Richard Fifer

The San Lorenzo fort has always been surrounded by the mystique that wraps the Antique building and structures, especially if within the environment the visitors has the opportunity to learn about the epic events that marked the colonial era in Panama, when pirates and privateers sailed the seas and coast in search of loot that they could take seize by force.

San Lorenzo was overpowered in two occasions by the pirate Francis Drake, who was repulsed by the Spanish. It has always been said that the remaining of the notorious pirate lie in the bay of Portobelo.

Another famous pirate known for his assault and destruction of the old city of Panama was Henry Morgan, who left in the coast of panama a legacy of sunken ships that for years have been searched by investigators.

Indeed, invited by the foundation Castilla del Oro of Spain and Panama, tourism project developed by the businessman Richard Fifer-Carles, the director of the Empresas Publicas de la Region Autonoma de Extremadura of Spain, Jaime Ruiz Peña, was in Panama, who came attracted to the San Lorenzo Fort he predicted that this site would be one of the most attractive point in Panama and the Caribbean. .

Ruiz Peña did not only speak about the enabling the old structure of that fort for lodging, but also to offer spectacles that would recreate the battles that were staged by the Spanish and English for the possession of this fortress.

An old fashion gentleman’s pact, sealed Ruiz Peña´s compromise with Pedro Rios, governor of Colon, with an honor witness the Duke of Veragua, Cristobal Colon de Carvajal, to renovate the old structure and therefore offering a first class tourist product.

“I committed in front of the governor of Colon, having as witness the president of the foundation Castilla del Oro, the Duque of Veragua, Cristobal Colon de Carvajal, to do everything possible to create a first class tourist product in the San Lorenzo Fort”, said Ruiz Peña.

The words of Ruiz Peña had a visionary flavor, and adding to all the ingredients already pointed out, it was learned that a team of archeologist of the University of Texas, U.S.A, discovered the remaining of a ship that dated back to the XVII century and its presumed it belonged to pirate Morgan.

As informed in the newspaper Crticia the experts found a ship close to one of the reefs of the Panamanian costs, were Morgan had lost five ships in 1671, including his flagship “Satisfaction.”

Judging by age and the region in which the boat was found, the specialist believe that the ship could have taken on board the iconic British pirate Henry Morgan, “Capitan Morgan”, when he was on his way back to the city of Panama to loot it.

Since 2008, the archeologist have studied and documented the bottom of the Chagres River in search of this and other ships.

In February of this year, the researchers, assisted by the Panamanian Government, recovered canons at the mouth of the Chagres rives, pieces that could belong to five other ships of the famous pirate, that is believed to had shipwreck in this area.

“Satisfaction” the flagship of the great fleet of Morgan, composed of 33 ships, got stuck in the reef when the buccaneer attacked in 1671 Panama La Vieja, the jewel of the Spanish crown in those times, without knowing that England and Spain had signed a peace treaty three months earlier.

Related posts:

1. Fundacion Castilla del Oro: Unique Tourism Away From the Masses
2. Richard Fifer – Spain and Panama, ever closer
3. Historical Exhibition Serves as a Framework to the Visit by the Duke of Veragua