Lawrence Prince

Infobox Pirate
name = Lawrence Prince
lived = fl. 1659-1671


caption =
nickname =
type = Buccaneer
placeofbirth = Amsterdam, Netherlands
placeofdeath =
allegiance = England
serviceyears = c. 1659-1671
base of operations = Caribbean
rank = Lieutenant-Colonel
commands =
battles = Raid on Granada (1670)
Sack of Panama (1671)
wealth =
laterwork =

Lawrence Prince or Laurens Prins Marley, David. "Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present". Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 1998. (pg. 151, 158, 172) ISBN 0-87436-837-5] (fl. 1659-1671) was a 17th century Dutch buccaneer and an officer under Captain Sir Henry Morgan. He and Major John Morris led one of the columns against Panama in 1671.

Biography

According to Spanish accounts, Lawrence Prince was a Dutchman from Amsterdam who arrived in the Caribbean sometime during the late 1650s. In 1659, he was one of four men, including John Morris and Robert Searle, who bought a captured Spanish prize from Commodore Christopher Myngs following his ten-week voyage. [Snelders, Stephen. "The Devil's Anarchy: The Sea Robberies of the Most Famous Pirate Claes G. Compaen". New York: Autonomedia, 2005. (pg. 90) ISBN 1-57027-161-5] Prior to joining Morgan's forces at Port Royal in November 1670, he had previously sailed up to Rio Magdalena intending to raid the town of Mompos located 150 miles inland. Prince was forced to retreat, however, when they were surprised by cannon fire from a recently built island fort protecting the settlement. Prince and his men, determined to "make voyage", sailed north to Nicaragua in August. As in Colombia, Prince sailed up the San Juan River, captured a Spanish fort and paddled by canoe to Lake Nicaragua where they successfully raided Granada. This was almost identical to the Morgan's raid in 1664. Official Spanish reports of the incident claimed that Prince "made havoc and a thousand destructions, sending the head of a priest in a basket and demanding 70,000 pesos in ransom." Earle, Peter. "The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean". New York: St. Martin's Press, 2007. (pg. 150-151) ISBN 0-312-36142-4]

Arriving in Port Royal weeks later, he and two other captains were reproved by Governor Thomas Modyford for attacking the Spanish without a commission or letter of marque. Modyford thought it prudent not "to press the matter too far in this juncture" and ordered them to join Morgan on his raid against Panama "which they were very ready to do". Impressed by his raid at Granada, Morgan appointed Prince third in command under himself and Captain Edward Collier. He and Major John Morris later led the vanguard, numbering 300 buccaneers, against the Spanish fortress on the morning of January 28, 1671. Prince supported the main force, around 600 men, with Morgan and Collier leading the right and left wings while the rearguard was commanded by Colonel Bledry Morgan.

In the final advance, he and Morris commanded the left flank. Advancing in a wide sweep around the Spanish right flank, they captured a hill overlooking the Spanish lines. [Marley, David F. "Historic Cities of the Americas: An Illustrated Encyclopedia". Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2005. (pg. 351) ISBN 1-57607-027-1] This not only forced the Spanish defenders into committing to an attack, it also disrupted plans by the commander Juan Perez de Guzman to stampede a herd of cattle and other livestock towards the advancing buccaneers. He had kept them behind his infantry line, intending to allow the buccaneers to pass through his lines, and setting them against the attackers. It was assumed this would have disrupted and disorganized their forces just before the Spanish foot made contact with the buccaneering force. Instead, the Spanish cattle drovers were scared away by Prince's attack, allowing the cattle to wander among the Spanish lines. A simultaneous assault on the hill and against Morgan's advancing buccaneers ended in disaster as concentrated volley fire decimated Spanish forces, who suffered 100 casualties in the first volley alone. The wandering cattle and concentrated fire, left between 400 and 500 dead and wounded before the Spanish finally retreated from he field. [Konstam, Angus. "Scourge of the Seas: Buccaneers, Pirates and Privateers". Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2007. (pg. 45-47) ISBN 1-84603-211-3]

He was later appointed a lieutenant by Modyford's successor, Sir Thomas Lynch, who replaced Captain John Wilgress, commander of the "HMS Assistance", with Major William Beeston. Lynch may intended to initiate the restructuring of colonial administration, surrounding himself with known associates rather then appointed officials of the British crown. [Davies, J.D. "Gentlemen and Tarpaulins: The Officers and Men of the Restoration Navy". New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. (pg. 19) ISBN 0-19-820263-6] By 1672, using his share from the Panama raid, he became a wealthy landowner on the Liguanea plain as it was opened up for cultivation and farming. [Pawson, Michael and David Buisseret. "Port Royal, Jamaica". Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, 1974. (pg. 39) ISBN 976-640-098-9]

References

Further reading

*Roberts, Walter Adolphe. "Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer and Governor". New York: Covici-Friede, 1933.
*Winston, Alexander. "No Man Knows My Grave: Sir Henry Morgan, Captain William Kidd, Captain Woodes Rogers in the Golden Age of Privateers and Pirates, 1665-1715". New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1969.