Henry Morgan, the child of a lowly farmer, went from being an indentured servant toiling in the West Indies to knighthood and governorship of Jamaica. In between those years he was a priate — a very brazen pirate. With his sights set on the Spanish territories, he looted up and down the Carribean coasts, all the while increasing the strength of the fleet under his command; all the while planning for his grand assault on Panama, whose governor chased Morgan out during one of Morgan’s earliest campaigns.

On this day, January 18, in 1671, Henry Morgan and his band of former-slave privates finally succeeded achieving his life’s goal — they captured Panama from the Spanish. After much destruction and loss of life, Morgan gathered whatever treasure he could carry out and – realizing the inevitable counterattack with overwhelming force – slipped away unnoticed, leaving his men at the mercy of the vengeful Spaniards.

Morgan’s exploits around at the height of his success were chronicled by a constant companion, John Esquemeling. He was eventually hunted down by the Spaniards as well, but his account was published to a sensation, being translated within a few years after release from the original Dutch into French, English and Spanish. It is today published under the title “The Buccaneers of America.”