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Barbary pirates

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Stephensonia

Eliza was abducted from Qwghlm by Barbary Pirates.

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Community entry: Barbary pirates

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A privateer or corsair was similar in method, but had a commission or a letter of marque from a government or king to capture merchant ships belonging to an enemy nation. The famous Barbary Corsairs of the Mediterranean were privateers as were the Maltese Corsairs, who were authorized by the Knights of St. John. The letter of marque was recognized by international law and meant that a privateer could not be charged with piracy, although this was often not enough to save them. The letter of marque was banned under international law in 1854. The difference between a privateer and a pirate was a subtle (often invisible) one, and the issuance of letters of marque and reprisal to private parties was banned for the signatories of the Declaration of Paris in 1856. The United States was not a signatory and is not bound by that Declaration, but did issue statements during its internal 1861-65 War of Secession, and during its 1898 war against Spain, that it would abide by the principles of the Declaration of Paris for the duration of the hostilities.

Privateering was an age-old practice on both sides of the Mediterranean. North African rulers engaged in it increasingly in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century because it was so lucrative, and because their merchant vessels, formerly a major source of income, were not permitted to enter European ports. This was considerably boosted after Spain gave their non-Christian population a choice between conversion, death, or exile (in 1492, 1502, and 1526), when most Spanish Muslims and Jews found their way to North African ports; mostly destitute and bearing a strong grudge against Spain, they flocked to the profession of privateering in large numbers. Although the methods varied, privateering generally involved private vessels raiding the ships of an enemy in peacetime under the authority of a ruler. Its purposes were to disrupt an opponent's trade and to reap rewards from the captives and cargo.

Privateering was a highly disciplined affair conducted under the command of the rais (captain) of the fleets. Several captains became heroes in Algerian lore for their bravery and skill. The captains of the corsairs banded together in a self-regulating taifa (community) to protect and further the corporate interests of their trade. The taifa came to be highly ethnically mixed, incorporating those Europeans (captured or "renegade") who agreed to convert to Islam and supply information useful for future raids; some of these even ended up as rulers of Algeria, for instance the captured Calabrian Euldj Ali (Occhiali), who converted, advanced through the ranks, and became Bey in 1520. The taifa also gained prestige and political influence because of its role in fighting the infidel and providing the merchants and rulers of Algiers with a major source of income. Algiers became the privateering city-state par excellence, especially between 1560 and 1620; and it was two privateer brothers, Aruj and Khair ud-Din "Barbarossa", who initially brought Ottoman rule to Algeria.

Islamic Tripolitania and Cyrenaica 647-1805

The Arabs penetrated Libya in 647CE. In the following centuries, most of the indigenous peoples adopted Islam, and Arabic language and culture replaced Greco-Latin influences, although the native Berber traditions were maintained in many areas.

Tripoli was pillaged in 1146 by the Normans of Sicily. In 1321 the Beni Ammar established an independent dynasty there, which lasted (with an interval, 1354-1369, during which two sovereigns of the Beni Mekki reigned) until 1401, when Tripoli was reconquered by Tunis.

There was a brief Christian interregnum, 1510-1553, when Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain took Tripoli and in 1528 gave it to the Knights of St John. The Christians were expelled in 1553 by Turkish corsairs Dragut and Sinan, acting under very loose control from Ottoman Constantinople. Dragut, who afterwards fell in battle at Malta, lies buried in Tripoli in a much venerated tomb. After Dragut's decease, the connection between Tripoli and Constantinople seems to have been considerably weakened.

But Tripolitan pirates soon became the terror and scourge of the Mediterranean; half the states of Europe seem at one time or other to have sent their fleets to bombard the capital. In 1714 Ahmed Pasha Karamanli achieved practical independence, and he and his descendants governed Tripoli as a regency, the claims of the Sublime Porte being recognized by the payment of tribute, or “presents.” In May 1801 the pasha demanded from the United States an increase in the tribute ($83,000) which that government had paid since 1796 for the protection of their commerce from piracy. The demand was refused, an American naval force blockaded Tripoli, and a desultory war dragged on until June 3, 1805.

Xebec

A xebec, also spelled xebeque, jabeque, sciabecco, and chebeck, was a small, fast, three-masted (but originally two-masted) vessel of the 16th to 19th centuries used exclusively in the Mediterranean Sea, with a distinctive hull, which added a pronounced overhanging bow and stern, and rarely displacing more than 200 tons.

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, a large xebec carried a square rig on the foremast, lateen sails on the others, a bowsprit, and two headsails.

They were greatly favored by Mediterranean nations as corsairs, and for this purpose were built with a narrow floor to achieve a higher speed than their victims, but with a considerable beam in order to enable them to carry and extensive sail plan. When used as corsairs they carried a crew of 300 to 400 men and mounted up to twenty-four guns according to size.

Redbeard

Enoch the Red may invoke memories of - Barbarossa or "Redbeard" (c. 1465-1546): Raised on Lesbos, he moved to Djerba with his three brothers when their father died. Scorning both the weakness of the Muslim rulers and the presence of Iberian invaders in North Africa, the brothers undertook a campaign of brutal piracy. They formed a principality on Djidjelli, but Spain was establishing its presidios in the Maghrib, the Muslim privateer brothers Aruj and Khair ad Din--the latter known to Europeans as Barbarossa, or Red Beard--were operating successfully off Tunisia under the Hafsids. In 1516 Aruj moved his base of operations to Algiers - where Selim et-Toumi, the local ruler who had invited the brothers in to drive out the Spanish garrison, perished in obscure but convenient circumstances - but was killed in 1518 during his invasion of Tlemcen. Khair ad Din succeeded him as military commander of Algiers. The Ottoman sultan gave him the title of beylerbey (provincial governor) and a contingent of some 2,000 janissaries, well-armed Ottoman soldiers. With the aid of this force, Khair ad Din subdued the coastal region between Constantine and Oran (although the city of Oran remained in Spanish hands until 1791). Under Khair ad Din's regency, Algiers became the center of Ottoman authority in the Maghrib, from which Tunis, Tripoli, and Tlemcen would be overcome and Morocco's independence would be threatened.

  • The Sack of Baltimore links to a poem about 'the sack'
  • Algiers "... (Holy Trinity Church in Tangiers has) Many of these marbles contain memorial inscriptions relating to the English residents (voluntary and involuntary) of Algiers from the time of John Tipton, British consul in 1580. One tablet records that in 1631 two Algerine pirate crews landed in Ireland, sacked Baltimore, and carried off its inhabitants to slavery; another recalls the romantic escape of Ida MDonnell, daughter of Admiral Ulric, consul-general of Denmark, and wife of the British consul. When Lord Exmouth was about to bombard the city in 1816, the British consul was thrown into prison and loaded with chains. Mrs. MDonnell -- who was but sixteen -- escaped to the British fleet disguised as a midshipman, carrying a basket of vegetables in which her baby was hidden. (Mrs. M`Donnell subsequently married the duc de Talleyrand-Perigord and died at Florence in 1880). Among later residents commemorated is Edward Lloyd, who was the first person to show the value of esparto grass for the manufacture of paper, and thus started an industry which is one of the most important in Algeria. ..."