FATHER PIERRE DAN ON ALGERIAN CORSAIRS – PART 2

(This post is a continuation of Father Pierre Dan on Algerian Corsairs – Part 1. If you haven’t done so already, it’s best to read that post before continuing on here.)

The polacre out of Marseilles, named Sainte Marie Bonaventure, captained by Louis Croiset, armed with six medium cast iron cannons and two smaller pieces, was attacked, when it was not more than sixty miles distant from its home port, by a large Barbary corsair vessel armed with twenty-five cannons. There were more than ninety Turks aboard the corsair ship, whereas the polacre had a crew of only fourteen. The Christians, however, realizing that they must of necessity fight these barbarians or lose both their property and liberty and be reduced to the unhappy extremity of slavery, encouraged one another and resolved to resist the threat they faced, no matter how terrible, rather than surrender

The Sainte Marie Bonaventure was mightily assailed by the corsairs, and the two ships were quickly entangled, with both sides preparing for a hard fight. A gang of the corsairs threw themselves onto the polacre, thanks to a rope bridge they had hastily strung up, intending to make a name for themselves by their heroic exploits, but the Christians repelled them valiantly with muskets and cannons. After that, they resorted to spears, and to half-pikes, with which they discouraged the attacking infidels, killing some and wounding others. Finally, after four hours of combat, the Christians defended themselves so valiantly that the enemy fled, forced to retire shamefully after having lost many of their men who were either wounded, drowned, or cut to pieces.

The victors, delivered by their own valor from the barbarians, sailed on to Metelin, where they repaired their polacre and tended to their injuries, for they were all wounded, though none seriously. Not one died, and none were crippled. After having thus recovered, they returned to Marseilles, where I saw that they were received with universal applause and rewards worthy of their courage. For besides the ordinary wages paid to them by the merchants who had chartered their vessel, they were given a considerable sum of money—in order to animate others, by their example, to successfully defend themselves in such a manner.

I must add here what happened to the captain of this polacre during the fight. As he was on the bridge, spear in hand, one of the corsairs struck at him with a half-pike, using all his strength. The blade of the half-pike slid down the captain’s leg and pierced his boot—so violently that the iron blade sunk deep into the wood of the deck, and removing it took such great effort that it broke in half.

After such a powerful and heroic example, it is tempting to say that it is men of valor like these who should be in charge of merchant ships rather than those who are willing to surrender like cowards without defending themselves. However, experience shows to our detriment that the majority of ships that Christians put on the sea, particularly those of Provence and Marseilles, are ordinarily quite small, and these are often taken by that accursed brood of infidels. This is especially common because these barbarians seldom venture out except with many ships. Ours on the contrary go alone most of the time, or if they go with some others, storms often separate them. And so the advantage always remains on the side of the corsairs, so much so that it is very difficult to resist them.

Also, ours load up their ships with all sorts of goods so that they are extremely heavy and sluggish in the water, and they do not carry many men to defend them. Corsairs, on the other hand, furnished their ships only with the bare necessities of life. After that, they fill them with a vast quantity of soldiers, artillery, and munitions of war.

They first try to fool the crews of ships they attack with fine words, and by generous promises that they will grant their victims freedom if they surrender—a promise that they always renege on afterwards. If, after having cannonaded a ship and violently fought its crew, they see that the men they are attacking will not surrender and that they cannot possess the ship, they set it on fire if they can, or, out of desperation, sink it.

I mentioned above that, before going on a sea voyage, the corsairs will appeal to one or more of their principal marabouts, requesting their prayers and blessings. These marabouts then present them with sheep.

When the corsairs encounter a storm at sea and are exposed to evident danger, they take one of these same sheep and, while it is still living, chop it in half. This done, they take the half with the head attached and throw it into the sea on the starboard side of their ship. They then throw the other half of the sheep over the ship’s port side. As they do this, they make strange grimaces accompanied by a twisting of their heads, weird antics, and confused words—which I have not thought necessary to repeat here.

Sometimes it happens that the first sheep, of which they always have a particular esteem because of the marabout who gave it to them, was uselessly sacrificed without the agitated sea having become calm. In such a case, they convince themselves that the first sheep must have had some defect which had prevented the success they expected. They then take another sheep, several of which they put aboard their vessel for this purpose, and sacrifice it with all the same extravagances described above. If again the thing does not succeed according to their desire, they repeat the sacrifice, sometimes employing as many as ten or twelve sheep.

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This anecdote about sacrificing sheep serves as a segue into the superstitiousness of the Barbary corsairs, a subject that father Dan has quite a bit to say about. The next post in this series will present descriptions by him of some of the corsairs’ superstitious practices.

For those who may be interested…

The story of the Sainte Marie Bonaventure comes from Book 3, Chapter 1 of Father Pierre Dan’s Histoire de Barbarie. The details about sacrificing sheep come from Book 3 Chapter 6.