Plundering Empire

Pirates and the Spanish Main

Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 6:30 p.m.

Houston Museum of Natural Science, 5555 Hermann Park Drive

General Admission – $18.00, AIA and HMNS Members – $12.00

Professor Frederick Hanselmann
Chief Underwater Archaeologist, River Systems
Institute & The Center for Archaeology, Texas State University

Cosponsored by the Houston Museum of Natural Science

One of the most famous pirates of all time, Henry Morgan was one of the few to survive and enjoy his ill-gotten gains.  From 1664 to 1671, the privateer Morgan led daring raids throughout the Spanish Main, resulting in riches for he and his men and exposing the fragility of the Spanish Empire in the western hemisphere.  From Campeche in Mexico to Maracaibo in Venezuela, few were safe from the broad swath of pillage Morgan cut across the Spanish landscape.  In 1670, he amassed a fleet of 36 vessels and 1,846 men, the largest fleet of privateers and pirates in the history of the Caribbean.  Their target was one of the richest cities in the western hemisphere, lying in the heart of the Spanish colonies: Panama City.  Morgan’s subsequent sack of Panama City not only served as his crowning victory and final raid, but also dealt the blow that loosened Spain’s grip on the New World.

Since 2008, a team of archaeologists, directed by Frederick H. Hanselmann, has been piecing together the evidence of Captain Morgan’s last raid.  Their search has included the search for his flagship Satisfaction and four other vessels that sank approaching the Chagres River en route to Panama City.  Last year, their explorations gained international news coverage with the discovery of canons that can be identified as belonging to Captain Morgan. This lecture immediately follows the team’s summer 2011 quest for the lost ships using magnetometer, 3D laser scanning, and diver survey.