Manuel Ribeiro Pardal

Manuel Ribeiro Pardal(died 1671), also known asManuel Rivero PardalorPardel,was a 17th-centuryPortugueseprivateer inSpanishservice during the late 1660s and early 1670s.

Biography

Pardal was originally hired by the Spanish to attack English bases in the Caribbean following CaptainHenry Morgan's raid onPuerto Belloin 1668. Although it was anticipated that he would take on Morgan himself, Pardal instead attacked the turtle-hunting settlement onLittle Caymanin 1669. Flying under false colors with a fleet of five ships, Pardal's 200-man force landed on the beach, burned homes and turtle sloops and captured theJamaicanshipHopewell.Before leaving forCuba,Pardal reportedly took twosloopsand several prisoners with him.

While in Cuba, he encountered Dutch pirateBernard Speirdykeand later captured his ship. Upon Pardal's return toCartagena, Colombia,in 1671, a festival was held in his honor, and he was appointed "Admiral of the Corsairs" by the governor. During that same year, he sailed with his flagship, theSan Pedro,and a captured aFrenchfrigate, seizing another sloop and attacking remote villages on the northern Jamaican coastline. According to popular lore, he wrote a poem issuing a challenge to CaptainHenry Morgan,which was written on sailcloth and hung on a tree atPoint Negril:

"I come to seek General Morgan with two shippes of twenty guns and, having seen this, I crave he would come out upon ye coast to seeke mee, that hee might see ye valour of ye Spanish."

The authorities in Jamaica became alarmed, to the extent that GovernorThomas Modyfordauthorized Captain Morgan to defendPort Royalagainst Pardal. However, Morgan instead used that an excuse to assemble a fleet to launch his now-famous raid onPanama,despite the peace agreement between England and Spain following the signing of theTreaty of Madrid.

Pardal was eventually killed, and his flagshipSan Pedro y Famacaptured, off the north coast of Cuba, in battle against CaptainJohn Morris,a lieutenant of Captain Morgan.