Captain Morgan suffers a rare loss of nerves in a firefight, only snaps out of it when he realizes all his men are laughing at him.

>And here [Morgan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Henry_Morgan_in_colour.jpg) experienced a crisis of faith. Seeing the soaring stone walls of the fortress, which rose out of the sand like some medieval Spanish colossus, he lost his nerve. “Many faint and calm meditations came into his mind,” Equemeling wrote, in an account backed by Spanish sources. >The Brethrens’ prisoners reported an even more nerve-racking scene, with the admiral [**Morgan**] reaching for the throat of the Indian guide and screaming, “We cannot go that way! This is a trick to slaughter us all!” It was a rare break in composure for Morgan, who was, in the pirate vernacular “pistol-proof”: calm under fire. >His men soon laughed him out of his terror, and one of the former English prisoners told the captain that Santiago’s defenses were far less formidable than they looked. Morgan nodded, took a deep breath, and gave the command. The pirates burst in two groups from within their hiding places and went tearing toward the castle. ______________________________ **Source:** Talty, Stephan. “Portobelo.” *Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan’s Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws’ Bloody Reign*. New York: Crown Publishing Group (NY), 2007. 110. Print. ______________________________ **Further Reading:** [Harri Morgan (Henry Morgan)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morgan) [Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Exquemelin) [Fuerte de Santiago / Moóg ng Santiago (Fort Santiago)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Santiago