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Corsairs of Algiers

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Corsairs of Algiers
The Tai'fa of Raïs
A Turk of Algiers
Active1516-1830
DisbandedDe jure 1830
Country Regency of Algiers (part of the Ottoman Empire)
AllegianceWakil al-Kharadj, or minister of the navy of Algiers and foreign affairs, Kapudan-reïs, “admiral, hierarchical chief of all the reïs”
Main locationAlgiers
EquipmentYatagan, Nimcha, Kabyle musket, and other locally made weapons
EngagementsAlgiers expedition (1541)
Battle of Lepanto (1571)
French-Algerian War 1681–88
Algerine civil war (1710)
Invasion of Algiers (1775)
Battle off Cape Gata (1815)
Bombardment of Algiers (1816)
Invasion of Algiers in 1830
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Oruç Reis
Hayreddin Barbarossa
Occhiali
Jan Janszoon
Ali Bitchin
Mezzo Morto Hüseyin Pasha
Raïs Hamidou
Authentic 200 years old Pirate flag at the Åland Maritime Museum originating from the North African coast
Inside the Palais des Rais (Palace of the Corsair captains community) in Algiers

The ta'ifa of reïs (Arabic: طائفة الريس, community of corsair captains) or the Corsairs in short, was an ethnically mixed group of seafarers in Ottoman Algeria. They were involved in piracy and slave trade in the Mediterranean Sea from the 16th to the 19th century. In the days of Hayreddin Barbarossa and his immediate successors, the reïs were an integral part of the Ottoman army, but in the 17th century they had become a distinct group. By this time, the holy war against the Christians had degenerated into piracy, although it continued to be described as al-jihad fi'l-bahr (holy war at sea), and the community of corsair captains had become penetrated by adventurers from many parts of the Mediterranean area. Non-Turks who came to Algiers as captives of the Algerian corsairs gained admittance to the ta'ifa of reïs through conversion to Islam and by virtue of their knowledge of the areas the corsairs raided. Unlike in Ottoman Tunisia, where privateers were allowed to equip their own piratical ships, piracy in Ottoman Algeria was a monopoly of the state. The captan-reïs, “admiral, hierarchical chief of all the reïs”, or captain of vessels, was often, after the Pasha, the most important person in the diwan of Algiers.[1]

Background

The Muslim corso, organized in its beginnings as self-defence against the Christian knights who continued the work of the crusades, became a permanent institution in the regency of Algiers; its main income included in the state budget. Enriching those who cared for it and returning to the treasury one-fifth of the catch, it was essential to the existence of Algiers, which all the efforts of the government tended to develop. It was also the activity upon which the prosperity of the Odjak as well as its religious prestige to a great extent depended. That is why the legendary heroes of Ottoman Algeria were ra'ises (captains of pirate ships) such as Murat Reis the Elder in the 1580s and Hamidou Raïs at the turn of the nineteenth century. These were men who distinguished themselves through audacious attacks on Christian ships and bringing important prizes to Algiers.[2]

The Consulaire cannon (a.k.a. Baba Merzoug), in Brest arsenal.

In 1529, Hayreddin Barbarossa seized the Peñon facing the city of Algiers from the Spanish and linked the rock to the port by building the pier. This allowed Algiers to become a secure port for naval and corsair companies in the Mediterranean. The city quickly became the main base for corsairs in the Mediterranean.[3] This domination enabled him to repel several attacks from a certain number of European countries, in particular, in October 1541, that of Charles V, whose troops were defeated by the forces of the regency under the command of Hassan Agha, well aided by the storm which destroyed a good part of the enemy fleet. In response Hassan Agha ordered the construction of a large artillery piece which was designed in the foundries of Dar Ennahas, near the Bab El Oued gate in 1542, by a Venetian master builder in the pay of the beylerbey of Algiers, Hassan Agha. The cannon was placed during the completion of the "Kheir Eddine pier" at the end, on the Bordj Amar.[4] The Algerians armed in war those of the captured merchant ships which seemed fit for the corso, and also bought ships in Europe. They also had construction sites, located in Bab-el-Oued for large buildings, in Bab-Azoun for those of smaller dimensions. Christian slaves were employed on these shipyards, the management of which was often entrusted to renegades, even to free Christians, captains of armament or engineers of naval constructions, who hired their services for a time, without being for that put in the obligation to change religion. The masts, yards, sails, ropes, powder, ammunition, artillery pieces, were supplied by the government of the Ottoman Porte and by certain minor powers of Europe, the latter in the form of tribute.[5]

The crew of the corsairs of Algiers

"A Barbary Pirate", by Giovanni Guida (1837-1895)
"A Barbary pirate", Pier Francesco Mola, 1650

According to Diego de Haedo, the fleet of Algiers (including the buildings based at Cherchell) consisted, in 1581, of 35 galliotes - including 2 of 24 benches, 1 of 23 benches, 11 of 22 benches, 8 of 20 benches, 10 of 18 benches, 1 of 19 benches, and 2 of 15 benches — and about 25 frigates (small rowing and undecked vessels), from 8 to 13 benches. More than two thirds of the Algiers galiotes are commanded by European renegades (6 Genoese, 2 Venetians, 2 Albanians, 3 Greeks, 2 Spaniards, 1 French, 1 Hungarian, 1 Sicilian, 1 Neapolitan, 1 Corsican and 3 of their sons).[6] All these renegades occupy the key positions, after the founder of the regency of Algiers, Hayreddin Barbaroassa, it is the Sardinian renegade Hassan Agha (1535-1543), the Corsican Hassan Corso (1549-1556), the Calabrian Uluj Ali Pasha (1568-1571) who ended up with the title of admiral of the fleet, then the Venetian Hassan Veneziano (1577-1580 and 1582-1583).[7] They also take part in the armies of occupation of the subjected zones like local governments before the creation of the three beyliks; of the 23 territorial bosses, thirteen are renegades or sons of renegades. Haedo would be able to say "in them, reside almost all the power, the influence, the government and the wealth of Algiers and of this regency".[8] At the beginning of the 17th century, the introduction of round ships by the Flemish corsair Simon Dansa and the arrival of Moriscos expelled from Spain contributed strongly to the development of the fleet of Algiers, which, in 1625, would have been modernized and enlarged, including six galleys, a large number of brigantines and a hundred privateers, more than sixty of them with 24 to 40 guns.[6]

The rank of reïs or commander of a racing vessel, was obtained only after an examination passed before the council of reïs, chaired by the captan (admiral) position reserved for the oldest of the reïs, who no longer sailed. Another captain, chosen by the council, commanded the fleet. The reis was absolute master on board, where the most rigorous discipline reigned. Until the use of round boats in the 17th century, which did away with oars, the reis composed the crews of their galleys, generally very low on the water, with slaves whom they bought for this purpose, or whom they were procured by capture at sea, or by descent on the Christian coast. The rowers were tied to their benches; there were as many as three hundred on a single building. When, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, navigation was practiced entirely by sail, the employment of slaves on racing ships diminished in notable proportions; but the reïs always employed some for the works of strength: turning with the capstan, the towing of the boats, care of cleanliness of the ships, etc.[9] In 1625, Algiers' pirate fleet numbered 100 ships and employed 8,000 to 10,000 men. The piracy "industry" accounted for 25 percent of the workforce of the city, not counting other activities related directly to the port. The fleet averaged 25 ships in the 1680s, but these were larger vessels than had been used the 1620s, thus the fleet still employed some 7,000 men.[10]

The Algerian corsair fleet

An Algerine Ship off a Barbary Port by Andries van Eertvelt

In the year 1630, there were about seventy boats in the port of the capital, with what the Algerians owned from the French years ago, and in the year 1632, 13 galleys were found in the port, all of which were driven by oars, and seventy others with sails, and 23 boats of thirty to fifty cannons. In the year 1634, the Algerian fleet consisted of 70 pieces, each of which was armed with between 25 and 40 cannons. Then, in 1657, this number decreased to 23 ship, and each ship included 30 to 50 cannons. In 1662, there were 22 barges and nine galleys in the capital, and in 1681 there were only 17 barges in the port of Algiers and two large ships with heavy weapons of 112 cannons. These 17 ships were mentioned by their names in the report of sieur hayet, among them: the Golden Mare, the Rose, the little Rose, the city of Algiers, the Marzouk, the Canaria.[11] On the consul’s report, Fiolle says that in 1686: "The ship called "the Golden Rose" was armed with forty cannons, the “Seven Stars” with thirty cannons, the “Golden Lion” equipped with thirty-two cannons, and that there were also on this date, 10 ships with two bridges, each containing 30 cannons, and ten single-barreled ships, each containing 14 cannons, sometimes reaching 20. There were also two ships with two bridges containing 45 cannons and a fire equipped with 20 cannons, and five other ships, two of them with 50 cannons, two with thirty cannons, and besides that, there were 39 ships for transport and trade". And it came in the report of Dr. (Duke de Grafton) dated on October 14, 1687, that the number of Algerian ships in the diversity of their forms and the difference in weight and their cargo amounted to sixty ships, which had seventy and five hundred cannons.[11]

Algerine Xebec near Gibraltar, by Dominic Serres (1722-1793)

In the 18th century the number of Algerian ships diminished and was varying from 20 to 30 ships and were mostly xebecs armed with 12 to 32 cannons. During the Barbary Wars the said number increased in 1802 to 66 barges, each with between 25 and 80 long-range cannons, then in 1815 it began to decrease to 41 ships, and there were only five battleships, four barges and 30 ships in 1816, Gouthrot says on that date only two battleships of 50 to 60 cannons, two corvettes with five cannons, two barges of 80 cannons, four galleys of 15 to 26 cannons, and one shp of 20 cannon type "polacre", and 35 ship, the General Consul of the United States of America William Shaler tells about the Algerian Navy in 1815: "The Algerian fleet was composed of five frigates with 38 to 50 cannons and five corvettes", among those ships were the well-known "Al-Marikana", and the Portuguesa also known as "Mashouda", the latter was captured by Rais Hamidou from the Portuguese navy in May 1802 and there were 282 prisoners on its deck, then it was lost and others were burned when Lord admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth attacked Algiers in 1816. There are also names for other ships, such as Miftah al-Salam, Dik al-Marsa, Guide to Alexandria, and others from what the Algerian Navy seized, so it left them with the names known by them before.[12] Two important attacks were the American expedition of 1815, which forced the regency to accept a right of navigation from the Americans, and that of the British and Dutch navies on Algiers in August 1816. The latter suffered great losses and were prevented from landing, but the Algerian armada also loses a very large number of ships including 4 frigates and 8 corvettes, this marked the de facto end of the Algerian Corso.

How the corsairs operated

Xebec types, by Jacob Hägg (1839–1931)

The Mediterranean was at first the main objective of the action of the corsairs, the reïs rose in the ocean as soon as they had adopted the use of round vessels. Exploring then the roads of India and America, they disturbed the commerce of all enemy nations. In 1616 the Reis Mourad the Younger (Jan Janszoon) plundered the coasts of Iceland, from where he brought back to Algiers four hundred captives. In 1619 they ravaged Madeira. In 1631, they caused damage on the coasts of England, blocked the English Channel, and would make catches in the North Sea.[13] Algerian pirates naval warfare was intelligent and flexible, but its countermeasures were incredibly clumsy. The Algerians used Xebecs, fast-sailed galleys, to attack individual merchant ships when there was no wind. Algerians usually hid five to seven Xebecs behind a large cliff near the coast, each with at least 100 soldier. A clifftop lookout spotted the European ships and signaled them to approach. Europeans usually surrender quickly when faced with a much superior attacking force. In the case of defense, they usually expected only the death of many sailors and certain defeat.[14] The reïs pushed the audacity so far as to found in Livorno, with the authorization of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, to whom they paid high royalties, a penal colony warehouse, where they came to deposit under the guard of the soldiers of the Grand Duke, the Christian slaves likely to obtain their freedom by means of a ransom. They still had a station at Cape Verde in order to be nearer to stopping the Indian galleons. The Republic of Genoa tolerated for a very long time the traffic in its ports of goods coming from the looting of the reis.[15]

The Christian captives

The slave market of Algiers in the early 17th century.

When a corsair ship returned to Algiers towing its booty, goods and captives were landed. The pasha would begin to take his share, or a fifth, in addition to the body and tackle of the captured ship, then, the cargo is sold. The slaves not chosen by the pasha were led into the Badestan, a long street closed at its ends, located at the site of the current street of Mahon square in Algiers. There, brokers ran the captives naked, so that the buyers could make their choice. Half of the proceeds from these sales belonged to the outfitting of the capturing vessel: individual, company, reis himself; the other half was divided into shares, of which forty went to the captain, thirty to the agha of the Janissaries on board, ten to the officers, the rest to the sailors and the soldiers.[16]

The number of European Christians who fell into captivity in the city of Algeria alone was estimated at one million people throughout the seventeenth century, equivalent to a quarter of the city’s population, numbering at that time about 100,000 people. In the four Beylik prisons that were established specifically for this purpose since 1607, and most of these prisoners were released in exchange for a certain ransom, and some of them converted to Islam, a number of 8000 converted to Islam in 1634 out of a total of 25,000 prisoners, and some of them were integrated into the population and became an active element in society like many of the beleyrbeys who assumed power before the era of the pashas.[17] As for the work that these prisoners carried out, they were divided into social services and economic tasks within the city of Algiers, and agricultural work in the city of Algiers. The number of prisoners varied from year to year. As evidenced by the following table extracted from European sources, which presents aggregate estimates for the city of Algiers according to the following years:

  • 1580 : 25,000 prisoners.
  • 1620 : 35,000 prisoners.
  • 1634 : 25,000 prisoners (during the war with the King of France (1630 - 1634), 1331 prisoners were captured on the back of 80 French ships).
  • 1662 : 21,000 prisoners.
  • 1724 : 2000 prisoners.
  • 1785 : 6000 prisoners who were in the prisons of Ali Bitchin Reis without counting other captives.
  • 1788 : 2000 prisoners.
  • 1816 : 1642 prisoners (truce in 1810 AD, then the treaty of 1813 AD with Portugal, in which 541 Portuguese prisoners were ransomed for 850,000 Algerian doro).
  • 1830 : 122 prisoners.[18]

Among the most famous of these prisoners are:

Cervantes brought before Hassan Veneziano Pasha, the beylerbey of Algiers
  1. Greek scientist Petrus Gyllius, captured in the year 1546 while traveling from France to Greece on a scientific mission at the request of King Francis I of France.
  2. Dominique de Gourgues, the hero of Florida County, captured while traveling from Europe to America (1558).
  3. Famous Italian painter Fra Filippo Lippi de Madone, imprisoned in 1435
  4. Italian writer Emmanuel d'Aranda de Bruges, captured while traveling from France to Spain in 1640.
  5. French comic poet, who wrote the story known as the beautiful Provençal, Jean-François Regnard, captured in 1678.
  6. Famous Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (the author of the story of Don Quixote) and the author of the moriscan plays inspired by his memories in Algeria, he remained in captivity in Algeria from 1575 to 1580.
  7. French scientist Jean Foy-Vaillant was captured in 1674, when he was on a scientific trip to study money, commissioned by King Louis XIV.
  8. Italian cleric, the priest of the city of Catania, called Caraccioli, captured in 1561.
  9. Italian poet Antonio Veneziano, captured along with Don Carlo Davagona in April 1578.
  10. Writer Rene de Bois (Rene de Boys), captured in 1642.[17]

Privateers and enslavement of Christians originating from Algiers were a major problem throughout the centuries, leading to regular punitive expeditions by European powers. Spain (1567, 1775, 1783), Denmark (1770), France (1661, 1665, 1682, 1683, 1688), England (1622, 1655, 1672), all led naval bombardments against Algiers.[19] Abraham Duquesne fought the Barbary pirates in 1681 and bombarded Algiers between 1682 and 1683, to help Christian captives.[20]

References

  1. ^ Henri Garrot(1910), Histoire générale de l'Algérie, p380.
  2. ^ Jamil M. Abun Nasr(1971), A History Of The Maghrib In The Islamic Period, p159
  3. ^ E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936 by Martijn Theodoor Houtsma p. 258 [1] ISBN 90-04-08265-4
  4. ^ B. Babaci (30 January 2014). "BABA MERZOUG, histoire d'un exil". Babzman - Information historique et socioculturelle sur l'Algérie. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  5. ^ Henri Garrot(1910), p381
  6. ^ a b Albert Devoulx, « La marine de la régence d'Alger », Revue africaine, no 77, septembre 1869, p390
  7. ^ Pierre Boyer, « Les renégats et la marine de la Régence d'Alger », Revue de l'Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée, vol. 39, no 1, 1985, p94DOI10.3406/remmm.1985.2066
  8. ^ Pierre Boyer, « Les renégats et la marine de la Régence d'Alger », Revue de l'Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée, vol. 39, no 1, 1985, p95DOI10.3406/remmm.1985.2066
  9. ^ Henri Garrot(1910), p 382
  10. ^ Gregory Hanlon. "The Twilight Of A Military Tradition: Italian Aristocrats And European Conflicts, 1560-1800." Routledge: 1997. Pages 27-28.
  11. ^ a b تاريخ الجزائر العام للعلامة عبد الرحمن الجيلالي ـ الجزء الثالث: الخاص بالفترة بين 1514 إلى 1830م, p490
  12. ^ تاريخ الجزائر العام للعلامة عبد الرحمن الجيلالي ـ الجزء الثالث: الخاص بالفترة بين 1514 إلى 1830م, p491
  13. ^ Garrot, Henri (1910). Histoire générale de l'Algérie. Impr. P. Crescenzo. p. 383.
  14. ^ Ressel, Magnus (6 December 2012). Zwischen Sklavenkassen und Türkenpässen: Nordeuropa und die Barbaresken in der Frühen Neuzeit (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 482-484. ISBN 978-3-11-028857-5.
  15. ^ Garrot, Henri (1910). Histoire générale de l'Algérie. Impr. P. Crescenzo. p. 383.
  16. ^ Garrot, Henri (1910). Histoire générale de l'Algérie. Impr. P. Crescenzo. p. 384.
  17. ^ a b ناصر الدين سعيدوني (2009). ورقات جزائرية: دراسات وأبحاث في تاريخ الجزائر في العهد العثماني (Algerian papers: studies and research on the history of Algeria during the Ottoman era). الجزائر: دار البصائر للنشر والتوزيع. pp. 137–139.
  18. ^ Albert Devoulx (1872). Le registre des prises maritimes : document authentique et inédit concernant le partage des captures amenées par les corsaires algériens [The register of maritime catches: authentic and unpublished document concerning the sharing of catches brought by Algerian corsairs] (in French). Alger: Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Littérature et art. p. 111.
  19. ^ Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (1 January 2007). Historic Cities of the Islamic World. BRILL. p. 24. ISBN 978-90-04-15388-2.
  20. ^ Martin, Henri (1864). Martin's History of France. Walker, Wise & Co. p. 522. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
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