Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "barbary"

Barbarians on an Ancient Sea by William Westbrook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


On the shoals of Bermuda, a ship founders in a storm in 1800. All hands are lost. Among the scattered wreckage is a chest of gold coins. Later, nine-year-old Little Eddy roves the beach in search of his long-lost father and whatever treasure the sea deigns to wash ashore. This day of foraging delivers a single wooden plank with the letter “J” on it. He hurries back to tell Ezra Somers, whose ships carry salt throughout the Caribbean and the eastern seaboard of the United States.

Caught in the same storm, Nicholas Fallon cruises the ocean north of Hispaniola in hopes of encountering French privateers or pirates that have been harassing the ships of the Somers Salt Company. As captain of the Rascal, he carries a letter of marque and since the British are at war against France and Spain, he and his crew are eager to snare a few more prizes. Instead, they spy a signal rocket and investigate. As a New England sloop teeters on the brink of sinking, they embark on a daring rescue to save those aboard.

The loss of the sloop weighs heavy on Caleb Visser, but he prays that his brother’s ship has weathered the storm. His hopes are dashed once Rascal docks in Bermuda and Nicholas takes him to meet his future father-in-law and partner, Ezra Somers. Little Eddy shares what he found and Caleb knows that he’s lost not only his brother, but also any chance they had of rescuing their father. The gold his brother carried was the ransom demanded by the dey of Algiers, whose corsairs had captured and enslaved Wilhelm Visser.

When Little Eddy reveals the location of the wreck, a sliver of hope surfaces. If a diver can locate the gold, there’s a chance Caleb can recover what has been lost. Then all he will need is to find a merchant ship willing to venture into the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean, the hunting grounds of the Barbary pirates. Nicholas wants to help Caleb, but his wedding day approaches and he must convoy two salt ships to Boston – a journey fraught with peril from the pirates in the Caribbean and a French frigate prowling the waters near the Chesapeake.

First mate Beauty McFarland, Aja, and the rest of the Rascals return, some with important roles to play in this tale that depends on outcomes prefaced by “if.” While Nicholas’s first encounter with Achille Zabana, the Barbary captain with a portable beheading machine, is breathtaking, and the capture of Little Eddy provides additional impetus to go to Algiers, Nicholas and Aja’s furtive visit into Algiers is less plausible since their knowledge of the city, culture, and language is decidedly lacking. Even so, the denouement is galvanizing.

Single strands of diverse threads – Barbary slavery, international intrigue, heart-pounding sea battles, crafty subterfuge, ghastly torments, and vicious pirates – coalesce into a stirring gamble that affects characters and readers alike. Fans of the Nicholas Fallon Sea Novels will find this as immersive as the previous two books; newcomers will be lured by enthralling challenges and rich characters, especially Little Eddy who almost steals the stage from Nicholas.




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The Forgotten Slave Trade: The White European Slaves of Islam by Simon Webb

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Mention “slavery” and most people immediately think white masters and black slaves. The former exploited the latter by uprooting Africans from their homelands, transporting them across the Atlantic, and selling them in Caribbean and American slave markets. These forced laborers were also abused and mistreated, considered property rather than human beings. What Webb brings to light is the fact that this concept of slavery – black versus white – is relatively modern. He concurs that this was a horrendous practice, but to suggest that only Africans suffered and endured forced servitude and horrendous indignities is misleading and is an example of “cultural erasure.” His goal is to correct this misinterpretation of history.

The book’s primary emphasis is on people of the British Isles, including Ireland, who found themselves victims of slavery. Webb also mentions other countries and people from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East throughout history, as well as Western nations’ attempts to bring an end to Barbary slavery. He does point out that slavery remains prevalent even today; according to a 2019 report by the United Nations, around 25,000,000 people are still enslaved.

This volume delves into the history of slavery, concubines and eunuchs, Mamluks and Janissaries, galley slaves, and Barbary corsairs and pirates (including the Salé Rovers). In addition, he discusses European nations’ tendency to pay tribute rather than engage in military action to stop this abhorrent practice and the upstart United States defied that tradition and helped to end Barbary slavery against Western countries – a forerunner of what Webb sees as the Americans’ tendency to serve as the “world’s policeman.” The book also contains a list of references, an index, and twenty black-and-white illustrations.

No one knows when the first slaves appeared in England, but it was considered a normal state of affairs even before Anglo-Saxon times. The Vikings came not only to plunder monasteries and towns, but they also sought slaves for themselves and for people in other regions of the world. Slave raids were particularly prevalent in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Cornwall was visited on more than one occasion, losing sixty dragged from a church in 1625 and 240 adults and children two decades later. All were destined for the slave markets of North Africa; only a few ever made it back to their home villages. One Scots woman who did not was Helen Gloag; she became a gift to the sultan of Morocco and eventually was elevated to empress of the sultanate.

In tracing the history of slavery, Webb shows that it was a universal practice. The earliest documented mention dates back 4,000 years. Two early examples involve Joseph of the Bible, whose brothers sold him, and a boy named Patrick, who became an English slave and eventually a Christian missionary (better known today as Ireland’s Saint Patrick). Initially, slaves are victims of war, where winners enslave losers, but in time, religion plays a role in who can be a slave. Muslims can own slaves, but only if those slaves are not of the Islamic faith. This is a guiding principle behind the Barbary corsairs preying on ships and lands outside of their own. Any captive who converts to Islam is freed. For example, Samson Rowlie converts and becomes the Treasurer of Algiers, while Jan Janszoon becomes the Admiral of the Salé Rovers and conducts numerous raids, as far away as Iceland.

Several organizations helped arrange ransoms for the captives, enabling them to return home. Of the 109 residents of Baltimore, Ireland taken in 1630, only three women were ransomed. When King William III arranged the release of all enslaved English and Irish in 1689, one of the men who went home to Ireland was Richard Joyce, who had been sold to a goldsmith. He took with him a design for a ring that he later produced. Today, it is an early example of the Claddagh Ring.

As I read the introduction, I questioned whether I really wanted to review a book that some readers may see as controversial, or even tantamount to heresy. A librarian – which I was for two decades – is trained to provide resources that present topics from all sides of the coin and to allow readers to decide what is wrong or right for themselves. Webb’s research is spot on and his sources are qualitative.

Nor is this a dry treatise on the history of slavery. It’s highly readable and, at times, illuminating. In no way does he minimize or ignore what happened to Africans who became victims of the triangle trade. His primary goals are to show that slavery doesn’t encompass this one period and that Europeans were also victims. He succeeds in meeting these goals, while providing the framework for why and how this came about. His narrative incorporates numerous points and counterpoints that certainly lend themselves to generating discussion. The Forgotten Slave Trade is a worthy and well-researched resource for anyone seeking a more complete picture of the history of slavery. It’s equally important to remember that it is but one volume to be consulted when delving into this controversial subject.

(Review originally posted at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/adultpirat...)



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