deep while muffled drums rolled out their last salute and trumpets wailed his requiem end of chapter twelve end of elizabethan sea-dogs by william wood

And this means that when the Spanish sentries in the fort look out, they say, "Oh, there's a ship approaching," but it's one ship.

How worried should we be? Now, it takes them nearly four days to get within sight of Portobelo in these small boats, but they finally arrive nearby on an afternoon in July.

At this point, they slow right down because the entire plan relies on stealth and not drawing attention to themselves before the attack.

So they're not even going to approach the town or dock there until darkness falls.

The following morning, Captain Morgan led his men in an assault on the third and final fort, and here, the soldiers inside quickly surrendered.

They had no wish to be slaughtered like the Spanish soldiers in the first fort were, so they were very quick to lay down their guns.

Now that all three defensive forts had been eliminated, Captain Morgan and his men were fully in possession of the city of Portobelo.

They moved freely throughout it.