Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "slaves"

Blue Water Scarlet Tide by John Danielski

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Royal Marine Captain Thomas Pennywhistle swims ashore in July 1814, to rescue a captured lieutenant who is scheduled to hang as a spy on the morrow. He succeeds in the endeavor, but not without cost, and the result adds to his haunting memories of war. Fighting had never been his goal, but an incident during his days at medical school forced him onto this path – one at which he is very good. Thus his next mission is to find a suitable landing site along the Chesapeake Bay for British troops from Admiral Cockburn’s flotilla. Unlike last time, he’s determined that the slaves who help him will secure their freedom.

He and Gabriel Prosser meet at a pre-arranged rendezvous near the Patuxent River, but are unexpectedly interrupted by four men. These Marylanders have come to move hidden gold, and from them he learns that they are responsible for the loss of a missing ship and her crew. Pennywhistle recovers the British payroll, locates a good place to land soon-to-arrive regiments of veteran infantry, and arranges to meet Gabriel at an extraction point. But a posse of slave hunters, with their hounds, track down the runaway slave, only to find themselves led into an ambush.

As the landing time nears for the British troops, Pennywhistle and his scouting party head toward Bladensburg, Maryland. One of their first objectives is to locate the U. S. Navy’s flotilla of gunboats – perhaps the only real impediment to the British advance on Washington. Like an unevenly balanced scale, war pits success against failure, each with its own consequences. This time an innocent soul deepens the indelible wound in his psyche, yet also brings him face to face with his doppelganger, an American Marine.

Captain John Tracy should have killed the British officer rifling through his papers, but is astonished to find himself looking at a man who could be his twin. Although the similarities are too close to be coincidental, he vows to avenge the slaying of six-year-old Molly. Duty must come first, however, and with the British on the march, he prevents them from using the flotilla against his fellow Americans. Then he must locate his commander to report what he knows. On the way to Washington, he encounters a group of drunken teens shooting at Redcoats as they come ashore. His conscience forces him to act, so he launches a daring rescue to save at least some of the lives of these miserable wastrels.

In the ensuing pages of this tale, which takes readers up to the moments before the Battle of Bladensburg, readers accompany the British as they endure marching through enemy terrain in wool uniforms on hot, humid, summer days. They witness surprising and bloody encounters with American marines and inexperienced militia, including an attack from the air in a hot-air balloon and an audacious escape through enfilading fire. They also experience the same frustrations and astonishments as Pennywhistle and Tracy when they encounter the stunning ineptitude of American leaders. Not to mention the startling, yet refreshing, introduction of a frontier sharpshooter, who almost succeeds in taking down Pennywhistle.

Most chapters in this third book in the Royal Marine Captain Thomas Pennywhistle series are of average length, but several are between twenty-five and forty-seven pages long. Readers will encounter occasional misspellings and missing words, as well as several instances where certain phrases may pull the reader out of the story. For example, in 1814, Washington is known as Washington City, rather than Washington, DC (45), and while the effects of adrenaline (415) are familiar, the word itself isn’t coined until its discovery in 1901 by a Japanese chemist. The inclusion of salicylic acid as the active ingredient in aspirin (106) also intrudes into the story.

On the other hand, Blue Water, Scarlet Tide is a thought-provoking and you-are-there recreation of the days leading up to the British invasion of our nation’s capital. Most of the action takes place on land, but a few water encounters provide edge-of-your-seat thrills and heart-stopping action. The story provides readers with a good understanding of the differences between the two armies and ably showcases the contrast between militia and professional soldiers.

Danielski’s strength in crafting stories lies in his knowledge of history and experience as a historic interpreter. These skills allow him to transport us back to a crucial time in the War 1812 to find ourselves marching alongside the troops, experiencing the scratch of wool against sweaty skin, the constant biting of insects, and the throat-parching thirst of trekking along dusty roads under a brutal sun. He also conveys with keen insight the physical and psychological toll war takes on men, especially those who have engaged the enemy for more than a decade. Interwoven through Tracy’s story is a curious mystery about a secret organization that could lead him down a traitorous path. For Pennywhistle, there is an alluring, but highly impractical (the captain’s conclusion, not mine), romantic twist. And then there’s the intriguing thread regarding an occurrence in the distant past that somehow unites these two men in the present. It is hoped that the fourth installment in the series, Capital’s Punishment, will provide resolutions to these storylines as the author once again transports us back to the fateful battle that preceded the burning of the White House.




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From Captives to Consuls: Three Sailors in Barbary and Their Self-Making Across the Early American Republic, 1770-1840 by Brett Goodin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The early days of a fledgling nation are a time of birth and rebirth, a time to establish both the identity of one’s nation and an individual. Such was the case when the United States shed its colonial yoke and emerged into a world where national character and liberty were relatively new concepts. It was also a time when the definition of manliness and intrusions into society’s hierarchical elite began to evolve. Freedom, however, came with consequences, one of which involved the hazards of maritime trade. Before the revolution, American sailors were protected by British treaties. After the war, seamen found themselves fair game for the corsairs who prowled the Mediterranean in search of slaves because the United States hadn’t paid annual tributes to safeguard their citizens. Three such Americans were Richard O’Brien (1758-1824), James Cathcart (1767-1843), and James Riley (1777-1840), who found themselves in this predicament. During their servitude, they had to learn to adapt and redefine themselves in order to survive. Each was eventually ransomed and published a narrative about his time and suffering in Algiers. From Captives to Consuls examines their experiences and writings to showcase how adaptation and reanalysis allowed them to weather captivity, as well as to subsist once they returned home to a country where nationhood, masculinity, and liberty continued to change.

From Captives to Consuls, the most recent title in the Studies in Early American Economics and Society series, is divided into six chapters that explore these men’s ability to adapt during the evolution of these three key concepts.

Introduction: Victims of American Independence
1. Farmers, Privateers, and Prisoners of the Revolution
2. Diaries of Barbary Orientalism and American Masculinity in Algiers
3. Captivity in Correspondence
4. From Captives to Consuls and Coup-Makers
5. Accidentally Useful and Interesting to the World
6. Sailing the Inland Sea
Conclusion: Opportunities of Empire

Goodin examines their lives before, during, and after captivity, as well as their narratives. He shares snippets from their correspondence, diaries, and government reports, and, when history is scarce, he supplements these with examples from other captivity narratives. He also incorporates maps and pictures into the text and includes an Essay on Sources, endnotes, and an index.

This is not an exploration of maritime history or piracy; rather, it is an insightful and scholarly analysis of what it meant to be a self-made American at a time when the nation and its place in the world were being defined. These three sailors who sold into slavery serve as the anchor that allows Goodin to accomplish this. O’Brien and Cathcart were taken when their ships were captured, but Riley became a slave after the ship he commanded wrecked on the African coast. After their releases, they became authors, diplomats, and politicians. Goodin deftly demonstrates how these men, time and again, overcame adversity to their benefit, showing others that it was possible to better themselves contrary to the prior belief that they must remain in the station of life into which they were born.



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Barbary Captives: An Anthology of Early Modern Slave Memoirs by Europeans in North Africa by Mario Klarer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Imagine you travel on the sea, bound for home, when the lookout spots strange sails scudding across the water directly toward you. Perhaps you live on the coast, going about your daily tasks, when armed raiders rush ashore. These scenarios are all too familiar to Europeans living between 1500 and the early 1800s. Their attackers are Barbary pirates who come from North Africa and range from as close as the Iberian Peninsula to as far away as Iceland. Their sallies have one goal: to capture whoever crosses their path. Regardless of age or sex, be it you, your family, or your neighbors, this may well be the last time you see your homeland. Now you will journey to Algiers, Morocco, Tripoli, or Tunis to be separated and sold into slavery.

Such was the fate of several hundred thousand Europeans. Those who survived the voyage suffered the indignities and torments of slavery, and many never reunited with loved ones. The lucky ones regained their freedom – through ransom, by escaping, or in converting to Islam – and wrote narratives about their experiences. This anthology brings together, for the first time, thirteen of these eyewitness accounts in which they discussed a variety of topics: the pirates who captured these individuals; different tasks they were forced to do; the treatments they suffered; renegades; exotic customs and locales; religion, and more.

Whether complete texts or excerpts from longer works, the narratives contained within this collection include the following:

Sturmer, son of a German merchant, decided to try his hand at pirating, only to find himself the victim of pirates in 1534. After his capture, he became a galley slave in Hayreddin Barbarossa’s fleet, and he describes what that experience was like and some of the historical events he witnessed. His Accounts of the Travels of Mister Balthsar Sturmer is the earliest recorded slave narrative.

Antonio de Sosa, himself a slave at one time, published a multi-volume work in 1612 entitled Topography of Algiers. In this excerpt he recounts one of Miguel de Cervantes’s attempts to escape his enslavement during his five years of captivity. De Sosa’s books proved important for those who sought information that helped to enlighten military and diplomatic efforts in this region of North Africa.

The Travels of Reverend Ólafur Egilsson recounts how pirates from Morocco and Algiers raided Iceland in 1627. They captured Egilsson, his family, and about 400 others. His is one of the few accounts that discuss in detail Barbary raids on land – an attack that left an indelible impression on the psyche of the Icelandic people that remains even today.

This translation of Emanuel d’Aranda’s Short Story of My Unfortunate Journey comes from a handwritten account recently sold at auction. Although a nobleman, he attempted to pass himself off as an ordinary soldier in an attempt to reduce how much ransom those back home had to pay for his release. What makes this autobiographical manuscript unique is that it allows researchers to compare his original version with edited versions that actually made it into print. These published editions were extremely popular in many different countries and appeared in a variety of languages, which made it available to readers in all levels of society.

Antoine Quartier spent eight years as a slave in Tripoli, making The Religious Slave and His Adventures a rarity among captivity narratives. Not only is the setting unusual, but so is his description of grueling agricultural labor. He also talks about the plague that ravaged the city. Upon his release, he joined the Mercedarians, a religious order that devoted themselves to ransoming Barbary slaves.

What sets Andreas Matthäus and Johann Georg Wolffgang’s Travels and Wonderful Fortunes of Two Brothers in Algerian Bondage apart from other slave narratives is twofold. They spent their four years of enslavement together, rather than apart, and since they were copper engravers, pictures (created by one of the brothers) were included when their account was published nearly a century after their release in 1688.

Isaac Brassard gained his freedom that same year, but his account wasn’t published in France until 1878. The Tale of Mr. Brassard’s Captivity in Algiers incorporates religion into his account, but not the differences between Islam and Christianity. He was a Huguenot (French Protestant), which made him ineligible for ransom since these were only paid for those captives who practiced the Catholic faith.

Thomas Pellow was eleven years old when he was captured, and he spent twenty-three years in Morocco before returning to England in 1738. The History of the Long Captivity and Adventures of Thomas Pellow is a chronicle that delves into the physical and psychological aspects of his experience, for he did convert to Islam, became an officer in the sultan’s army, and had difficulties re-entering English society once he gained his freedom.

At fifteen, Hark Olufs experienced similar difficulties, which he discusses in The Remarkable Adventures of Hark Olufs. He rose through the ranks until he became a trusted commander within the Algerian bey of Constantine’s military. His loyalty earned him his freedom in 1735 after serving his master for fourteen years.

Maria ten Meetelen’s Miraculous and Remarkable Events of Twelve Years of Slavery is another rarity because it is one of the earliest authentic accounts written by a woman. She recounts her daily life as a slave; instead of being relegated to doing whatever her master required, she had to earn her own living in order to survive. Equally remarkable is that she managed to keep herself and her family alive in spite of the frequent regime changes during her twelve years of captivity, beginning in 1731.

Descriptions of the Barbaric Slavery in the Kingdom of Fez and Morocco appeared in print the year after Marcus Berg was ransomed in 1756. Not only does he provide intimate glimpses into the sadist who ruled Morocco with an iron fist, but he also describes a deadly earthquake that affected both that country and Europe. No other authentic Swedish narrative has been found.

The Narrative of Elizabeth Marsh’s Captivity in Barbary relates the four months she spent in Morocco in 1756, and the lengths she went to elude the sultan’s advances. Marsh is one of the few women who wrote openly about the subtle, derogatory comments made by others about her chastity. Of the other British slave narratives that women wrote, hers is the oldest known one.

One of the few surviving Italian narratives, The Account of an Amateur Antiquarian’s Short Journey takes place shortly before European and American navies brought an end to Barbary corsairing in the first half of the nineteenth century. As a citizen of a nation that had a peace treaty with Tunis, Father Felice Caronni never should have been taken as a slave, but during the attack on his vessel, his passport was lost. This excerpt focuses on his time as a captive, while the work from which it comes shares his abiding interest in the heritage and culture of this region.

Arranged chronologically by dates of captivity, these narratives have all been verified as authentic. Each includes a short preface to set the stage and shed light on who, what, when, where, and why, as well as how it differs from other narratives and/or what it has in common with them. Also included is a note about the translations. Footnotes are provided where necessary to explain terms, names, and historical details. Illustrations are provided where appropriate.

Klarer opens with a fascinating introduction that is divided into several sections: Captivity Narratives as an Early Modern Genre, Piracy in the Mediterranean, North African Slavery, The Ransom of Slaves, Female Slaves, and Captivity Narratives and World Literature. Here, he highlights how the early accounts influenced novels like Cervantes’s Don Quixote and Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, which in turn impacted later narratives. Klarer also discusses how these narratives influenced other works, such as Native American captivity narratives and African American slave narratives. He ends the anthology with a Selection of European and American Barbary Captivity Narratives; a List of Works Cited and General Works on North African Piracy and Captivity; and an Index of Persons and Locations.

Little known today, these slave narratives were popular among readers of the early modern period, so much so that they can be likened to a genre of their own. Klarer deftly demonstrates their influence on novels and autobiographies, which eventually affected how later authors of slave narratives wrote their accounts. This compelling anthology re-introduces readers to this “genre” in a diverse way that is certain to elicit further study. It incorporates details of how Barbary corsairs worked and what it was like to be captured by them that are absent from other histories and English-language narratives. It provides a wealth of information from a variety of perspectives in ways that capture readers’ attention and at a reasonable price, making Barbary Captives a treasure for any collection.




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Prisoners of the Bashaw: The Nineteen-Month Captivity of American Sailors in Tripoli, 1803–1805 by Frederick C. Leiner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The last day of October 1803 finds the USS Philadelphia sailing near the coast of Tripoli where lookouts spot a xebec heading for the harbor. With orders to prevent such an occurrence, Captain William Bainbridge intervenes. There’s just one problem; the navigator has no chart that accurately depicts the coastline. Although shots are fired, the xebec reaches its destination and Bainbridge issues the command to return to station. Instead, Philadelphia runs aground. His attempts to dislodge the frigate fail; she is stuck fast on the reef at such an angle that the gun ports of her gun deck touch water. When Tripolitan corsairs see this, they hurriedly surround Philadelphia and fire on her.

After being bombarded for four hours and seeing more enemy vessels approaching, Bainbridge consults with his officers. He sees only two options: blow up the ship or surrender. The seamen clamor for him to fight, but he and his lieutenants concur there is no way to successfully defend the frigate with their guns out of commission. Rather than consign the 307 men aboard to death, he orders the Stars and Stripes hauled down. In doing so, he becomes the only commander to twice surrender during the six years of the United States Navy’s existence.

Although orders are given to mitigate the loss, including the flooding of the frigate so it will be of no use to the Tripolitans, not all of these commands are successfully carried out. He also forgets to destroy information vital to national security. After the corsairs swarm over the gunwale, Bainbridge, his officers, and his men become prisoners, but only the officers are treated as such. The majority of men are treated as slaves even though Tripoli and the United States are at war, a war instigated by the bashaw because he failed to receive the tribute he deems his right. The Philadelphians’ captivity will last for nineteen months and not all will survive.

What sets this book apart from other volumes dealing with the Barbary Wars and this particular event is that Leiner shines a spotlight on the captives. He contrasts the living conditions of the officers to those that the rank and file experienced. He shares excerpts from their own letters and remembrances that speak to or hint at the physical and mental effects of their captivity and enslavement. Leiner also discusses diplomatic efforts, both American and European; how the navy dealt with the captured frigate; the ways in which popular culture integrated this historic episode; and what happened to the various participants after the Philadelphians were freed.

Thorny questions, sometimes glossed over in other accounts, are raised as well. One examines the differences in brutal exploitation of people by different cultures, as well as the ethical paradox of white Christians captured far from home and enslaved versus the seizure and bondage Africans experienced in America. A second question addresses paying ransoms. As Leiner writes in the introduction: “The loss of the Philadelphia . . . is sometimes employed as proof of a core precept of principle and policy: the United States does not pay ransom for hostages. This bold statement is wrong historically and sometimes has caused tragic results. As the story of the American prisoners in Tripoli shows, history is not so tidy, and the lessons are not so clear.” (xii)

Illustrations and maps provide readers with an opportunity to understand where these events occurred and to meet some of the individuals involved in them either directly or indirectly. The book also includes end notes, a bibliography, and an index.

Although other books cover these events of the Barbary Wars, this is the first to do so from the captives’ perspectives. The firsthand accounts provide vivid glimpses into what they did, how they survived, and what they suffered. History remembers only a few captives, such as Bainbridge, David Porter, and Daniel Patterson. Prisoners of the Bashaw changes this, making it a worthy addition to history collections.


(This review originally appeared at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/adultpirat...)



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Corsairs and Captives: Narratives from the Age of the Barbary Pirates: Narratives from the Age of the Barbary Pirates by Adam Nichols

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


He serves in the English navy, but rumors lead him on a path of piracy. No longer welcome in his homeland, he heads to Tunis. A single haul labels him the most successful corsair there, and pamphlet writers dub him “archpirate” because of his fearlessness and brutality. His name is John Ward.

Nicholas chooses the sea to seek his fortune. Instead, he finds himself enslaved. To escape this misery, he renounces Christianity and becomes an adherent of Islam. Being a renegade gives him the freedom to sail, which provides him with an opportunity to return home to France, where his conversion means he has to live a lie or hide. Farming proves not his forte, so he returns to the sea, where he is captured once again and recognized as a renegade.

Her ship captured by Barbary corsairs in 1756, Ellen Marsh finds herself a captive deemed worthy of a Moroccan prince. A friend poses as her husband to stave off the prince’s advances until she and her “husband” are ransomed. She later writes of her experiences as The Female Captive.

These are but three people who encounter Barbary corsairs during the nearly three centuries in which these privateers prowl the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. Although these marauders act like pirates, their attacks are legally sanctioned by rulers of the Barbary city states for which they sail: Algiers, Salé, Tripoli, and Tunis. They seize a wide variety of plunder, but the most prized booty are the captives of all ages who end up as slaves to rulers and residents of North Africa.

Adam Nichols writes in his introduction, “Most of the stories told about pirates are exaggerations at best; at worst, they are romantic fabrications. . . . As a result, Barbary corsairs, and the world in which they operated, are often depicted in an oversimplified, distorted way.” (viii) His goal here is to correct these misinterpretations and falsehoods by showing these privateers in a more realistic manner through first-hand narratives, written by those who witness Barbary captives and/or experience life as one.

The book consists of two parts: Narratives and Narrative Texts. Narratives is divided into three distinct segments. “Corsairs” examines the privateering business, including methods, economics, and risks. “Captives” delves into the victims, focusing on specific encounters for which primary accounts exist. One of these recounts the capture of Jacob in 1621, where four sailors find themselves prisoners of Barbary corsairs during a storm. Two others discuss Friar Antonio, a clergyman who falls in love, while a Trinitarian friar named Pierre Dan is sent to Algiers by Cardinal Richelieu to negotiate the release of French slaves. The third segment, “Corsair Captains,” introduces individual leaders, such as Simon Danseker, Calafat Hassan, John Ward, and Claes Compaen.

Eight narrative texts comprise the second part of this book. These include “Captain John Smith on Pirates and Renegades,” “Captain Henry Mainwaring on the Suppression of Piracy,” “The Narrative of João De Carvalho Macarenhas: Captured at Sea by Algerine Corsairs,” “Father Pierre Dan on the Slave Market in Algiers,” “Filippo Pananti: Narrative of a Residence in Algiers,” “The Odyssey of René Du Chastelet des Boys,” “Francis Brooks: Barbarian Cruelty,” and “Elizabeth Marsh: The Female Captive.” Each begins with a brief setup, including the reason for its selection.

The final chapter, “The View from the Other Shore,” explains why other books on this subject have fallen short, which results in readers assuming that “North Africans were inhuman brutes, while Europeans were innocents cruelly wronged.” (206) Both groups commit brutalities and engage in human trafficking. By concentrating on accounts written by those who experience or witness the events, Nichols provides readers with a truer picture of what occurs during this turbulent time in history.

A center plate section includes pictures of places, people (officials as well as those who were enslaved), ships, and the treatment of slaves. There is a bibliography but no index.

In the introduction, Nichols writes, “Buried in the dry chronologies are human stories filled with pathos and danger, fear and bravery, betrayal and friendship – and love. The original sources just need a bit of editing to bring out the story element in them.” (ix) He is upfront about having edited the original accounts to some degree. Some may object to this, but his goal is not to provide another tome for serious scholars; instead, he succeeds in providing readers with informative, readable, and compelling true first-person stories that show the reality and complexity of the strife between North Africans and Europeans. Equally noteworthy are that some of these primary accounts have not appeared in English before, and that Nichols includes tidbits of information not found in other books on the Barbary corsairs and how they operated.


(This review originally appeared at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/Nichols.html)



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