Maracaibo Expedition

Timeline

1. 1669Tortuga/Jamaica · CaribbeanMorgan originally planned to attack Cartagena but, after his flagship Oxford exploded, switched to Lake Maracaibo. The fleet assembled from the Tortuga/Jamaica direction and broke through Fort San Carlos at the lake's entrance, targeting the Spanish towns within.
2. 1669Lake Maracaibo · Zulia StateThe privateers occupied Maracaibo and Gibraltar on the lake's southern shore, plundering supplies and hunting down residents who fled into the jungle to demand ransoms; the Spanish windward fleet promptly blockaded the lake's entrance.
3. 1669Maracaibo · VenezuelaOn May 1 Morgan destroyed the Spanish flagship with fire ships, broke through the blockade at the lake's entrance, and returned to Jamaica with the spoils, an event that shook the defenses of Spanish America.