His grinning face sells rum today, but in his own lifetime Sir Henry Morgan sued a writer for libel for calling him a pirate, and won. Born in Wales around 1635, he reached the Caribbean by uncertain means and married into Jamaica's colonial elite, positioning himself to receive the lucrative government licenses that separated privateers from pirates.

This deep dive examines his rise through the sack of Portobello, the fireship deception at Lake Maracaibo, and the destruction of Panama City, followed by his arrest, knighthood, and appointment as lieutenant governor of Jamaica.

• The difference between a stateless pirate and a licensed privateer
• How the Portobello land assault exceeded his intelligence-gathering orders
• The Oxford explosion that killed over 200 men but spared him
• His fake-crew and phantom-inva ...