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Auction: 16043 - Autographs, Historical Documents, Ephemera and Postal History
Lot: 150

(x) Documents
Sir Henry Morgan, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica
1681 (14 July) entire letter "To the honoble the Comissions of his maies Navy". The letter was written in Santiago de la Vega in Cuba gives an account of the situation with regards to H.M.S. Norwich and the "... villanous Pyrates that now infest these coasts" and includes, " ... Wee have taken the Sloop of one Jacob Evertson a most notorious Pyrate and make use of her to accompany the Norwich ... She saves the great charge wee were att before for a Pylote, sounds places that are dangerous and is able to persue Pyrates where the Fregott by reason of the Shoalness of the water cannot goe ...". "I have lately had some Pyrates brought in, whereof one was according to his demerits executed, and one Thoms, a most infamous villain who lately took a vessel of this Island of a considerable value is taken and now under Tryall. I have sent the Fregott to crewse and endeavr to reduce such as are abroad and have given Capt Haywood particular Charges to look out for one Lawrence, a great and mischievous Pyrate, who commands a ship of twenty eight gunns and has two hundred men on board, and that the Fregott might bee the better able to deale with him and freer from danger of being worsted or taken.". The letter finishes with the strong and distinctive signature of Hen. Morgan.



One edge of the letter has been affected by damp and separated along the fold, however, most of the text is still legible and there is a transcript printed in 1855. Further information is given on one flap, but this is mostly duplicating what is included in the letter. A rare and highly important letter from this carismatic, rags-to-riches, character. Photo

Henry Morgan was born in Llanrumney, Wales around 1635. Not much is known about his early life, until he appears in Barbados in 1655. He had a very colourful life as a privateer with many notable successes around the Caribbean. During 1670 Henry Morgan put together a fleet of 36 ships with around 1800 men, and staged an attack on Panama. After a difficult battle, Panama fell to Morgan who left with an estimated 400,000 pieces of eight. When news of the sacking of Panama arrived in London, it was received badly as the political climate had changed. The attack on Panama was in direct breach of the ‘Treaty of Madrid’ which was a peace treaty between England and Spain, signed in 1670. As a result of this breach Henry Morgan was summoned back to England to answer for his crime. He was able to prove that he had no knowledge of the peace treaty and was left free to travel around England as he pleased. Morgan used this time to make some powerful friends, including the 2nd Duke of Albemarle, Christopher Monck, which resulted in King Charles II looking favourably upon him once again. By 1674, relations between England and Spain had soured again. The King knighted Henry Morgan and appointed him Lieutenant General of the armed forces of Jamaica. By 1681, then-acting governor Morgan had fallen out of favour with King Charles II, who was intent on weakening the semi-autonomous Jamaican Council, and was replaced by long-time political rival Thomas Lynch.



The pirate Jacob Evertson was attacked by Henry Morgan in 1681. In a letter to the Earl of Sutherland in February 1681, Morgan wrote, "… On Saturday night I had notice of one Captain James Everson, commander of a sloop, a notorious privateer, being at anchor with a brigantine which he had lately taken. I presently secured all the wherries on the Point and manned a sloop with twenty-four soldiers and thirty-six sailors, which at midnight sailed from hence, and about noon came up with him in Bull Bay. Then letting the King's jack fly they boarded him; they received three musket shot, slightly wounding one man, and returned a volley killing some and wounding others of the privateers. Everson and several others jumped overboard and were shot in the sea near the shore. They then brought her away with twenty-six stout men, whom they brought last night into this harbour. These are now prisoners on board H.M.S. Norwich to await trial for their lives. I have issued warrants for the apprehension of those that escaped …"



Lawrence or Laurens de Graf (1653-1704) was characterised as "a great and mischievous pirate" by Henry Morgan, de Graaf was a Dutch pirate, mercenary, and naval officer in the service of the French colony of Saint-Domingue.



HMS Norwich, a 28 gun frigate (1655) under Captain Heywood arrived in Jamaica in 1680 to catch pirates and interlopers. In June 1682, on returning from Cartagena, she ran aground on a reef. A bower anchor was laid astern, merchants’ stores and guns unloaded but a leak started, occasioning continuous labour at the pumps. After a day on the reef, she was re-floated, beached at Port Royal and condemned. Captain Heywood was cleared at the subsequent court martial but the Privy Council ordered Captain Heywood to be sent home in custody. Captain Heywood preferred to settle in Jamaica and eventually became Governor.


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