GT25's Historical Series: Sir Francis Drake vs. Sir Henry Morgan

Hello, and welcome to the Historical Series. In this series, we will compare warriors from across the world and throughout history and mythology and analyze their weapons, armor, and x-factors to see who would win in a hypothetical battle. For this installment, we will take two privateers from England who became pirates in the eyes of the Kingdom of Spain with Francis Drake and Henry Morgan. For this installment, we will take Francis Drake during the battle against the Spanish Armada in 1588 and Henry Morgan during the attack on the old Panama City in 1671. Despite these two warriors being well recognized from popular culture, I will still give a brief overview of their histories for those who wish to learn more about them.

History of the Warriors

With his birth date believed to be around the year 1540 in Travistock, Devon, Francis Drake was the oldest of twelve sons to a Protestant farmer with them fleeing in 1549 to Kent during the Prayer Book Rebellion. At the age of eighteen, he became the purser of a ship with him making his first voyage to the Americas in 1563. Taking part in many attacks of the Spanish territory in the Caribbean Sea, Drake would be present during the Rathlin Island massacre in 1575 before being sent by Queen Elizabeth I to start an expedition along the Pacific Coast of the Americas. During his expedition, he would land on the coast of California and became the second person to circumnavigation the Earth for which he was awarded knighthood by the Queen Elizabeth. Going into politics upon his return to England, Drake would again leading raids against the Spanish colonies in the Americas in 1585 which continued into the next year before returning to England. These acts would help in the Spanish Armada being formed to strike at England in 1588 only for Drake, now a vice admiral, to help with the defense against the fleet and leading a counter invasion with the English Armada the next year.


Born around the year 1635 in Wales, the early life and career of Henry Morgan are uncertain though he stated in his later life to have left school early and was described as "much more used to the pike than the book". Though it is unknown how he made his way to the Caribbean, it is probable that Morgan was active with a group of privateers led by Christopher Myngs in the early 1660s. As diplomatic relations between the Kingdoms of England and Spain worsen in 1667, Morgan would receive a letter of marque from the governor of Jamaica to take action against the Spanish with him planning to attack Havana. However, he changed tactics to attack the less defended Puerto Principle and later the next year leading a raid on Porto Bello after a brief stop back at Port Royal in Jamaica. After attacking the old Panama City in the year 1671, Morgan would be sent to London for attacking a Spanish port without knowing that neither England or Spain were actually going to war. Appointed by King Charles II as a Knight Bachelor in 1674, Morgan would return to Jamaica and enter the politics of the island from the year 1675 until his death in 1688.


Close Range

Rapier (Sir Francis Drake): The Rapier is a type of sword with a slender and sharply pointed double-edged blade which was popular in Western Europe throughout the 16th and 17th century. The sword used by Francis Drake during his life has a regular cross guard along with a ring guard on the right side and a normal knuckle guard of the time period. This type of sword most likely has a 33.46 inch steel blade with a total length of 40.94 inches and weighs 2.75 pounds.


Backsword (Sir Henry Morgan): The Backsword is a type of straight sword with a single-edged blade that is so called because the triangular cross section gives the blade a flat back edge opposite of the cutting edge. During this period of time, an English example of this sword has a full-basket guard around the hand similar to those found on the Mortuary Sword used during the English Civil War. An example of this type of Backsword has a 32.13 inch steel blade with a total length of 39 inches and weighs 2.46 pounds.


Verdict: The Backsword gets the edge. While the Rapier has a bit longer of a blade by 1.33 inches and the Backsword is just a bit lighter by 4.64 ounces, the Rapier is a sword that focuses more on thrusting while the Backsword can slash just as well as it can thrust. In addition, the full-basket guard on the grip of the Backsword provides the user's hand more protection than the more simple guard found on this example of the Rapier.

Medium Range

Matchlock Pistol (Sir Francis Drake): The Matchlock Pistol, often referred to as a 'handgonne', is a type of Matchlock firearm which was an early pistol design used during the late 16th century that fires a .62 caliber lead ball. This type of pistol most likely has a length of 23 inches and possibly weighs 3.15 pounds with a possible effective range of 22.86 meters.


Doglock Pistol (Sir Henry Morgan): The Doglock Pistol is a type of Doglock firearm which saw much use by the English in Great Britain and Colonial America during the 17th century that fires a .58 caliber lead ball. The Doglock mechanism is similar to the Flintlock mechanism but with a latch known as a 'dog' that holds the hammer thanks to a catch on the hammer to safely load the firearm. This latch will fall backwards off the catch when the hammer is brought back to the full-cock position. An example of this type of pistol has a length of 16 inches and possibly weighs 2.96 pounds with an effective range of 22.86 meters.


Verdict: The Doglock Pistol gets the edge. Both pistols have the same range and the Matchlock Pistol fires a larger caliber round, but the Doglock Pistol is shorter by 7 inches and slightly lighter by 3.04 ounces. In addition, the Doglock mechanism is the better and more advance mechanism that did replace the Matchlock mechanism in history.

Long Range

Caliver (Sir Francis Drake): The Caliver is a type of "light" pattern of Arquebus which emerged during the 16th century with it being used by many countries in Europe that fires a .57 caliber lead ball. Unlike the normal Arquebus, the Caliver use a slopping stock rather than the more typical stock found on examples of the Arquebus. An example of this type of Arquebus has a length of 46 inches and weighs 9 pounds with an effective range of 50 meters.


Doglock Musket (Sir Henry Morgan): The Doglock Musket is a type of doglock firearm which became a common weapon among the English army along with civilians in Colonial America that fires a .75 caliber lead ball. This firearm operates using the same mechanism as the pistol and as such works in an identical way. An example of this English musket has a length of 57 inches and weighs 9 pounds with an effective range of 50 meters.


Verdict: The Doglock Musket gets the edge. Despite both being the same weight and having the same range, the Caliver is shorter by 11 inches which does make it much easier to maneuver when being used. However, the Musket has the better and more advanced mechanism along with firing a much larger caliber round than the Caliver.

Special Weapons

Halberd (Sir Francis Drake): The Halberd is a type of polearm that was used by European armies during the Medieval Ages and even into the Renaissance. Similar to the Alabarda used by the Kingdom of Spain, the Halberd found in England during this time had a long top spike with a small concave axe blade and a hooked spike on the back of it to hook a mounted foe and pull them off their horse. An example of this type of Halberd has a length of 90.75 inches and weighs 5.5 pounds.


Grenado (Sir Henry Morgan): The Grenado is a type of explosive used during the 17th century composed of a hollow ball made of clay that was filled with black powder and metal shot. The grenade had a slow match stuck in the neck of the weapon that was lit before thrown which would cause it to explode. This type of explosive most likely had a diameter of 4 inches and possibly weighs 1.95 pounds with a possible effective blast radius of 5 meters.


Verdict: The Grenado gets the edge, but not by much. While the Grenado is lighter by 3.55 pounds and more can be carried by one person, the Halberd can be used in melee combat and has more than one use. That said, the benefits of the Halberd can't help to overcome that the Grenado is an explosive that can take out multiple targets at once.

X-Factors

Physicality: Henry Morgan gets the edge, though not by much. By the time of helping in fighting the Spanish Armada, Francis Drake was forty-eight years old with him having spent much of his life at sea on shipping vessels and had dealt by many types of climates during his travels. By the time of the attack on the old Panama City, Henry Morgan was thirty-six years old with him being used to taking on the defenders of Spanish towns and grown used to the climate of the region he operated in.

Endurance: Having been a sea captain and explorer for many years of his life, Francis Drake was accustom to working on a sailing ship with him having been on a ship in several types of climates during his circumnavigation of the world along with the places that he and his crew explored. Operating in the Caribbean Sea with other privateers, Henry Morgan was accustom to the tropical climates the islands and the Spanish Main had along with being able to lead men inland to attack towns away from the coast within a few days and taking on the town defenders.

Generalship: Francis Drake gets the edge, through not by much. As a sea captain and explorer who would later become vice admiral of the English fleet, Francis Drake was able to motivate his men into joining him on his voyages through acts of bravery and using his intelligence to create strategies to overcome his enemies and even capture ships while in battle. When leading his raids against the Spanish towns both on the coast and inland, Henry Morgan was able to lead both English and French privateers against these towns and have them work together to take on the Spanish defenders along with using strategies to take towns often with few casualties.

Experience: By the time of him helping in fighting the Spanish Armada, Francis Drake had committed many raids on Spanish towns before and after his circumnavigation of the world along with be the vice admiral in the English fleet that would defend the Kingdom of England against the Spanish Armada. Said to have been likely to be active in a group of privateers in the early 1660s, Henry Morgan would spend possibly eight years as a privateer with him leading raids on several towns located on islands in the West Indies and the Spanish Main in modern day Panama and Venezuela.


Match Information: This is a five on five match with nothing else being taken into account.

The Set Up: In a Spanish port town on the Atlantic Ocean, Francis Drake with members of his crew come to scout the port out while Henry Morgan with some privateers are checking to ensure a safe journey home.

BATTLE

At the pier of a port town on the Spanish Main, five men wearing long sleeve shirts and breeches in two row boats are pulling their boats up to one of the docks using rope before their leader steps onto the dock. The leader is a man with a brown mustache and pointed beard wearing a doublet over his shirt who has a Caliver in his hands with a Matchlock Pistol strapped to his belt which also has a scabbard that holds a Rapier. A man follows him out of the boat with a Halberd in his hands along with a Rapier in a scabbard on his belt. The last man to come out of the first boat has a Caliver in his hands and having two Matchlock Pistols strapped to the sides of his belt.

Coming from the second boat is a fourth man with a Caliver in his hands along with having a Rapier in a scabbard on his belt. The final man comes onto the dock with a Halberd in both of his hands while having a Matchlock Pistol strapped to his belt along with a scabbard that holds a Rapier. These men, in order of appearance, are Francis Drake, Cecil, Thomas, James, and Lewis. Having come to scout ahead of an attack by the English Armada, Drake motions for his crewmen to follow him into the port town.

Francis Drake: 5

Further into the Spanish port town, five men wearing their own long sleeve shirts and breeches are walking down one of the main streets towards the pier. Their leader, a man with a brown mustache while wearing a red bandana on his head and a slashed doublet, has a Doglock Musket in his hands with two Doglock Pistols strapped to his belt that also holds a Backsword in a scabbard. Behind him are the rest of his men, the second man having a Doglock Pistol in his right hand with a Backsword in a scabbard and a bag with two Grenados on his belt.

The third man in the group has a Doglock Musket in his hands with a Backsword in a scabbard on his belt with the fourth man having a Doglock Pistol in his right hand and two more strapped to his belt. The last man is looking around them as he holds a Doglock Musket in his hands with a Doglock Pistol strapped to his belt which also has a scabbard that holds a Backsword. These men, in order of appearance, are Henry Morgan, Gideon, Allan, Quincy, and Edward. Having traveled around the town before they return to Port Royal with their treasure, Morgan leads his privateers towards the pier to ensure that it's safe to leave the Spanish Main.

Francis Drake: 5

Henry Morgan: 5

As Drake and his crewmen head for a pathway towards one of the main roads, Morgan and his privateers come into view about sixty feet away from them and start to turn onto the pathway. Seeing the privateers first, Drake orders his men to ready their weapons which catches Morgan's attention as he spots the five men. Acting fast, he orders his privateers to line up with the four men doing so as they prepare to take on another opposing force.

However, Drake orders his crew to open fire with him, Thomas, and James firing their Calivers while Cecil and Lewis stand behind them. As the privateers aim their firearms, Edward cries out as Drake's shot goes into his right leg and Allan collapses with Thomas having shot him in the head.

Francis Drake: 5

Henry Morgan: 4

Despite being shot at, Morgan orders his men to open fire with them firing their muskets and pistols down towards their attackers. While half of their shots miss, Morgan gets a hit on Cecil's left thigh and Edward manages to strike Thomas in his right eye which causes him to fall down dead.

Francis Drake: 4

Henry Morgan: 4

As he tosses his Caliver to the side, Drake orders Cecil and Lewis to charge as he draws his Matchlock Pistol and James puts his Caliver to the ground to being reloading it. As Lewis charges forward with Cecil limping behind him, Morgan orders Gideon to use a Grenado before tossing his musket away and drawing both of his Doglock Pistols from his belt.

Drake aims his Matchlock Pistol towards the leader of the privateers, but spots Quincy seeing him and drawing one of the pistols from his belt to use. Taking a chance, the sea captain moves his arm and fires his pistol at Quincy who receives a shot to the heart and falls backwards.

Francis Drake: 4

Henry Morgan: 3

Lewis continues to charge towards the privateers, who start to fall back as Gideon lights the fuse to a Grenado and tosses it in front of the charging man. As Drake and James finish reloading their firearms, the Grenado hitting a barrel and rolling for a second as Lewis gets within a foot of the barrel.

BOOM!

Cecil nearly stumbles backwards as the explosive goes off about twelve feet from him with his captain and fellow crew member getting startled by the sudden explosion. However, Lewis is not so lucky having been thrown against the wall of a building with shrapnel in many spots of his body and close enough for the blast alone to kill him.

Francis Drake: 3

Henry Morgan: 3

Despite having never seen such a weapon in use, Drake and James take their firearms in hand as they move forward with Cecil still limping forward. As the smoke clears, Morgan and Gideon appear with Morgan firing one of his Doglock Pistols towards the two. The bullet misses them, but they focus on Gideon lighting the second Grenado and aim their firearms at him.

However, the two fail to notice Edward limping forward and aiming his Doglock Pistol at them before firing the weapon. His bullet manages to strike James in the neck, causing him to fall to his right and die with blood leaking from his neck.

Francis Drake: 2

Henry Morgan: 3

Gideon throws the Grenado at the sea captain as Cecil bears the pain in his leg long enough to charge the short distance towards Edward. However, Drake fires his Matchlock Pistol at Gideon and hits him in the chest as the explosive lands a few feet from him.

Francis Drake: 2

Henry Morgan: 2

As Drake spots the Grenado and runs towards a group of barrels close to him, Cecil reaches Edward and performs a thrust with his Halberd that gets the top spike into the man's gut. Edward cries out as Morgan sees his last privateer being attacked as Drake jumps behind the barrels.

BOOM!

With the explosive failing to kill anyone yet shocking both Cecil and Morgan, the last crewman pulls his Halberd from the wounded privateer as they fall onto their back. Deciding not to risk anything, Cecil brings his Halberd up and swings it down to plant the axe blade into Edward's head.

Francis Drake: 2

Henry Morgan: 1

Getting out from behind the barrels, Drake turns and starts to move towards his last crew member only to see Morgan recover from his shock and fires his Doglock Pistol. The bullet enters Cecil's side with him crying out as the privateer leader tosses both his pistols and draws his Backsword. Drake tosses his Matchlock Pistol and rushes forward as he draws his Rapier, but Morgan gets a single swing in that cuts halfway into Cecil's neck and draws it out as the man collapses to the ground.

Francis Drake: 1

Henry Morgan: 1

Drake continues to charge forward as the privateer leader turns to face him and sees the man thrusting his Rapier towards his chest. Acting quickly, Morgan steps back as he deflects the strike away from his body and moves his sword to slash at his foe's gut. However, the sea captain steps back to avoid the strike with it just cutting into the doublet he's wearing.

As the blade moves away, Drake steps forward and thrusts his Rapier into Morgan's right shoulder and causing the man to cry out in pain. Once the blade is withdrawn, the Welshman sees another thrust coming and steps to his right to avoid the strike. However, the Englishman quickly turns to keep himself from being exposed and performs a third thrust that gets parried away. When his adversary attempts to slash at him, Drake ducks under the strike and thrusts his Rapier towards Morgan's legs which make him stumble back.

Deflecting another strike, the privateer finds himself on the retreat and steps back to avoid another thrust towards his thighs. However, he catches a glance towards body of Quincy and gets an idea that might just work. Using his Backsword to deflect another thrust, Morgan is able to counter with a slash that cuts into Drake's leg and makes him step backwards.

Moving quickly, the Welshman rushes over to the fallen privateer as the Englishman follows him with his opponent kneeling down next to the dead body. Reaching him, the sea captain goes for a thrust only for the privateer to turn his body and deflect the Rapier away again with his Backsword.

That's when Drake sees the man cocking the hammer of a Doglock Pistol back.

Pointing the firearm forward, Morgan fires the weapon with the bullet hitting his foe in the gut and the man stepping back a few steps in shock. Standing up, the Welshman swings his left arm to strike the Englishman in the head with the barrel of the pistol which stuns him. Pulling his left arm back, he follows it up with a thrust that goes through his foe's neck before drawing the blade back out. The sea captain spits out blood as he drops his Rapier and his body collapses to the ground.

Francis Drake: 0

Henry Morgan: 1

Letting out a sigh, Morgan tosses the pistol away before noticing a cloth bag on the belt of his fallen opponent. Kneeling down, he cuts it loose with his Backsword and unties the knot to open the bag to find some Spanish gold coins. Smiling at the sight of the gold, he stands up and walks away from the area with his new gains to prepare the rest of his men for departure.


Final Verdict: These two English privateers who committed raids against the Kingdom of Spain were able to go head to head, but ultimately it was Henry Morgan who emerged victorious with a possible outcome of 5.3 out of 10 battles. Starting with x-factors, most of the categories were decided by a narrow margin with Francis Drake taking the slight edge in both endurance and generalship while Henry Morgan having a slight edge in physicality. However, Francis Drake took the edge in experience as he helped battle the Spanish Armada while Henry Morgan often battled against the militia from the Spanish towns and cities he raided. However, the weapons really impacted this fight with Henry Morgan getting a slight edge in special weapons while taking a solid edge in close, medium, and long range. This gave Morgan the superior arsenal going into this fight and his more advanced firearms simply gave him an edge in terms of technology over Drake. Overall, the more experienced Francis Drake and his better endurance and skills as a general were unable to overcome the slightly better physicality of Henry Morgan along with his better firearms and his superior arsenal.

Got a battle you want to see? Tell me and I'll see if I can get it into the series! Next time, we pit the guards of the Vatican against the foot soldiers of Japan.


Ray Tanaka: Hey, everyone. Apologies for this one being delayed a bit, got distracted with stuff in the real world. That said, this was a more difficult chapter than most I've done as I've had to change a lot of the original concept before it got to this point. Originally, I wanted to do something bigger with both men on ships with them using cannons along with polearms and explosives. When that happened, Francis Drake had the Partisan for medium range, the Snaphance Pistol along with the Caliver, and the Hand Mortar for special weapons while Henry Morgan had the Boarding Pike for medium range and a Flintlock Pistol along with a Musketoon using a Doglock mechanism plus the weapons they have here.

However, I ended up cutting the cannons to make it more manageable...which ended up causing me to cut the original plan of them being on ships as that's why I included the cannons in the first place. Then, when I actually started to dig into their weapons while working on the chapter...well, had to scrap many of the weapons I had originally. The Hand Mortar was thrown out as Francis Drake lived at a time when it didn't exist and I replaced his Snaphance Pistol for the Matchlock Pistol as that was more common in his time. His Caliver and Rapier remained, but I ended up changing his special weapon to the Halberd as I did find plenty of support for those under him making use of it. On a side note, I can see someone arguing that special weapons isn't as close as I made it out to be, but there are things about the Halberd that make it a bit more usable over the Grenado.

As to Henry Morgan, I changed out his Flintlock Pistol and the Musketoon with a Doglock Pistol and Musket as those were common in his time and ended up dropping the Boarding Pike due to not knowing if he did have it or not. Now, the hardest thing to look up was the sword Henry Morgan used which...apparently not one has been able to pin down based off what I've found. I had him with a Hunting Sword when I started, but ultimately I ended up with the Backsword as it seemed the most likely weapon for him to have used. So, yeah, a lot to research and I find myself understanding why these two haven't been used before.

Though, I did find it interesting that both men were not only privateers, but also ended up in politics at some point in their lives. Never would have expected that to be something they shared. As for next time, it's hopefully kinda obvious and it'll probably be at least interesting to see. Finally, I have a poll open for this series for possible future match ups after Chapter 50 for the next part of the series. There's ten choices to choose from with five generic warriors and five general type warriors with everyone being allowed to pick four options out of the available ten. If you like the series, please consider voting on what battles you want to see in the future. Hope you all enjoyed!