Captain Morgan creates satisfaction for rum company

Satisfaction all round as the team of US archeologists that earlier found 6 canons belonging to the fleet of Welsh privateer Admiral Henry Morgan, has found wreckage   which they believe  is part of his flagship.

The wreckage, found off Portobello, includes approximately 52×22 feet of the starboard side of a 17th century wooden ship hull which they believe to belong to Morgan’s flagship, Satisfaction. There are numerous unopened cargo boxes and chests encrusted in coral.

Morgan lost five ships, including Satisfaction  near Lajas Reef in 1671.

The Captain Morgan Rum Group named after the pirate, provided further aid for the project after the  team, which found the  iron cannons, ran short of funds.

The cannons were delivered to the Panamanian government earlier this year, and are undergoing a two year restoration program.

The new funding allowed the team to undertake a magnetometer survey, which looks for metal by finding any deviation in the earth's magnetic field. The survey led to the latest find.

In the 17th century, Morgan, known today as Captain Morgan in 1671, in an effort to capture Panama City and loosen the stronghold of Spain in the Caribbean, Morgan set out to take the Castillo de San Lorenzo, a Spanish fort on the cliff overlooking the entrance to the Chagres River, the only water passageway between the Caribbean and the capital city. 

Although his men ultimately prevailed, Morgan lost five ships to the rough seas and shallow reef surrounding the fort.

The underwater research team included archaeologists and divers from Texas State University, volunteers from the National Park Service's Submerged Resources Center and NOAA/UNC-Wilmington's Aquarius Reef Base.

Artifacts excavated by the dive team including the six cannons, as well as any future relics will remain the property of the Panamanian government and will be preserved and displayed by the Patronato Panama Viejo.

The artifacts were recovered by a team of divers under the guidance of U.S. scientists Frederick Hanselman, of the University of Texas, and James Delgado, director of the Maritime Heritage branch Department of Commerce United States, working with Panama cultural authorities.

Morgan  who rose from poverty in Monmouthshire, Wales, to become a privateer admiral, was one of the most successful, and reputedly ruthless buccaneers of all time, and in the 17th century terrorized Spanish settlements throughout the region.

For Panama his most infamous expeditions were the attack on Porto Bello and the march across the isthmus to lay siege to Panama city which led to its torching by the defenders and the rebuilding of a new capital now known as Casco Viejo.