Pirates & Privateers: Alan G. Jamieson's Books

Lords of the Sea opens with the capture of Sirius Star in 2008 when Somali pirates capture this Saudi Arabian tanker. Just as these pirates terrorize shipping today off the Horn of Africa, so do Barbary corsairs stalk Mediterranean shipping from 1492 through 1830. This time it is Muslim against Muslim, but in the past such seizures pit Muslims against Christians. In the introduction, Jamieson explains his comparison of now with then, while laying the groundwork for the rest of the book. He also points out that the Barbary corsairs are privateers more than they are pirates, and they operate within a legal framework just like Western privateers do. The height of their success and power occurs during the 17th century, but they remain a viable threat for more than three centuries. Likewise, the author stresses the differences between the corsairs themselves and the corsairs and their Christian counterparts.

Chapter one, entitled “Vanguard of the Sultan,” focuses on the years 1492 through 1580, when some of the best-known Barbary corsairs wage war against Christendom. This is also when Andrea Doria does his best to thwart and hunt down the corsairs, when the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem (better known as the Knights of Malta) become key players in the battles, and when slaves are the principal treasure that both sides seek.

Chapter Subheadings

Algiers 1541
Beginnings
Barbarossas
Turgut Reis
Uluj Ali

The second chapter, “Lords of the Sea,” covers 1580 through 1660, when men like Simon Danser, Murad Reis, John Ward, and Henry Mainwaring prey on ships. During this time, Europeans introduce Western shipbuilding techniques and teach the Barbary corsairs how to sail square-rigged ships. It is also when many of the corsair captains are renegadoes, Christians who convert to Islam and prey on their own country’s ships. Catholic redemptionist orders do what they can to repatriate Christians who become slaves of Barbary.

Chapter Subheadings

Iceland 1627
Corsair Heyday
Salé: A Pirate Republic?
Stolen Christians
In Infidel Hands

“Facing the Sea Powers” is the next chapter and covers 1660 to 1720, a period in which the rise of European sea powers proves a greater threat to the corsairs.

Chapter Subheadings

Algiers 1683
Battle Fleets and Bases
The Battle with Algiers
Morocco: Ismail’s Corsairs

The final chapter, “Decline, Revival and Extinction,” discusses the waning period of the corsairs from 1720 through 1830. During the latter years, an upstart and fledgling nation decides enough is enough and strikes back at the corsairs. Elizabeth Marsh also becomes their prisoner, and while neither the first nor the last woman to be so, she is the only one who writes about her captivity. Now, the preponderance of corsair captains hail from the Barbary states, rather than being renegadoes.

Chapter Subheadings

Cape Gate, 1815
Spanish Revival
Treaties, Tribute and Tribulations
Morocco: Corsairs and Diplomacy
Revolution, War and the Corsair Revival
The Conquest of Algiers

In his conclusion, Jamieson asks the question “A New Barbary?” He draws parallels between the US Navy SEAL attack on the Somali pirates who capture Maersk Alabama and imprison her captain, Richard Phillips, and when William Bainbridge and his crew become captives of the Barbary corsairs, after USS Philadelphia run aground in Tripoli’s harbor. Then Jamieson proceeds to show readers why the corsairs of the past and the pirates today are not the same.

Maps, illustrations, and two appendices – Glossary of Place Name Changes and Chronology – enhance the reading. Reference notes, a bibliography, and an index follow.

In the introduction, the author poses three specific questions.

1. Why did the Barbary corsairs arise when they did?
2. Why did they achieve such power?
3. Why did that power last for so long? (14)

He succinctly and expertly answers these questions, and in doing so, he provides the framework of local events in Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco, as well as putting these into context by showing what transpires in the world at large. He also shows how as the years change, so do the nations involved and the adaptations corsairs make to reflect the shifting world. While recent years have seen numerous titles published on the Barbary corsairs, these have focused on a particular Barbary state, a specific time period, or their captives. Jamieson chooses to cover the entire region throughout the corsairs’ history, which makes this an invaluable study.