In the streets of Jamaica, Morgan met a notorious pirate by the name of Mansvelt. The renown of this sea-robber had spread far and wide. He was then equipping a very considerable fleet, intending to man it with a sufficiency of troops to enable him to land upon the territory of the Spaniards and to plunder their cities. Mansvelt, seeing Morgan return with so many prizes, formed a high opinion of his skill and courage, and appointed him vice-admiral of his squadron. A fleet of fifteen ships was soon ready for sea, with a crew of five hundred pirates. About a thousand miles southwest of Jamaica, in Central America, was the Spanish province of Costa Rica, reaching across the narrow Isthmus of Panama from sea to sea. A few leagues from the shore, and but about one hundred miles north of the river Chagres, was the Island of St. Catharine, where the Spaniards had a small garrison. The pirates landed, captured the island, took the Spanish soldiers prisoners, and garrisoned the fort with a hundred of their own men. They left a numerous band of slaves, taken from the Spaniards, to cultivate the soil for their new masters. A Frenchman, by the name of Le Sieur Simon, was placed in command. He was directed to put the island in the best posture for defence, and to set all the slaves at work to raise provisions on the fertile plantations. He was thus expected to revictual the fleet upon its return. It was evidently the intention of Mansvelt to establish there a colony of buccaneers, with fleet and army, of which colony he was to be the king. He had no fears of being interrupted in his operations by the British Government. Mansvelt again spread his sails, and, accompanied by his energetic vice-admiral Morgan, cruised along the eastern coast of Costa Rica. At various points he sent boats, armed with pirates, ashore to rob the villages. The Spanish governor of the adjacent province of Panama, on the south, hearing of these depredations, gathered all the forces at his disposal, and rousing the whole country, advanced to expel the pirates. Mansvelt retreated, and returned with his fleet to St. Catharine. Here he found that his agent had been very efficient, and that an ample supply of provisions was ready for his ships. This most infamous of pirates returned to the Island of Jamaica, held an interview with the governor, informed him frankly of his plans, and solicited the loan of a portion of his garrison to enable him to hold the island against any attempt of the Spaniards to regain it. The governor received the pirate courteously, expressed the fear that the King of England might not exactly approve of such undisguised hostility, when there was peace between the two countries, and stating also that his garrison was then so feeble that he could not with safety diminish its strength.