Pirates & Privateers: Des Ekin's Books

When the American Revolution ended, the United States gained its liberty from Great Britain. It also lost its protection. As a new nation, America believed in free trade, but the Mediterranean Sea was a dangerous place for sailors and those vessels without protection were fair game for the Barbary corsairs. On 25 July 1785, the Maria was bound for Boston when a xebec captured the merchant ship off the Portuguese coast. The Algerine corsairs stripped the six men of all their possessions and forced them to board the xebec. The first American to do so was eighteen-year-old James Leander Cathcart. Taken to Algiers, he and the others became prisoners and slaves, forced to do their kidnappers’ bidding or face punishment and possible death while they waited for their ransoms to be paid. Cathcart was assigned to the palace gardens, where one of his responsibilities was tending to the lions who frequently managed to get out of their cage.

Today, Cathcart’s name is virtually unknown. He survived nearly eleven years in captivity, and during that time, he went from a lowly gardener and lionkeeper to chief clerk at the palace. He had an ear for languages and an insatiable curiosity. When combined with his ability to network with others and to work the system, he would achieve this most powerful position to help both his fellow countrymen survive horrendous conditions and to keep peace between Algiers and the United States.

This is not a biography of Cathcart, although Ekin does include information about what happens to the various participants in this story of human trafficking following the release of the American hostages. Nor is it simply a story of Cathcart’s time as a Barbary slave. It is also a story of Algiers and of the other captives who experienced this tragedy, as well as what happened to the folks at home and the political maneuverings on both sides to either gain the ransoms or the captives’ freedom. Within these pages, readers meet Isaac Stephens, captain of the Maria, and his wife, Hannah, who found herself evicted from their home and forced to put herself and their children to work to survive during his captivity. Or Scipio Jackson, an African American sailor who endured not only enslavement but also racism. Or Yusuf Rais (Captain Joseph), who started life in Algiers as a slave, converted to Islam, and kidnapped others. Or Charles Logie, the British counsel, who whispered in the dey’s ear that American ships were fair game for his corsairs, and who pretended to offer shelter to American officers only to treat them as no better than servants. Or Captain John Lamb, who somehow ended up being selected to parley for the American captives but was the most ill-suited man for the job. Or Sidi Ali Hassan, who some deemed insightful and savvy while others found him unpredictable and ambitious. He had one goal in life – to become dey, and he was ruthless enough to have members of his family killed to gain the throne. Or Consul Mathias Skjoldebrand of Sweden, who saved the life of an American captive by paying his ransom. This book is also a discussion of corsair tactics and what life was like in Algiers as a captive slave, including psychological torture and the culture of fear which these men endured.

In his introduction, the author assures readers that this book is pure nonfiction. All details and conversations are based on primary writings, but this is not a book intended for scholarly research. Instead, Ekin writes for the lay audience interested in learning more about little-known, but important, episodes in history. He includes a center section of black-and-white portraits, charts, and scenes of Algiers and Barbary slaves. If the book has any drawback, it is the lack of an index. Ekin does, however, include additional information and his resources in the Notes section at the end of the book. Although there is one brief recounting of a woman passenger taken from a ship, this is primarily about the men who were trafficked during this period in American history.

This is not the first time that I have read about Cathcart, but Ekin presents him in a totally different light from those other accounts. As a result, readers gain a new awareness and appreciation for this man and the experiences that influenced the rest of his life.

Lionkeeper of Algiers is a thorough, well-rounded, and absorbing account of Cathcart and his fellow American captives and what they experienced. In the last sentence of the book, Ekin writes Cathcart’s “unique contribution to the early history of the United States has never been fully recognized and possibly never will be, but perhaps this book will help in some small way to remedy this oversight.” (221) Ekin admirably achieves this goal, providing readers with a provocative account that opens avenues of discussion and further exploration.