The titles of the sources are listed in the bibliography. The notes are given by chapter and indicated by the last words of a sentence or phrase.
The main sources for research are the Archivo General de las Indias, Seville, Spain, and the British Library and Public Records Office in London. The following abbreviations are used: CSPWI (Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: North America and the West Indies); CSPD (Calendar of State Papers, Domestic); COP (Colonial Office Papers, British Library) Panama (the Panama Section of the Archivo General in Seville); IG (the Indiferente General Section of the Archivo); Escribiana (Escribiana de Cámara section, Archivo); Contratación (Contratación section, Archivo); Add Ms. (Additional Manuscripts, British Library).
1. “I Offer a New World”
“on a secret mission”: Thompson, p. xliv.
“by order of the Protector”: CSPD, December 20, 1654, p. 586.
“‘many secret conferences’”: quoted in Newton, p. 190.
“blush to behold”: quoted in Thompson, p. xv.
“across the oceans to drown them”: Bassett, p. 108.
“I offer a New World”: Gage, intro, p. xxvi.
For the preparations for the Hispaniola expedition, see Taylor, p. 1.
“rather to die than to live”: quoted in Taylor, p. 94.
“fetch their pedigree”: quoted in Cruikshank, p. 1.
“measuring, uninnocent”: this portrait can be viewed at: www.data-wales.co.uk/morgan.htm.
“even more tedious pedigrees”: Jenkins, Foundations, p. 213.
“surrounded by goats and unpronounceable names.” Jenkins, A History, p. 19.
“used to the pike than the book”: Morgan to Lords of Trade and Plantations, February 24, 1680, CSPWI item 1304.
“the daily prayer of Henry Morgan”: Morgan to Leoline Jenkins, August 22, 1881, CSPWI item 208.
“who would kill her”: Gage, intro, p. xiii.
“acquainted with gamblers’ oaths”: Gage, p. 40.
“leaving Gage in despair”: Newton, p. 164.
“sounded like ‘an Indian or a Welshman.’” Newton, p. 178.
“until the moment of his execution”: Newton, p. 184.
“within two years”: Fraser, p. 523.
“the great enterprise you have in hand”: quoted in Fraser, p. 526.
“on the shores of Hispaniola”: Pope, p. 72.
“‘turned into dross’”: quoted in Newton, p. 194.
“many of these were already failing”: Turner, p. 92.
For the history of tsunamis in the Caribbean, see O’Laughlin.
2. The Tomb at the Escorial
“wear black from head to toe”: Hume, p. 447.
“where his own body would lie.” Hume, p. 449.
“the rest of mankind are mud”: quoted in Kamen, p. 8.
“180 tons of gold flowed through the official port of Seville”: Kamen, p. 287.
“16,000 tons of silver”: ibid.
“a minting machine”: Peterson, p. 42.
“to his country”: quoted in Kamen, p. 292.
“in unadjusted dollars”: Peterson, p. 38.
“totaled nearly 74 million”: Carr, p. 144.
“93 percent of the budget”: ibid., p. 155.
“and the Calle Mayor”: Hume, p. 439.
“Blessed be his holy name!”: quoted in ibid., p. 439.
3. Morgan
“cartridges on an infantryman”: Newton, 192.
“to light their muskets”: ibid.
“They grow bold and bloody”: Sedgwick to Thurloe, March 12, 1655, quoted in Taylor, p. 102.
“only 4 percent had taken a wife”: Cordingly, p. 69.
“strange countries and fashions”: Earle, Sailors, p. 18.
“the longer and more dangerous, the more attractive”: du Lussan, p. 33.
“where we rob at will.” The original reads: “We might sing, sweare, drab, and kill men as freely as your cakemakers do flies…when the whole sea was our empire where we robbed at will.” Quoted in Earle, Pirate Wars, p. 25.
“4,500 white residents and 1,500 Negro slaves”: Pope, p. 80.
“three hundred more than its competitor, New York”: Roberts, p. 10.
“by faithful Protestant hands”: Cootes, p. 40.
“in both marriage and war”: ibid., p. 40.
“life-bitten”: ibid., 176.
“the great Spanish treasuries in America”: Thornton, p. 71.
“for a decade”: ibid., p. 14.
“nothing new in the English situation”: quoted in Langdon-Davies, p. 12.
“‘I am thine’”: quoted in ibid., p. 54.
4. Into the Past
“built to fly.” For a discussion of the pirate ship, see Konstam, Angus, The Pirate Ship 1660–1730. Osprey, Oxford, 2003.
“gleamed like porcelain”: For examples of the seventeenth-century French musket, see Grancsay, Stephen, preface and notes . Master French Gunsmiths’ Designs of the XVII–XIX Centuries. Facsimile. Winchester Press, New York, 1970.
“in the style of Sir Francis Drake”: Pope, p. 115.
“a diamond cross hanging around it”: Cordingly, p. 12.
“searching and purging”: quoted in Cordingly, p. 95.
“10 pounds.” The compensation rates come from Esquemeling, p. 59.
“toward the Yucatán Peninsula”: The main source for Morgan’s first raid is the “Examination of Captains John Morris, Jackman and Morgan,” included in a letter from Modyford to Albemarle, March 1, 1666, CSPWI item 1142, volume 5 (1661–1668), pp. 359–61.
“lead them to land”: ibid., p. 62.
“to their approach”: ibid.
“gathered a few hundred prisoners”: ibid.
“to every day’s distance”: Pope, p. 112.
“when they would have meat”: Gage, p. 67.
“set course for Jamaica”: The account of Morgan’s raid is taken from Modyford to Albemarle, March, 1, 1666, CSPWI item 1132.
5. Sodom
“fell and died”: Report by Colonel Cary, CSPWI item 1086.
“nor trade but privateering”: Lynch to Bennet, May 25, 1664, CSPWI item 774.
“liable to turn on their own”: from “Mr. Worsley’s Discourse on the Privateers of Jamaica,” Add Ms. 11410, pp. 623–45.
“beneath which lay coralline limestone”: “The Port Royal Earthquake of June 7, 1692,” unpublished, by George R. Clark, Department of Geology, Kansas State University.
“for many weeks”: For an account of Juana’s bizarre procession, see Langdon-Davies, pp. 24–27.
“neither Jewish nor Muslim”: Langdon-Davies, p. 45.
“and so on with the rest”: Payne, p. 299.
“the Christian Algiers”: quoted in Cordingly, Pirates, p. 55.
“from the Portuguese or French”: Modyford to Albemarle, March 1, 1666, CSPWI item 1142.
“the council declared”: Minutes of the Council, CSPWI item 1138.
“gone to the French”: Modyford to Albemarle, August 21, 1666, CSPWI item 1264.
“very narrowly concerned here”: quoted in Esquemeling, p. 125.
“lose their lives”: quoted in Esquemeling, p. 127.
“battered with the irons”: Deposition of Robert Rawlinson, October 5, 1668, CSPWI item 1851.
“to his wicked life”: Esquemeling, p. 125.
6. The Art of Cruelty
“new insolences”: Modyford to Arlington, July 30, 1667, CSPWI item 1537.
“commerce of the region”: letter from Don Francisco Calderón Romero, April 4, 1668, IG 2541.
“some pieces of cannon”: Esquemeling, p. 134.
“very dextrous at their arms”: ibid., p. 135.
“come to their aid”: ibid., p. 137.
“full of danger”: Morgan’s report, September 7, 1668, CO 1/23.
“where he was raised”: For an account of L’Ollonais’s career, see Esquemeling, pp. 79–119.
“vile crew of miscreants”: quoted in Cordingly, Under, p. 93.
“forget who he was”: Johnson, p. 69.
“than the rest”: Johnson, p. 101.
“a silence followed”: Stephens, p. 219.
7. Portobelo
“way of conversing”: Roberts, p. 219.
“in the spoils”: Esquemeling, p. 141.
“seriously undermanned”: Earle, Sack, p. 57.
“to attempt that place”: Morgan’s report, CO 1/23.
“with the usual ceremonies”: du Lussan, p. 187.
“pay for the expedition himself”: Earle, Sack, p. 54.
“marching over land”: ibid., p. 69.
“formerly brought from Puerto Rico”: Morgan’s report, CO 1/23.
“charged each gun anew”: Esquemeling, p. 144.
“ascend by them”: ibid.
“at Portobelo on Saturday”: quoted in Earle, Sack, p. 81.
“It was very possible”: ibid., p. 76.
“a thousand lives”: Bennassar, p. 214.
“the Province of Panama”: Morgan’s report, CO 1/23.
“in this place”: The letters are collected in Panama 81, (III), fos. 40–46, 1669.
“you to do it”: ibid.
“as the Spanish are used to doing”: ibid.
“with considerable damage”: Morgan’s report, CO 1/23.
“whichever way we went”: quoted in Earle, Sack, p. 86.
“silver cobs”: Panama 81, 1669 (III), “Inventory of the Treasure.”
“achieved at Portobelo”: Both letters are quoted in Esquemeling, p. 148–49.
“on February 17, 1669”: The report of the council is addressed as a letter of March 16, 1669, to the queen and is contained in the file “Original Consultations” in IG 1877.
8. Rich and Wicked
“‘rushing through’ its streets”: quoted in Bridenbaugh, p. 380.
“a Law to your self”: quoted in Bridenbaugh, p. 384.
“for married women”: Crespo’s “declaration,” dated June 12, 1669, is found in IG 2541.
“on a river barge”: for Mary’s testimony and glimpses of her later career, see Todd and Spearing, Counterfeit Ladies; and Kietzman, The Self-Fashioning of an Early Modern Englishwoman.
“Seamen of the Ship”: The quotations from the letter are from Carleton, News from Jamaica, 1671.
“her intended designs”: quoted in Black, p. 22.
“and more corruption”: see Black, epigram.
“returned again to sea”: Dunlop, p. 37.
“a better sort of folk”: quoted in Marx, Port Royal, p. 2.
9. An Amateur English Theatrical
“hunting licenses”: Pringle, p. 84.
“to port”: The English version of the Maracaibo raid is included in Esquemeling’s account and Morgan’s report, contained in A. P. Thornton’s article “The Modyfords and Morgan,” from Jamaican Historical Review, 1952.
“to staff it”: The Spanish perspectives on the Maracaibo raid are taken from the testimony of Captain Juan de Acosta Abreu and Gabriel Neveda of June 20, 1669 (Escribiana 699A, part I, fos. 39v–40, 44), in “Information concerning the loss of the Armada of Barlovento at the Lagoon of Maracaibo” (Contratación 3164).
“in their peaceful cay”: Abreu testimony, point 4, Escribiana 699A.
“do not eat me!”: de Lussan, p. 22.
“left him alone”: Captain Juan de Acosta Abreu and Gabriel Neveda of June 20, 1669 (Escribiana 699A, part I, fos. 39v–40, 44), point 5.
“Realm of Spain”: ibid., testimony of Gabriel Neveda.
“law and reason”: Morgan to Jenkins, March 8, 1682. CSPWI item 431, pp. 203–5.
“spotted the pirate’s flag”: The story of Alonzo’s itinerary and his views of the confrontation with Morgan are from Contratación 3164.
“all sorts of ammunition”: Esquemeling, p. 167.
“all manner of hopes”: ibid.
“a parcel of cowards”: The correspondence between Morgan and Alonzo is contained in Esquemeling, pp. 168–78.
“everything was ablaze.” Contratación 3164.
“hands of their persecutors”: Esquemeling, p. 172.
“by Captaine Morgan”: The illustration can be seen at Esquemeling, p. 170.
“to do it withal?”: Esquemeling, p. 176.
“of this New World”: ibid., p. 173.
“in my favor”: Contratación 3164.
10. Black Clouds to the East
“befall the vessel”: quoted in Volo, p. 155.
“into a foam”: Bassett, p. 115.
“by a whistling sound”: quoted in Rappaport, p. 57.
“indeed invaded”: IG 1877.
“passivity of Her Majesty’s subjects”: ibid.
“and spying on their fortifications”: White’s hugely entertaining demands are contained in a letter of December 4, 1671, from the Count of Medellín to the queen, IG 1877.
“with love and respect”: Arlington to the queen, February 23/5, 1669. IG 1877.
“put an end to it”: Arlington to Modyford, June 12, 1670, CSPWI item 194.
“in his Majesty’s men-of-war”: ibid.
“of the Indians”: quoted in Earle, Sack, p. 145.
“or set up for themselves”: Modyford to Arlington, August 20, 1670. CSPWI item 237.
“ready to serve us”: quoted in Cruikshank, p. 127.
“Happy victories”: CO 1/25. Translated by M. Isabel Amarante.
“by these Pirates”: letter from Don Pedro de Ulloa Riva de Neira, April 24, 1670. IG 2542.
“since it is the source”: letter of April 9, 1669. IG 1877.
“Dated 5th of July, 1670”: CSPWI item 310.
“everlasting renown”: from Don Quixote de la Mancha, Cervantes, translated by Tobias Smollett. FSG, NY, 1986, p. 30.
“commissions against us”: from “Extract of a Letter from Port Royal,” June 28, 1670. CSPWI item 207.
“account of your fleet”: Governor Modyford’s instructions to Admiral Henry Morgan, July 2, 1670. CSPWI item 212.
“said to be a sorceress”: “Declaration of Juan de Leo,” February 14, 1671. Panama 93, fos. 11–14.
“as successful as expected”: Browne to Arlington, October 12, 1670. CSPWI item 293.
“much care and watchfulness”: Morgan to Jenkins, June 13, 1681. CSPWI item 138.
“a final answer from Spain”: Arlington to Modyford, June 12, 1670. CSPWI item 194.
“sociableness of man’s nature”: Modyford to Arlington, August 20, 1670. CSPWI item 237.
“here to reunite”: letter of Salvador Barranco, November 11, 1670. Panama 93, fos. 11–14.
“a thousand cursed things”: ibid.
“to Admiral Morgan”: Browne to Arlington, October 12, 1670. CSPWI item 293.
“audacious character”: from Fragment of a Voyage to New Orleans (1855) by Elisée Reclus. Translated by Camille Martin and John Clark, published in Mesechabe 11 (Winter 1993) and 12 (Spring 1994).
“an enemy position”: The contract terms can be found in Esquemeling, p. 189.
“take this one”: quoted in Ure, p. 180.
“beyond description”: ibid.
“to stock the garrisons”: Some of the correspondence relating to the improvements made for the defense of Panama is in Guzmán’s letters of October 29 and November 3, 1668, Panama 87.
“and you will not need them”: letter from Don Pedro to Don Juan, January 7, 1670, Panama 93, fos. 34v–36.
11. The Isthmus
“Things began miserably”: The main English sources for the Panama mission are Esquemeling and “A True account and relation” by Morgan, August 20, 1671, CSPWI item 504.
“stone or brick”: Esquemeling, p. 198.
“infinite asperity of the mountain”: ibid.
“and destroy them”: letter from Don Pedro de Elizalde to Don Juan, Panama 93, fos. 112v–113.
“and the wooden walls”: Among the most complete Spanish accounts of the battle is the letter from Don Miguel Francisco de Marichalar to the queen, October 25, 1671; and the “Declaration of Fernando de Saavedra,” Panama 93, fos. 11–14.
“to defend the isthmus”: “Declaration of Fernando de Saavedra,” Panama 93, fos. 11–14.
“they had planned”: A copy of Don Juan’s report was also captured by the English and sent to Morgan, and later reprinted in Bartholomew Sharp’s Voyages.
12. City of Fire
“seeing the Face of the Enemy”: Don Juan’s report, from Sharp’s Voyages.
“to their Fury”: ibid.
“so precise an Obligation”: ibid.
“nothing more than to engage”: ibid.
“in their bodies”: Esquemeling, p. 219.
“drew up to confront the Spaniards”: The main English accounts of the battle come from Esquemeling and from Morgan’s report, “A True account and relation,” April 20, 1671. CSPWI item 504.
“till he lost his life”: Morgan, April 20, 1671. CSPWI item 504.
“Follow me!”: Guzmán, February 19, 1671. Panama 92, fo. 5.
“so many thousand Bullets”: ibid.
“it was impossible”: ibid.
“Alexander the Great”: quoted in Petrovich, p. 38.
“Peru and Potozí”: Morgan, April 20, 1671. CSPWI item 504.
“took prisoners every day”: from “Copy of the Relation of Wm. Fogg concerning the action of the privateers at Panama, taken the 4th of April 1671,” CSPWI item 483.
“richest merchants of Panama”: Esquemeling, p. 225.
“to the vanquished enemy”: Browne to Williamson, August 21, 1671. CO 1/27, fo. 69v.
“fled to the mountains”: Guzmán, February 19, 1671. Panama 92, fo. 5.
“of the men of this Kingdom”: letter from Don Juan Olivares Urrea, February 25, 1671. Panama 93, fos. 129, 129v, and 130.
“where they come ashore”: quoted in Bradley, p. 104.
13. Aftermath
“were broken”: quoted in Petrovich, p. 94.
“11 and 18 million pesos”: Earle, Sack, p. 255.
“and its trade”: This quotation and the details that follow are from the council’s letter to the queen, June 13, 1671. Panama 93.
“cries of the women and children”: This and the following quotations are from “Considerations from Sir Thomas Modyford which moved him to give his consent for fitting the privateers of Jamaica against the Spaniard,” June?, 1671. CSPWI item 578, pp. 237–38.
“cheating and deserting them”: Lynch to Arlington, July 2, 1671. CSPWI 580.
“an unseasonable irruption”: ibid.
“left to the law”: Browne to Williamson, August 21, 1671. CSPWI 608.
“sorrows and misfortune”: Don Miguel Francisco de Marichalar to the queen, October 25, 1671. Panama 93, fos. 11–14.
“the Spaniards satisfied”: Lynch to Arlington, December 17, 1671. CSPWI 697.
“one of great courage”: Bannister to Arlington, March 30, 1672, quoted in Pope, p. 285.
“forced to stay here”: quoted in Pope, p. 289.
“where he was”: Morgan to Williamson, April 13, 1675. CO 1/34, no. 55.
“in fortifying the South Sea”: Lynch to Williamson, November 20, 1674. CSPWI item 1389.
“and fall by him”: Morgan to Williamson, April 13, 1675. CO 1/34, no. 55.
“a kind of veneration”: Roberts, p. 274.
“can cut a diamond”: Morgan to Jenkins, August 22, 1681. CSPWI item 208.
“that I could get”: Morgan to Jenkins, April 9, 1681. CSPWI item 73.
“led on to gaming”: quoted in Cordingly, p. 239.
“as well as we”: Johnson, p. 26.
“with an exacting eye”: Sloane’s account of Morgan’s illness is included in his Voyages, pp. xcviii–cxix.
14. Apocalypse
“hot and airless”: For the circumstances of life in Port Royal, I am indebted to Marx’s wonderfully detailed Port Royal Rediscovered, especially pp. 1–12; and to Black’s Port Royal, especially pp. 99–119.
“a small trembling”: from “A Letter from Hans Sloane…,” reprinted in Philosophical Transactions, volume XVIII, S. Smith and B. Walford, London, 1695. Sloane was not present on Jamaica for the earthquake but collected letters from actual eyewitnesses. It will not be referenced here again.
“It will soon be over”: from Heath’s “A Full Account of the late dreadful Earthquake at Port Royal in Jamaica,” June 22 and 28, 1692. Printed in A True and Particular Relation…, second edition, T. Osborne, London, 1748. Heath’s entire account is contained here and will not be referenced again.
“sunk under Water”: quoted in Clark, p. 16.
“above ground”: from The True and Largest Account of the Late Earthquake in Jamaica, J. Butler, London, 1693.
“nineteen white People”: quoted in Judgment Cliff Landslide in the Yallahs Valley, by V. A. Zans, Geonotes, volume II, p. 43. 1959.
“snuff out its victims”: ibid.
“they are irrepairable”: ibid.
“before the tremors struck”: I am indebted to George Clark’s research on the earthquake, referenced above.
“fowls of the air”: Pike’s letter of June 19, 1692, is reprinted in “Quakers and the Earthquake at Port Royal,” 1692, by H. J. Cadbury, Jamaican Historical Review, volume VIII, 1971.