Henry Morgan's raid on Porto Bello

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Henry Morgan's raid on Porto Bello was a military event which took place in the latter half of the Anglo-Spanish war beginning on 10 July 1668. Welsh buccaneer Henry Morgan led a largely English privateer force against the heavily fortified Spanish controlled town of Porto Bello (now Portobelo in modern Panama). After landing, Morgan and his men attempted to take the castles protecting the town. One such attempt involved using captured citizens as human shields to seize one of the castles. After capturing them all by force the privateers subsequently entered the city and then plundered it before Morgan demanded a large ransom from the Governor of Panama Don Agustín de Bracamonte. While the negotiations for this was going on, Bracamonte led a sizeable force from Panama City intent on recapturing the city and putting the privateers to the sword.

Morgan however managed to ambush and repel Bracamonte's counter attack forcing him to deliver the ransom. Having achieved this, Morgan and the privateers left Porto Bello intact as promised and returned to Jamaica unhindered. The attack was highly successful and garnered some 100,000 pieces of eight as well as other valuable booty.