Strangely, while the original holders of the title of Capudan Pasha were usually Turks or leading local privateers, by the 17th century the post was frequently held by a European renegade. The Capudan Pasha had a headquarters building near the harbour, and from there he and a small staff of clerks supervised the movement of all merchant shipping, as well as the activities of privateers and any regency warships. Before a privateering captain could put to sea he had to obtain permission to sail from the Capudan Pasha, and collect a renewed ‘letter of marque’ from the taiffa. This council established cruising areas in advance, and often the duration of cruises. If the vessel was a galley or galiot, however, the lack of space for water, provisions, captives or plunder naturally meant that cruises were of fairly short duration. Once these permissions were granted the captain hoisted a green flag at his masthead to indicate that he was about to sail on a corso, and his crew would embark, accompanied in many cases by a detachment of the regency’s janissaries.
Khizr Barbarossa (c.1478–1576), also referred to by the honorific Hayreddin or Kheir ed-Din (meaning approximately ‘the Best’), was the formidable leader of the Barbary pirates for a major part of the 16th century. During his career he juggled his own privateering activities with the governorship of Algiers and military service to the Ottoman sultan.
The captains
The reis (‘captain’) was chosen by the ship’s owners, although candidates also had to be approved by the taiffa and the Capudan Pasha. The origins of privateering captains varied considerably. In the early 16th century the large majority of them were Turks – though that catch-all term included seamen from Greece, the Balkans, Syria, Egypt, or elsewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as the Turkish heartland of Asia Minor. At first very few were Berbers, although a number of North African seamen did rise to prominence during the 16th century. Others were Moorish exiles from southern Spain, many of whom had fled to the Barbary states. Later, from the early 17th century onwards, an increasing number of them were European renegades; for instance, by the 1630s more than half of the privateering captains based in Algiers were either European renegades or the sons they had sired locally. The captains of ships of the rulers’ own fleets were drawn from the same range of backgrounds. This is hardly surprising, as for the most part these vessels too were simply privateers owned by the ruler himself.
In Algiers, as in the other Barbary ports, the captains tended to maintain houses in the western part of the city, close to the kasbah, with their crews quartered close by. This was a precaution against any attack by political or domestic opponents, and it helped to ensure that the community of privateers formed an identifiable political and social bloc in the city. Once at sea, the privateer captains either operated independently, or served together in a squadron or fleet commanded by the Capudan Pasha or one of his appointed deputies. The result was an administrative and command structure that would not have been out of place in the navy of any contemporary maritime state.
The gifted Italian-born Barbary privateer leader Uluç Ali (or ‘Ochialli’) served under Turgut Reis before rising to become the Beylerbey of Algiers in his turn. He commanded the Barbary contingent at the battle of Lepanto (1571), and three years later he recaptured Tunis from the Spanish.
It is worth noting that for the most part the leaders of the Barbary pirates were privateers themselves, who had worked their way up into positions of authority through hard-won experience, naval skills and a certain amount of luck. There was no real conflict of interest when these men were summoned to participate in expeditions on behalf of the Ottoman sultan, or even to command his fleets. After all, most of the English ‘sea dogs’ of the same period were equally adept at combining privateering careers with service to the state – Sir Francis Drake and Khizr Barbarossa were not as dissimilar as one might imagine. Similarly, dedicated Ottoman warships might be deployed to take part in privateering ventures under a Barbary commander, just as Ottoman troops and artillery were used to augment the fighting potential of Barbary warships. Even the janissaries serving in the regencies were regularly detached to provide a core of experienced troops aboard privateering vessels.
Dual command
On the frequent occasions when janissaries were embarked a dual system of command was maintained. The reis was in sole command of his ship and crew, but not of the embarked detachment of janissaries. Although they were the hard-core fighting element aboard they remained detached from the normal routine of the ship, only springing into action when an attack was launched. They were commanded not by the reis but by their own agha (‘officer’), taking orders only from him. While this dual command might appear problematic (after all, without the agha’s consent the ship would not be able to launch an attack or a raid), in practice it seemed to work well enough, and there are no recorded instances of any real conflict. Interestingly, a similar system existed in Spanish warships of the period, but with the difference that the military commander actually took control of the ship during an attack.
F TURGUT REIS AT BATTLE OF PREVEZA, 1538
1: Turgut Reis
This impression, based partly on posthumous depictions, imagines Turgut Reis fighting surrounded by his pirates and janissaries at the battle of Preveza, where, serving as deputy to Khizr Barbarossa in command of the Ottoman reserve, he reportedly turned the tide of battle when he boarded and captured a Papal flagship. At this date the Greek-born captain was 53 years old, described as tall, bearded, and a charismatic leader. He wears the long, buttoned coat and kaftan typical of a holder of senior Ottoman rank, over armour – almost certainly a composite of mail with small plates covering the torso, which was frequently worn either under or sandwiched between layers of fabric. The scabbard of his wide-bladed yataghan is thrust under his silk sash.
2: Berber officer
Based partly upon a 17th-century painting by Pier Francisco Mola which shows a senior warrior sporting a slung leopard-skin. His robes are tucked up to allow freedom of movement at sea, and he is armed with a kilij sword and a Turkish agfa dagger.
3: Hafsid Berber soldier
By contrast, note the enveloping North African arrangement of this man’s turban, and his straight broadsword.
4: Janissaries
By this date these elite Turkish infantry soldiers traditionally led boarding parties, fighting both with muskets and swords (the hatchet carried in his sash by the soldier at the right was not intended as a weapon, but to cut up lead ingots for bullet-moulding). Janissaries wore uniform coats in a number of colours (red, blue and green seem to have been common), with the front skirts tucked up in battle; the long ‘stand-and-fall’ white fabric headdress with a brass headband had a removable frontal tube to hold feather plumes on ceremonial occasions. Esprit de corps was important, and they often displayed on their hands tattoos particular to their orta (regiment). The weapons are taken from surviving Turkish examples, although the extant matchlocks are of rather later date; powder and priming flasks were often made from rams’ horns.
Dividing the spoils
Once the ship returned to port any prizes, plunder and captives were dealt with following long-established custom. The sale of ships, cargo and slaves, and the ransoming of prisoners, were managed by the state authorities, who also administered the disbursement of the profits. A previously agreed portion of the gross value – anything from one-fifth to one-eighth – went to the ruler of the regency. Next, other customary deductions were made, to cover the fees of the customs officials, the slave-merchants, the cargo- or ship-brokers, as well as other sums for the upkeep of the port or for its marabouts (religious teachers).
This illustration from a 17th-century Dutch work promoting the work of the Redemptionist Fathers shows, on the right, an imposing agha of janissaries. The Christian prior holds bags of coins; the urgency of his mission of mercy is emphasized (bottom centre) by the depiction of a slave in the stocks having the soles of his feet beaten in the notorious bastinado punishment.
The money th
at remained was divided in two. One half went to the shipowners, either individuals or a consortium of financial backers (the owner was often the ruler himself, or the Capudan Pasha). The other half was divided amongst the crew. Once again, this division of spoils followed long-established rules. First, bonuses were issued as rewards – for instance, to the sailor who had spotted the prize in the first place, or to the first man to board it. The net sum was then divided into several hundred shares, depending on the size of the crew, and issued according to an established ratio. Thus, the captain would get 40 shares, other officers 10–20 shares, sailors 3 shares, janissaries 1½ shares and boys a single share. If the privateer vessel was crewed by former Christian converts, they too shared in the profit, receiving 3 shares apiece like any Muslim sailor.
TURGUT REIS (1485–1565)
Turgut (or Dragut) was a Greek-born slave who had converted to Islam and joined the Ottoman army as a gunner. By 1520 he had turned up in Algiers, where he joined Barbarossa’s privateers – no doubt being welcomed for his specialist military skill. He soon rose to command his own vessel, and then a squadron of galiots, with which he preyed on Spanish and Italian shipping in the Tyrrhenian Sea and around the coasts of Sicily.
He then moved to the Peloponnese, where he employed small barca longas and fustas to attack passing Venetian ships. Most notably, in May 1533 his flotilla fell upon two well-armed Venetian galleys of the Cretan squadron as they were patrolling off the Saronic Islands almost within sight of the crumbling walls of Athens. He was equally successful in a major fleet action in 1538, when he commanded the Turkish reserve under Barbarossa at the battle of Preveza (see Plate F). At the climax of the battle he darted forward with two galiots and, at the head of his janissaries, boarded and took the Papal flagship commanded by the Tuscan warrior-cleric Gimbattista Dovizi. In 1540 Turgut Reis became the Bey of the pirate lair of Djerba off the Tunisian coast, and thereafter spent several years leading raids in the Central Mediterranean. These included his temporary capture of the island of Gozo, when most of the population were taken away as slaves, and similar attacks around the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Turgut faced his greatest challenge in October 1550, when Andrea Doria appeared off Djerba with a much stronger fleet of Genoese and Spanish galleys. Turgut’s ships were trapped inside the lagoon, and only a small battery covering the narrow Cantera Channel stood between them and the enemy. Knowing that he would be unable to prevent Doria from landing troops to take this last obstacle, Turgut planned a daring escape. He greased the hulls of his vessels, and constructed a greased plank slipway across the sandspit that linked Djerba to the mainland. Under cover of darkness during three successive nights, Turgut spirited his fleet away across the sandspit and into a channel dug through the shallows to deeper waters to the east. Not only did he escape Doria’s trap, but on his way to safety he captured two Christian galleys which were on their way to reinforce Doria’s fleet.
The following year Turgut surpassed even this achievement when, reinforced by a Turkish galley fleet, he not only recaptured Djerba but also took Tripoli from the Knights of St John. Turgut was named Bey of Tripoli, and later Beylerbey of Algiers. He went on to defeat Doria in 1552 in a galley fight at Ponza off Naples, and in May 1560 in an even greater battle off Djerba. The Christians had just captured that island, but were unprepared when Piali Pasha and Turgut arrived; they achieved victory within a few hours, and Andrea Doria was one of the few senior Christian commanders to escape.
The two Muslim commanders’ next campaign was notably less successful: at the head of a corsair contingent during the great Ottoman siege of Malta in 1565, Turgut was killed before Fort St Elmo at Valetta. His body was taken to Tripoli for burial.
THE CREWS
The captain of a ship was assisted by a number of officers. These included a pilot to assist with navigation; a sailmaster to supervise working under sail; a chief boatswain to assist him in other aspects of seamanship, and to oversee discipline; a chief gunner to deal with the ordnance; a khodja (purser) to supervise the stores and plunder; and, where necessary, an overseer of slaves. There was also the agha of janissaries, as noted above.
A Barbary pirate, from an 18th-century engraving. His costume seems less unrealistic than most Western depictions of such men, and matches the scant descriptions of their appearance that have survived.
The crew themselves were often a complete mixture of men of different ages, races and even religions. There is a lack of hard evidence on the composition of crews (no crew lists survive), so we have to rely on the testimony of witnesses such as Luis del Marmol-Carvajal, a Spanish sailor who was captured by Moroccan pirates and spent almost eight years as a slave on their galleys. Nicolo Carraciolo, the Bishop of Catana, was captured by Turgut Reis in 1561 and wrote about his experience on his release, as did several other clerics. They commented in particular on European renegades in the pirate ranks, the majority of them being English or Dutch, although French and Genoese were also mentioned. The Muslim members of the crew called all Christians, even their shipmates, ‘Franks’. A sizeable number of sailors were Ottoman Turks, usually from either the Adriatic coast or the Aegean basin, while a handful were from Ottoman possessions in Asia Minor or Syria. The final group were natives of the North African coast, mainly Moorish refugees from Spain or former Moriscos, but also some Berbers.
Contemporary depictions of Barbary pirates are rare, but some Dutch maritime artists were known for their attention to detail, so this portion of a painting by Cornelis Hendriksz Vroom may be useful. It shows a Barbary galley sinking after an action with a Spanish warship; the soldiers on and under the frame of the stern-canopy are depicted wearing red, green and brown coats, while the rowers at the right are naked apart from short white trousers.
A list of privateer captains operating from Algiers during the 1580s gives an idea of just how varied the pirates’ origins were. The list gives the names and original nationalities of 35 men; ten are recorded as being Turks, and six as Genoese. Of the others, three were Greeks, two Venetians, two Spaniards, two Albanians, and one man each from Sicily, Calabria, Naples, France, Hungary and Corsica. One Jewish captain was listed, and three who were the sons of Christian renegades. (Further information on this group is obscured by the habit of giving Muslim names to European renegades upon their conversion to Islam.)
While a few saw privateering as a temporary occupation, most pursued the corso as a career, and when asked gave their occupation as corsaro or professional corsair. Almost all were experienced seamen and veteran fighters – captains could afford to select the very best men. A pirate galley or sailing vessel might be a melting-pot of seamen from different backgrounds, but all were united by the common goal of making money. If the venture was successful all would gain from it, and this provided a considerable incentive to work together despite cultural or linguistic differences. According to European writers, these differences were largely overcome by the adoption of a Barbary patois that was used ashore as well as at sea. The basis of this lingua franca was the Berber tongue, but it also involved a mixture of Arabic, Andalusian, Italian and some other European words.
MURAD REIS (c. 1570–c. 1641)
In late June 1631 a small squadron of ‘Sallee Rovers’ led by a captain named Murad Reis slipped into Roaring Water Bay on the coast of Ireland’s County Cork, and landed near the little village of Baltimore. Pouncing on the sleeping village, they seized 107 men, women and children and dragged them away to be sold as slaves. Reportedly, only two of these unfortunates ever returned home from North Africa. This was Murad Reis’s only notable exploit, and he owes his inclusion here solely to the fact that he was actually a Dutchman named Jan Janszoon, from Haarlem.
This privateer turned pirate had arrived in Algiers in 1618, converting to Islam and joining up with other European renegades. By 1619 he had moved to Salé, where he was one of a group of captains who in 1624 proclaimed the port a republic independent of the Moroccan sultanate. For a while he was ‘president
’ of this pirate mini-state, but internal quarrels obliged him to return to Algiers. From there he launched cruises beyond the now-depleted Mediterranean, and in 1627 he ventured as far north as Iceland, though that raid garnered only a dozen captives. He also operated in the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel; while claims that he established a base on Lundy Island are probably untrue, he certainly harried shipping bound for Bristol in the late 1620s. After the Baltimore raid he operated in the Western Mediterranean for three years, until his capture by a Maltese galley in 1635. After five years as a prisoner at Valetta he managed to make an escape to Tunis, dying in Morocco the following year.
European renegades
The presence of so many Europeans in pirate crews is striking. This development probably began in the mid 16th century, when most of the ‘Franks’ who served in privateers were of Greek, Italian or Spanish descent. At first most of these were seamen who had been captured, and opted to escape slavery by joining the crew and converting to Islam. This ceremony was carried out in port, administered by the imam of the mosque frequented by the privateers, or even by the city’s mufti himself. The supplicant had to swear to abide by the will of Allah, and was presented with white cloth to make a turban, before being led off to be circumcised. For the most part these converts were welcomed, particularly if they were experienced sailors, or had useful maritime trades such as carpentry, gunnery or sailmaking. Such men were deemed ‘sea artists’, and were given positions commensurate with their skills.
The Barbary Pirates 15th-17th Centuries Page 6