Captain Morgan's Flagship Found Off Coast of Panama, Researchers Say

If you thought Captain Morgan was just the name for a bottle of popular rum, you were wrong. Morgan was not a myth, but a Welsh admiral named Sir Henry Morgan. What was believed to be his ship was found off the coast of Panama recently.

If you don't know the story of Captain Morgan, you mind find it fascinating. Here are the facts about this man, who became a notorious pirate, and the story of his famous ship.

* Though the exact date is unknown, Henry Morgan was born around 1635 in the county of Monmouthshire, Wales, and was the son of a squire named Robert Morgan.

* As a young man, Morgan took part in the invasion of Jamaica in 1655, helping to seize the country from the Spanish and turn it into an English colony. His uncle later joined him there and became lieutenant governor of the island in about 1660.

* Shortly after Morgan's uncle Edward arrived on the island, he began courting his oldest surviving daughter, Mary Elizabeth, and ultimately married her.

* Sir Henry quickly became a respected sailor, joining famous Captain Christopher Myngs in his English buccaneer fleets used to attack Spanish settlements. He gained a wealth of naval experience from Myngs and was soon the captain of his own ship.

* In 1663, Morgan commanded his own vessel and plundered the ships and colonies on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. The town of Santiago was defended by two forts and a number of Spanish troops, but fell in just one day of fighting. The buccaneers took 14 Spanish ships as their prize.

* The English encouraged pirates in their activities as the Spanish had been known to capture British ships in the West Indies and enslave their crews.

* By the end of the decade, Morgan was the indisputable king of all buccaneers. He had continued success, wealth, and the most powerful army in all of the Caribbean.

* In 1670, the captain and his fleet assembled an expedition to attack Panama. A plethora of riches passed through the legendary city on the way to its final destination in Spain.

* Morgan had a fleet of 30 ships and 1,800 buccaneers, but it was a difficult and dangerous mission. England's Sir Francis Drake had failed the undertaking decades earlier. After sailing all the way to Panama, his charges had to traverse through a thick jungle and over high mountains, but after what has been called an epic battle, Captain Morgan and his troops had captured what was once the world's richest city.

* Though Morgan's ship had been wrecked on a reef outside of Panama, he returned to Port Royal with hundreds of slaves and many chests filled with gold, silver and jewels.

* 340 years later, archaeologists from Texas State University have discovered a large section of the hull from what they believe is Morgan's flagship, The Satisfaction.