Mad Morgan (36 page)

Read Mad Morgan Online

Authors: Kerry Newcomb

BOOK: Mad Morgan
3.15Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Ho! Henry Morgan sails today
To harry the Spanish Main,
With a pretty bill for the Dons to pay
Ere he comes back again.
 
—Anonymous, a seventeenth-century sea chant
 
 
 
…
With a yo heave ho and a fare you well
and a sullen plunge in the sullen swell
Ten fathoms deep on the road to Hell.
 
—Young Ewing Allison, 1763
Patty is my passion and strength.
Amy Rose, Paul Joseph, and Emily Anabel complete my joy.
This book is for them.
The Red Ripper
 
And Coming Soon from St. Martin's Press
New Editions of Kerry Newcomb's Classic Works
 
Texas Anthem
Texas Born
Shadow Walker
Rogue River
Creed's Law
Panama City and indeed the might of Spain and its presence in the Caribbean never recovered from Morgan's raid. The buccaneers remained long enough to empty every warehouse and pilfer every private strongbox and chest of valuables to be found. Henry Morgan, with his army strengthened by a number of freed prisoners and slaves, crossed the isthmus by the high road and returned to his ships. The remaining Spanish forces around Portobello had no wish to confront
el Tigre del Caribe,
and allowed him to escape without so much as a challenge.
 
 
Sir Richard Purselley returned to London where he abandoned a political career but achieved some notoriety as the author of a colorful but unexceptional memoir based upon his many “adventures” in the islands.
Doña Elena Maria de Saucedo del Campo, her fortunes lost and Panama City in ruins, attempted to rebuild her family's estate. Changes in the Spanish court further undermined the influence she had struggled so desperately to attain. History does not record her fate, only that she set off into the heart of the isthmus to reestablish her father's sugar plantation and was never heard from again.
Henry Morgan returned to Jamaica, and after a brief stay sailed for England. By then the peace with Spain had already unraveled and
Morgan's exploits, not to mention some well-placed gifts of Spanish gold, won him favor with the English court. He was knighted Sir Henry Morgan and appointed governor of Jamaica. He returned to that island, took Nell Jolly to wife, and lived out his days a man of power and influence.
MAD MORGAN. Copyright © 2000 by Kerry Newcomb. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
 
 
 
 
Design by Nancy Resnick
 
 
eISBN 9781429978705
First eBook Edition : July 2011
 
 
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Newcomb, Jerry.
Mad Morgan / Kerry Newcomb.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Morgan, Henry, Sir, 1635?—1688—Fiction. 2. Governors—Jamaica—Fiction. 3. Panama (Panama)—Fiction. 4. Caribbean Area—Fiction. 5. Buccaneers—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3564.E875 M33 2000
813'.54—dc21
00-025936
First Edition: August 2000

Other books

Black Man by Richard K. Morgan
Silence of Scandal by Jackie Williams
Gwendolen by Diana Souhami
Dirty Weekend by Gabrielle Lord
Heart's Desire by Laura Pedersen
Líbranos del bien by Donna Leon
Bachelor Unforgiving by Brenda Jackson