Raiding Panama with Henry Morgan

Nothing brings history to life like being in the place it happened in, especially pirate history, where you can look out over a fort’s wall and picture sails on the horizon. Such is the case at Fort San Lorenzo located at the mouth of the Charges River on the Atlantic side of Panama. The fort was built in 1560 in response to pirate attacks on Spanish ships laden with gold. In 1670 Henry Morgan sacked the fort and a year later used it as a base to invade Panama City. Rows of cannons lay about the picturesque ruins and one building is home to bats. Wandering the ruins of the fort excites the imagination. You can almost hear the grunt of soldiers as they position the cannons for battle.

Although Portobello is the more famous of the forts attacked by Morgan, tour guides in Panama say that San Lorenzo is the better preserved of the two.

In the Casco Viejo section of Panama City is Iglesia San Jose, a church famous for its gold leafed altar. There are stories that when priests at the church of Iglesia San Jose heard that Morgan was coming they disguised the gold alter by painting it black. Another story says the priests covered it in mud. Yet another says the priests hid the altar and when Morgan came to the church looking for it, the head priest said the altar was in storage because the church was being renovated and asked Morgan for a donation. The pirate laughed and declared that the priest was a better pirate than he and made the donation.

There are several other churches to visit besides Iglesia San Jose. There are enough Spanish Colonial era ruins scattered throughout this section of the city that you can easily picture yourself in Spain. This part of Panama City is developing a reputation for being the hot spot in the city to socialize because of its many restaurants and cafes.

The Panama Viejo section of Panama City is the ruins of the original Panama City. Morgan’s attack was so devastating that the city was never rebuilt in that location. There is a small pirate museum on the premises, however the captions are all in Spanish. There is a ship’s bell, a cannon, cannon balls and an ax head on display. The bell tower to the church is intact and visitors can climb it and get excellent views of Panama City’s skyline. One can easily spend two hours exploring the ruins, marveling at how the city’s historic center is cradled in the midst of skyscrapers and gain an appreciation of how much havoc pirates can cause.