“
When I was growing up I was
reading books about Sir Francis
Drake and the Spanish Empire. I
loved the adventure of it all. Now
we’re here trying to bring that
adventure to life.”
WHILE IN OTHER PARTS OF THE
world it may seem like all that’s
le of CaptainMorgan is the rum
brand (which sells 100 million
bo les a year and is underwriting
Hanselmann’s expeditions to find
all five of Morgan’s lost ships), the
buccaneer’s spirit still haunts the
streets of this old colonial city,
where he led an army of political
refugees and outright criminals in
bloody forays against the Spanish.
So, as Hanselmann and his three-man team get their scuba gear ready for their next
dive, I head to a gated Panama City neighborhood and the residence of JuanDavidMor-
gan, a lawyer with the firm Morgan & Morgan. Ensconced in a richly appointed home
overflowing with rare Central American art, the lawyer is pu ing the finishing touches
onanovel about the pirate commander. Morgan is anunusual name inCentral America, I
point out. Couldhe be related toHenryMorgan?He laughs. “He hadno children, so I don’t
think so.” But when Juanwas growing up, no one believed that. “I would go to grammar
school and when the children heard my name, they would say, ‘You are a
pirate
.
Your
family stole all the gold fromPanama!’”
Which isn’t to say there’s a consensus here on CaptainMorgan’s legacy. If you ask the
locals who he was, you’re likely to get a number of different answers: thief, adventurer,
JONATHAN KINGSTON; CHRISTOPHER WRAY-MCCANN (CARSON)
traitor, hero and so forth. I ask Juan Mor-
ganwhichnounhewould choose. “Hewas
all of these things,” he says, smiling. “That’s
what makes him so fascinating.” Later, a
tour guide echoes the sentiment. “To the
British, he was a patriot,” he says. “To the
Spanish, avillain. But to the slaves of Santo
Domingo, a hero.” Dominican slaves, the
man tells me, usedMorgan’s raids to stage
their own revolts against the Spanish.
That’s a new one.
I make my way back to the dive site
to find Hanselmann and his team eating
dinner at a nearby restaurant. Captain
Bryan is playing harmonica in a pickup
band. I buttonhole a waitress named
Juanita and ask her if she knows the
notorious Captain Morgan.
“
Of course I knowhim. Everyone does.”
I nod, expectantly. Juanita looks at me.
“
And what do they say about him?”
“
Qué?
”
Captain Bryan is whaling on an Eagles
song. It’s hard to hear. “Morgan!” I yell.
“
Bueno o malo?
”
“
Ah,” Juanita says, leaning in towardme.
“
Captain Morgan, he was a
baaaaaaaad
man. This is what we learn in school.”
Later, I relate the exchange to Hansel-
mann. “Sure, Morgan stole and pillaged,”
he says. “But his shipswere among the few
democratic societies around at the time.”
Indeed, his pirates were some of the first
small-d democrats in the Americas: They
elected their captains and voted on their
mission targets. “These were free men,”
says Hanselmann. “And by the way, look
at the Spanish! If you comparewhatMor-
gan did to what the conquistadors did, it’s
not even close.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 154
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104
DECEMBER 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
CANNON FODDER
Clockwise from top left, Fritz Hanselmann with a sword fragment thought to
have come from the wreck of Captain Morgan’s ship, the
Satisfaction
;
captain Bryan Carson at play;
a 17th-century cannon found near Lajas Reef and now stored at the Patronato Panamá Viejo lab
