Captain Henry Morgan used Jamaica as a base for buccaneer operations. More specifically, Port Royal on Jamaica’s southern coast served as the key harbor from which Morgan and other English privateers organized raids against Spanish shipping and settlements.
Jamaica became an English possession in 1655, and its position in the Caribbean made it strategically valuable. Governors issued letters of marque—legal authorizations to attack enemy vessels—while the island’s merchants and officials benefited from the wealth privateers brought back. Morgan operated within this system, although later accounts often simplify him as merely a pirate.
Port Royal supplied ships, crews, intelligence, and a market for captured goods. Morgan returned there after expeditions to places such as Puerto Príncipe, Portobelo, Maracaibo, and Panama. About 1,500 privateers used Jamaica as a base during the period described in historical accounts.
A common mix-up is Île-à-Vache, which Morgan used as a rendezvous point for a particular expedition. That temporary staging island does not replace Jamaica as his principal Caribbean base of operations.