While entering the harbor, four of his ships foundered at the river's
mouth on a treacherous ridge of rocks which was visible only at low
tide. Although the crew members and the Spanish prisoners.... brought from
Jamaica were rescued, all four ships were lost.51 Morgan received a
hero's welcome. Esquemelin wrote that he was brought into the castle
"with ..great acclamations of triumph and joy of all the Pirates." After
listening to the relation of the Castle's conquest, Morgan put the
prisoners to work "repairing what was necessary" and erecting new palisades around San Lorenzo. He then ordered that sanall vessels and 32
canoes in the river be seized. With these he planned to attack Cruces.
IFrom the way-station he planned to march on Panama with a force of 1200
men. Departing from San Lorenzo on January 18, 1671, Morgan left 500
buccaneers behind in the castle, and 150 in the ships to guard San 52
Lorenzo and the ships.
51 Esquemelin, cit., 204. The rocks in the harbor presented
problems for later mariners. Jefferys made special note of them in his description of the West Indies. Thomas Jefferys, A Descriptin of the Spanish Ialands and Settlements on the Coast of the West Indieso with Thirty-two Ms and Plans, chiefly from original drawings taken from the Spaniards in the, Last Wa'r (London 1767, 31. In the 19th entry, during the period when many Americans were using the Isthmus rote in travelling to California, at least two American ships were sunk on the rocks at the mouth of the Chagres. See "Despatch from Wm. Nelson, U. S. Consul to Dept. of State, No. 8, 8th April, 1843" and "Despatch from Wm. Nelson, U. S. Consul to Sec. of St., No. 22, March 8, 1845," Consular Despatches Panama, Vol. I, A 7, 1823 December 20, 1853, Mss., National Archies of the United States of America.
$2 Esquemelin, og. cit., 204.20$. Another contemporary source stated that only 300 men were left to guard San Lorenzo, but that seven small vessels and 36 canoes were captured and used by Morgan. The force marching on Panama Was estimated at 1400. Cf. Voy of Sharp, 133. Haring used the second account, rather than Esquemelin's, in writing of Morgan's attack on Panama. Haring, eg cit., 168.
37