Editing Henry Morgan (section)

===Lake Maracaibo and Gibraltar (1668–1669)===
{{further|Henry Morgan's raid on Lake Maracaibo}}
[[File:Lake Maracaibo map-en.svg|thumb|right|Maracaibo, Cabimas, Ciudad Ojeda and Gibraltar in modern day Venezuela]]
Morgan did not stay long in Port Royal and in October 1668 sailed with ten ships and 800 men for [[Île-à-Vache]], a small island he used as a rendezvous point.{{sfn|Pope|1978|p=163}} His plan was to attack the Spanish settlement of [[Cartagena, Colombia|Cartagena de Indias]], the richest and most important city on the Spanish Main.{{sfn|Thomas|2014|loc=1171}} In December he was joined by a former [[Royal Navy]] [[frigate]], ''Oxford'', which had been sent to Port Royal to aid in any defence of Jamaica. Modyford sent the vessel to Morgan, who made it his flagship.{{sfn|Breverton|2005|pp=50–51}} On 2 January 1669 Morgan called a council of war for all his captains, which took place on ''Oxford''. A spark in the ship's [[magazine (artillery)|powder magazine]] destroyed the ship and over 200 of its crew.{{refn|Some sources, including Breverton and Allen, state that there were only ten survivors from a crew of 350;{{sfn|Breverton|2005|p=52}}{{sfn|Allen|1976|p=54}} Pope states that more than 250 were killed.{{sfn|Pope|1978|p=166}}|group=n}} Morgan and the captains seated on one side of the table were blown into the water and survived; the four captains on the other side of the table were all killed.{{sfn|Cordingly|2006|p=48}}{{sfn|Talty|2007|p=145}}

The loss of ''Oxford'' meant Morgan's flotilla was too small to attempt an attack on Cartagena. Instead he was persuaded by a French captain under his command to repeat the actions of the pirate [[François l'Olonnais]] two years previously: an attack on [[Maracaibo]] and [[Gibraltar, Venezuela|Gibraltar]], both on [[Lake Maracaibo]] in modern-day Venezuela.{{sfn|Pope|1978|pp=169–171}} The French captain knew the approaches to the lagoon, through a narrow and shallow channel. Since l'Olonnais and the French captain had visited Maracaibo, the Spanish had built the [[San Carlos de la Barra Fortress]], {{convert|20|mi|km}} outside the city, on the approach. Talty states that the fortress was placed in an excellent position to defend the town, but that the Spanish had undermanned it, leaving only nine men to load and fire the fortress's 11 guns.{{sfn|Talty|2007|p=149}} Under covering cannon fire from the privateer's flagship, ''Lilly'', Morgan and his men landed on the beach and stormed the fortification; they found it empty when they eventually breached its defences. A search soon found that the Spanish had left a slow-burning [[fuse (explosives)|fuse]] leading to the fort's [[powder keg]]s as a trap for the buccaneers, which Morgan extinguished.{{sfn|Thomas|2014|loc=1346}} The fort's [[Touch hole#Spiking the guns|guns were spiked]] and then buried so they could not be used against the privateers when they returned from the rest of their mission.{{sfn|Talty|2007|p=150}}

[[File:Castillo San Carlos Zulia.jpg|thumb|left|[[San Carlos de la Barra Fortress]], which guarded the entrance to [[Maracaibo]]]]
Morgan arrived at Maracaibo to find the city largely deserted, its residents having been forewarned of his approach by the fortress's troops.{{sfn|Talty|2007|p=151}} He spent three weeks sacking the city. Privateers searched the surrounding jungle to find the escapees; they, and some of the remaining occupants, were tortured to find where money or treasure had been hidden.{{sfn|Breverton|2005|p=54}} Satisfied he had stolen all he could, he sailed south across Lake Maracaibo, to Gibraltar. The town's occupants refused to surrender, and the fort fired enough of a barrage to ensure Morgan kept his distance. He anchored a short distance away and his men landed by canoe and assaulted the town from the landward approach. He met scant resistance, as many of the occupants had fled into the surrounding jungle. He spent five weeks in Gibraltar, and there was again evidence that torture was used to force residents to reveal hidden money and valuables.{{sfn|Thomas|2014|loc=1410–1425}}

Four days after he left Maracaibo, Morgan returned. He was told that a Spanish defence squadron, the Armada de Barlovento, was waiting for him at the narrow passage between the Caribbean and Lake Maracaibo, where the San Carlos de la Barra Fortress was sited. The forces, under the command of Don Alonso del Campo y Espinosa, had 126 cannon with which to attack Morgan, and had re-armed San Carlos de la Barra Fortress.{{sfn|Zahedieh|2004a}}{{sfn|Thomas|2014|loc=1524–1534}} The Spaniards had orders to end piracy in the Caribbean, and negotiations between Morgan and Espinosa continued for a week. The final offer put by the Spanish commander was for Morgan to leave all their spoils and slaves and to return to Jamaica unmolested, but no agreement was reached that would allow Morgan and his men to pass the fleet with their spoils but without attack. Morgan put the Spaniards' offers to his men, who voted instead to fight their way out. As they were heavily outgunned, one privateer suggested that a [[fire ship]] aimed at Espinosa's flagship, ''Magdalen'' would work.{{sfn|Talty|2007|pp=162–163}}

To this end, a crew of 12 prepared a ship that had been seized in Gibraltar. They disguised vertical logs of wood with headwear, to make the Spaniards believe that the vessel was fully crewed. To make it look more heavily armed, additional portholes were cut in the hull and logs placed to resemble cannons. Barrels of powder were placed in the ship and grappling irons laced into the ships rigging, to catch the ropes and sails of ''Magdalen'' and ensure the vessels would become entangled.{{sfn|Thomas|2014|loc=1573–1579, 1590, 1608–1613}}

[[File:Henry Morgan Destroys the Spanish Fleet at Lake Maracaibo.jpg|thumb|Morgan destroys the Spanish [[Armada de Barlovento]] at [[Lake Maracaibo]] 1669]]
On 1 May 1669 Morgan and his flotilla attacked the Spanish squadron. The fire ship plan worked, and ''Magdalen'' was shortly aflame; Espinosa abandoned his flagship and made his way to the fort, where he continued to direct events.{{sfn|Thomas|2014|loc=1657}} The second-largest Spanish ship, ''Soledad'', tried to move away from the burning vessel, but a problem with the rigging meant they drifted aimlessly; privateers boarded the ship, fixed the rigging and claimed the craft as plunder. The third Spanish vessel was also sunk by the privateers.{{sfn|Talty|2007|pp=163–165}} Morgan still needed to pass the San Carlos de la Barra Fortress, but was still out-gunned by the stronghold, which had the ability to destroy the privateer fleet if it tried to pass. The privateer decided to negotiate, and threatened to sack and burn Maracaibo if he was not allowed to pass. Although Espinosa refused to negotiate, the citizens of Maracaibo entered into talks with Morgan, and agreed to pay him 20,000 pesos and 500 head of cattle if he agreed to leave the city intact. During the course of the negotiations with the Maracaibos, Morgan had undertaken salvage operations on ''Magdalen'', and secured 15,000 pesos from the wreck.{{sfn|Thomas|2014|loc=1652–1680}} Before taking any action, Morgan tallied his takings and divided it equally between his ships, to ensure that it was not all lost if one ship was sunk; it totalled 250,000 pesos, and a huge quantity of merchandise and a number of local slaves.{{sfn|Talty|2007|p=170}}

Morgan observed that Espinosa had set his cannon for a landward attack from the privateers&nbsp;– as they had done previously. The privateers faked a landing of their forces. The fort and its battlements were stripped of men as the Spanish prepared for a night assault from the English forces. That evening, with Spanish forces deployed to repel a landing, Morgan's fleet raised anchor without unfurling their sails; the fleet moved on the tide, raising sail only when it had moved level with the fortress, and Morgan and his men made their way back to Port Royal unscathed.{{sfn|Talty|2007|pp=171–172}}{{refn|For his failure in his action, Espinosa was arrested and sent back to Spain.{{sfn|Talty|2007|p=172}}|group=n}} Zahedieh considers the escape showed Morgan's "characteristic cunning and audacity".{{sfn|Zahedieh|2004a}}

During his absence from Port Royal, a pro-Spanish faction had gained the ear of [[King Charles II of England|King Charles II]], and English foreign policy had changed accordingly. Modyford admonished Morgan for his action, which had gone beyond his commission, and revoked the letters of marque; no official action was taken against any of the privateers.{{sfn|Gosse|2007|p=157}}{{sfn|Breverton|2005|p=61}} Morgan invested a share of his [[prize money]] in an {{convert|836|acre|adj=on}} plantation&nbsp;– his second such investment.{{sfn|Rogoziński|1995|p=229}}