Henry Morgan was born in Wales as the eldest son of a squire farmer. There is little record of his early life but it has been suggested that he left school early and went to Jamaica , where his uncle was the Lieutenant -Governor.He married his cousin, Mary and was soon joining fleet expeditions to capture and pillage Spanish settlements.

Only five years earlier , Jamaica was a weakly guarded Spanish island, which was seized by the English and converted into a colony. Guards defending the island were taken off the street, and as a result were thieves, murderers and cheats.

Henry had the good fortune to fall into favour with Sir Thomas Modyford- Governor of Jamaica, who, although proclaiming loyalty to the Crown, went against the king and provided Morgan with letters of marque to attack Spanish ships and settlements. Modyford was required to call in all pirates and privateers when a temporary truce between Spain and England was called, however the majority did not come in, or did not recieve the recall message. Modyford continued to issue letters of marque and in an effort to rid the Carribean of its Dutch presence , issued one to a Captain Edward Mansfelt who, with Henry as his Vice Admiral, was to assemble a fleet and attack the Dutch settlement of Curacao. Once at sea though , a vote was taken and the crew decided that the risk associated with the attack on that particular settlement outweighed the potential financial gains. In spite of losing some of their fleet , when buccaneers , unhappy with the plan to change course, returned to port, Captain Mansfelt and Vice Admiral Morgan were able to take the Spanish island of Providence. The buccaneers lived in the city and collected all of its wealth, whilst Morgan and Mansfelt returned to Jamaica to gather reinforcements. It was decided that Providence would become  a pirate run settlement, and Modyford put his brother in the role of the Governor. However, the pirates did as they always did and raided the place, then left, so the island was quickly retaken by the Spanish. Modyford was again reprimanded and ordered to call the pirates back, and again, he refused.

Modyford heard a rumour that the Spanish were planning a retaliation attack for providence, and comissioned Morgan directly to gather a fleet and protect Jamaica. Morgan gathered his fleet very differently to most Admirals of the time. He sailed to the places where the most daring pirates coud be found and dressed himself in silk and fine jewels to appear successful, to draw the swashbucklers to him. Using word of mouth he gathered five hundred of the best pirates in the area.

Morgan then began his first independant command. His first expedition was to take the inland Cuban city of Puerto Principe. The fleet encountered heavy storms which forced them to land further from their planned landing point to search for food and provisions. One of their prisoners escaped and warned the citizens of Puerto Pricipe of the impending attack so that when Morgan arrived and began the raid he found that many citizens had escaped with their valuables. The buccaneers were only able to squeeze 50 000 pieces of eight out of the remaining people , which was not enough to pay the debts. They needed another raid.

Morgan announced his plan to attack the third most important Spanish city in the New World, Porto Bello. Porto Bello was considered to be the centre of the Spanish trade in the Americas, as its warehouses contained the goods and valuables of many merchants, and it was extremely well protected by three Spanish forts. Experienced sea pirates scoffed at Morgan’s plan.

When he attacked Porto Bello, he arrived on canoes, silently and under the cover of darkness. His men slipped into the harbour before anyone knew they were there. The element of surprise brought the first two forts down quickly. There are conflicting stories about how the third fell, some suggest that having seen how easily the first two went down , it surrendered, whilst another story tells of how Morgan’s men used Catholic nuns and priests as shields to enter the fort. Either way the fort fell and the city was claimed. Fending off Spanish counter attacks , Morgan and his men collected all the wealth of the city that they could find and then ransomed the Spanish for the safety of its town and citizens. Morgan came back to Jamaica with full pockets and the nickname”Morgan the terrible”.

Modyford was in trouble again and attempted to justify the attacks by emphasising the rumoured Spanish invasion of Jamaica, however he did not believe that this rumour was enough to save his Governorship so he attempted to provoke the Spanish into actually attacking by granting Morgan another comission.

The original plan was to attack Cartagena, which would provoke the Spanish and also make for a very large loot. However a series of bad luck( including a drunken member of crew lighting a fuse for an explosive on board the flagship, the HMS Oxford, and blowing it up) forced a change of plan, yet again. On the advice of a French captain, who had visited the area three years earlier, it was decided that Maracaibo was a suitable alternative. However the town was located at the mouth of an inland lake, with access only by a narrow channel which, unbeknownst to the Frenchman, was now guarded by a Spanish fort. By the time the pirates reached the town, having taken a fair amount of fire from the fort, the town’s inhabitants had escaped , with all their valuables. Again, Morgan needed a backup plan, and set off to attack Gibraltar , a town on the southeastern shore of Lake Maracaibo. Whilst Morgan was ransacking the two towns, the fort on the channel were gathering reinforcements, and when Morgan’s fleet attempted to leave via the channel, they found their path blocked by three Spanish Man’O'War ships. Morgan decided to fight his way out rather than give up, so he ordered that the “Satisfaction” , the largest of their fleet,  be turned into a “fire ship” that would be sailed directly into the Spanish Flagship- the “Magdalen”. Hollowed out logs were filled with explosives and dressed to look like the crew, and twelve men that manned the ship were instructed to throw grappling hooks into the rigging of the Magdalen so that it could not pull away. The plan worked and the Magdalen was destroyed. Subseqently the other two ships were also destroyed. The pirates could not get out of the channel because of the fort, but the Spanish had no ships to attack with so Morgan led a landbased attack on the fort which convinced the governor to shift his cannons and let the pirates through. On return to Jamaica, Morgan was again reproved but not punished, and the Spaniards began to threaten Jamiaca as was intended. Morgan was promoted to Commander in Chief of all the war ships of Jamaica and was commissioned on expedition to destroy and loot Spanish ships and stores… this time as a privateer and not a pirate.

In January 16 70, Morgan set out on the largest venture of his career- to plunder the loot of Panama, the richest city in New Spain. Once he took over Fort San Lorenzo, he led his crew on a rough jungle trek to flank the Spanish , however the Spanish were prepared for them , and six hundred cavalry swooped down on the pirates. After a fierce battle in which the pirates stood their ground , the Spaniards fled  in retreat. The buccaneers had won the city, however at that time a treaty had been drawn up between the Spanish and the English, and England was no longer at war with Spain. Morgan was recalled to England to stand trial as a pirate, however King Charles the II, learning of Morgan’s great deeds knighted him instead, and promoted him to Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. He was odered to rid Jamaica of pirates.

Morgan did well to rid the seas of pirates, but fell out of Favour with King Charles over time. When he died in 1688 he had a reputation for rowdy drunkeness and is believed that he died of liver failure. He was revered as one of the most ruthless of pirates. His daring, brutality and intelligence made him the most feared and respected of baccaneers of the time: a true King of Pirates.

Merry Christmas from all of us from Koh Tao!!

On a dark and misty evening two intrepid instructors embarked upon there night dive qualification as part of there MSDT ( Master Scuba diver Trainer) qualification.

The MSDT is the next step up from Open water scuba instructor. Becoming a MSDT it enables you to teach specialities enabling you to become a more rounded instructor. Before you start the course you choose a minimum of 5 specialities from the extensive PADI speciality courses available.

The most popular choices are Deep, Wreck, Enriched air, Night, Search and Recovery,  Underwater navigation and oxygen provider.

Myself and Emilio elected to do 7 specialties. Before we entered the water we spent a few days in the classroom with our Course director covering the necessary theory to complete the dives.

The first dive on that dark and misty,moody night was our night dive. We descended into the black with ample torchlight. We navigated our way round the dive site and completed the tasks required from us. Using our excellent navigation skills in the darkness we surfaced right next to our dive boat. It was an excellent dive and I always enjoy the different variety of fish you see on a night dive.

The following morning we embarked on our deep dive and wreck dive. During our descent on our deep dive we were lucky enough to come into contact with an excellent 4 metre whale shark which obviously was a welcome sight. We spent some time with the whale shark before continuing on with our dive objectives.

The second dive of the dive day was our week dive on the excellent wreck the HTMS satakutt. This is one of my favourite dive sites here on Koh Tao and I always enjoy diving the wreck especially with Emilio.

The following afternoon Emilio and I put our underwater navigation to the test with a series of skills and challenges which Emilio and I enjoyed completing. The final dive was our Search and Recovery dive where we practiced many varied search patterns and lifting techniques.

It was throughly enjoyable course and excellent to gain the MSDT qualification. Our thanks must go to Peter the course director for challenging and expanding our dive knowledge.

Coral reefs have continued to impress and amaze scuba divers for many years, the vibrant colors and the magnificent structures each one different to the next. They are a fascinating ecosystems and creates the perfect habitat for marine life which is what makes them so good for divers to explore.

Created begins its life as lava, traveling with the flow of water, eventually they lay to rest. After finding a convenient place, a change occurs, known as metamorphosis. It then becomes a primary polyp, the foundation of a successful coral reef. It will then clone itself to create a colony of polyps, over a period of several months. The coral will begin to grow. The polyps feed using tentacles, these pick up plankton floating in the water, once its food is caught its passed down through the mouth into the main body, after which the nutrients are consumed.

Coral reef will grow in shallow, tropical waters where sun light is in abundance. Much like trees, they grow up, towards the light and therefore the surface of the water. The reef, when it reaches the surface it will often struggle to cope with the harsher conditions, will grow out horizontally, this creates large expanses of reef potentially stretching for miles. Currents will bring much needed nutrients, this means that coral reefs will thrive in areas with large water movement.

Coral is reproduced in a similar way to other animals, they simultaneously release eggs and sperm, this happens each year, usually after a full moon. Once the egg is fertilized a lava develops within a few days and is released to begin its own journey to find a suitable place to rest, when it has, again metamorphosis occurs and the cycle is repeated.

There are 3 main types of coral reef ‘Fringing Reefs’ which lay near to shorelines, expanding seaward and also parallel the shore. ‘Barrier Reefs’ which are similar, forming along shorelines, except, further out than fringe reefs – A large expansive of open water will separate the reef from the shore. Then we have ‘Atoll Reefs’ where they rise from the water creating islands circling a lagoon within.

Not only are coral reefs great for scuba divers to explore but they play an integral role in maintaining a successful habitat for marine life. 71% of our planets surface is covered with ocean. Although coral reef makes up less than 0.5% of the ocean, its estimated that 90% of all marine species are dependent on coral reefs, directly or indirectly.