John Morris (fl. 1663-1672) was a British within the Caribbean
during early-1660s until the early-1670s. His son, John Morris the
Younger, held a command of his own ship during his father's later
expeditions against Portobello and Maracaibo. He was one of the
commanders in an explosion during a party on-board Henry Morgan's
flagship in 1670.
Serving with Admiral Christopher Myngs during his campaign
against Spain the West Indies during the early- 1660s, he would
become associated with many future prominent privateers of the era
and later bought four captured prizes from Myngs.
One of the early buccaneers participating in the expeditions
against Spanish strongholds in Mexico and Nicaragua in late-1663
and early-1664, Morris sailed with Henry Morgan, David Marteen,
Captain Jackman and Captain Freeman against Spanish strongholds in
the Caribbean under privateering commissions granted by then
governor Thomas Modyford.
Arriving off the coast of Mexico, Morris and the others anchored
their ships at the mouth of the Grijalva River and proceeded to
march 50 miles inland to the capital of the Tabasco Province,
Villahermosa, taking the Spanish stronghold completely by surprise.
Returning to the coast, the fleet had been captured by a Spanish
patrol and, stealing two barques and four Indian canoes, Morris and
the other sailed south looting a village before their arrival at
present day Trujillo, Honduras. Sailing off with a ship anchored in
the town harbor, they eventually hid the captured vessel at the
mouth of the San Juan river and travelled nearly 100 miles upriver
to Lake Nicaragua where they raided the city of Granada before
returning to Port Royal, Jamaica in November 1665.
In 1670, he and Morgan encountered Portuguese pirate Manuel
Rivero Pardel, who had long been raiding shipping under a letter of
marque from Spain, and boarded his ship, San Pedro y La Fama, while
sailing off the northern coast of Cuba. Although many of his crew
were killed by Morris's crew after jumping overboard in panic,
Rivero managed to escape during the confusion but was soon killed
by Morgan.
Morris would later serve under Morgan in his later raids against
Portobelo, Maracaibo and Panama in January 1671, with himself and
Lawrence Prince leading the assault. Upon their return to Port
Royal following the Panama raid, newly appointed governor Sir
Thomas Lynch arrested Morgan whose attack, although commissioned by
former governor Thomas Modyford, had taken place following the
recently signed peace treaty between England and Spain. Apparently
not subject to arrest, Morris was given command of the frigate
Lilly and commissioned as a pirate hunter with explicit
instructions to arrest pirivateers who continued acts of piracy
against Spain.
In January 1672, he left Port Royal with HMS Assistance under
Major William Beeston and sailed towards Havana in search of
privateers. During the voyage, as described in Beeston's logbook,
Morris was a skilled pilot who greatly assisted Beeston and other
British Captain's unfamiliar with Caribbean waters. During the
six-week voyage, the expedition successfully captured the sloop
Charity under Captain Francis Weatherbourn and the Mary under
Captain Du Mangles bringing back a total of forty three
prisoners.
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