Pirates and Buccaneers In Panama

Captain Joseph Brodely of Tortuga and Bristol was part of the armada that sailed with Henry Morgan in 1671. He was given the job of capturing Fort San Lorenzo, at the mouth of the Chagres River. Fort San Lorenzo was defended by a force of 320 men, and large cannons that controlled all approaches to the fort and the river. With a force of 4 ships and 400 men, they embarked from Santa Catarina Island. They landed on the coast, a couple of miles east of the fortress. They then marched along the coast, until the reached San Lorenzo. They noted that the fortress was well defended and designed, at it would be impossible to take it in a direct frontal attack. The fortress was built on a bluff, overlooking the entrance to the Chagres River. Its defenses consisted of it shear walls of the bluff with cliffs on three sides as protection. The only approach was from the east, by land. There was a small hill and on the top, a ditch had been dug, that was about 30 feet deep. This ditched was crossed over by a draw bridge controlling the entrance to the fort. In front of the ditch, were some earthen barriers held by wooden palisades.

Waiting until night fall, they attempted to set fire to the palisades. They were spotted setting the fire, and the alarm went out, and the Spaniards rushed to the walls, and fired on the attackers. They were able to set fire to some parts of the palisades, causing the earth, packed behind it to crumble, forming mounds that would be able to use for protection and getting closer to the walls. Through out the night, they continued attacking and putting ladders against the walls of the fort, but the Spaniards kept pushing them off and inflicting heavy casualties.

At daybreak, Brodely orders his men to position themselves, with muskets, and snip at the defenders. Every time the pirates fired a volley, the defenders ducked, and the pirates rushed the walls. But the kept getting pushed back. By noon, the battle was still at a stand still, when the pirates got a break. One of them got wounded by an arrow, which he pulled out, stuck it into his musket. He wrapped the arrow in some of his shirt, and shot it at the fort. When the musket was fired, the cloth caught fire, and shot over the fort's walls, and landed on the thatched roof of the magazine. The magazine blew up, killing many defenders, and blowing big holes in the fortress wall of the upper fort. During the disruption, the pirates rushed again, and got enough ladders on the wall, and were able to climb over the walls while others rushed in through the breech in the wall. Soon all of the pirates were in the upper portion of the fortress, and fighting with the defenders. Once the upper fort was secured, the pirates were able to shoot down, at the Spanish defenders, in the main part of the castle. The Spanish commander was Don Pedro de Lisardo, governor of the area. When the pirates entered the upper fort, he moved his men to a small section of the fort. Here he placed a couple of cannons to shoot back at the pirates with, and 25 men, made his last stand. Once Lisardo was killed by a musket ball through the head, the survivors surrendered. Some of the Spanish defenders, fearful of being tortured by the pirates, through themselves off the cliff.

During the battle, the Spaniards lost 290 of their men, and those that survived were badly wounded. All of their officers had been killed. The pirates lost 100 men and another 100 were wounded. Brodely was informed by the defenders, that several runners had slipped out during the night, to warn Panamá of the attack. Brodely sent one of his ships to Santa Catarina to announce their victory to Morgan, and orders the rest of his men, to rebuild the defenses of the fort, just in case, the Spaniards sent ships and men from Porto Bello to do battle with them. During the battle, Brodely had both legs shot off and he died ten days later, missing the assault on Panamá.