North African Corsairs: Ships and Men in the three Regencies of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli (1785-1818)

1. North African Corsairs: Ships and Men in the three Regencies of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli (1785-1818) http://www.vallejogallery.com

2. Outline * Introduction * Parts of the Ship * Types of Ships * The North African Fleet (Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli) The Ships Construction of the Ships Careenage * The Men The Ship-owners The Corsair Captains and their Origins The Crews * Conclusion

3. Introduction • Shipbuilding in the eighteenth century witnessed an accelerated change that was characterized by increase in the ship’s tonnage, speed and arsenal. • Investigating into humans interactions with the sea and maritime activities belongs to the study of Maritime archaeology; whereas,Nautical archaeologyrefers to the study of ships and shipbuilding. • The North African regencies of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli possessed a considerable fleet that anabled these regencies to maintain corsair activities.

4. Parts of the Ship

5. Types of Ships • Xebeck (الشباك), frequently used by 18th and 19th centuries corsairs in the Mediterranean, is a small ship with three masts, square rigged on foremast with a lateen on the main mast. • Bark (barque) is a ship with three masts, first two masts are square rigged, the last one being fore and aft rigged.

6. Galliot is a type of smaller galley ships with one or two masts and around twenty oars. Galliots could carry ten small cannons and from 50 to 150 men. • Brig has two masts, square rigged on both. This ship has varied in type during the 19th century and has become known as Brigantine.

7. Frigate (usually plural) varies from small oared boats to sailing ships with three masts. It could carry 24 to 38 guns and its speed suited hunting pirates. • Corvette, smaller than a frigate, has three masts, square rigged, but carried only around 20 guns. It served as dispatchers among ships of a battle fleet and also escorted merchants.

8. Schooner is fast ship with a shallow draft and could carry up to 75 crew members. Eight cannons and four swivel guns could be mounted on this ship. • Shallop contains one mast, two sails, and eight oar locks. Shallops played an important role in trade, transportation and exploration.

9. Felucca is a narrow ship of Arab origin using a lateen sail or oars, deeper water types would have had up to two masts and a deck. • Polacca is a vessel with two or three masts used in the Mediterranean. The masts are usually of one piece and without cross-trees.

10. Galley generally refers to ships with single or multiple banks of oars. Galleys originated in the Mediterranean and were not rough naval ships due to their length and low sides. • Brigantine weights up to 150 ton, 80 foot of length, and could carry 100 men and mount ten cannons. This ship was suitable for combat rather than “skirmishing” type ships.

11. The North African Fleet: The Ships • In the years 1785 to 1787, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli had at their disposal the following ships:

12. The North African fleets has considerably increased during the 1790s. The list of ships shows that Algiers had thirteen ships, Tunis thirty-eight and Tripoli fourteen. In addition to the number of ships the type and model would be more European such as frigates, corvettes, brigs and schooners. All these ships had decks, sailed in high waters, navigating all the year long and under any weather condition. • The first Algerian frigate was built in Algiers in 1791. Tunis built a similar ship in 1796 and Tripoli built her first frigate in 1799. After the Spanish bombardment in 1783-1784 Algiers constructed fifty shallops in order to protect its ports.

13. In the period between 1815 to 1816, the North African fleets had changed considerably:

14. The fleets of the North African regencies of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli consisted of a limited number of ships, of modest size and Mediterranean type such as xebecks, feluccas, galliots, chitiha-barks and polaccas. There is a relative decline in the naval capacity of these three regencies during the late eighteenth century. • This mediocrity in naval ships resulted from the geographical conditions of privateering in the region. The Algerian corsairs had to sail for long distances, reaching as far as Catalonia and the Straits of Gibraltar, and thus confronting European ships more than did the Tunisians and the Tripolitans.

15. Construction of the Ships • The French consul Fonds Vallière’s report states that the corvette, the polaccas, the xebecks and the shallops had been built in Tripoli by Spanish carpenters. The two other xebecks were Genoese ships captured during compaign and the galliot was of Danish origin. The frigate, (a ship that was given as a present by the Emperor of Morocco to the Pashaw) could not be repaired in the port of Tripoli and the Pashaw sent it to Malta to his representative who refused to return it until he had been reimbursed the costs of maintenance. • The cost of repairing a ship and equipping it with arsenal was around a hundred thousand francs. The Pashaw would provide the Spanish master builder and other master carpenters with a salary varying from three to six francs per day. The timber used in ship construction is often bought from Albania and the Levant. In Tripoli there was no good quality of timber and only small quantities were used to cover damaged sectors from the ship. The cables and rigging were brought from Genoa and Malta.

16. The Spanish consul mentioned the origin of the Algerian ships as follows: The frigates had been built in Algiers and some were captured from the Portuguese. A thirty-four cannon corvette, a brigantine and two schooners were given as a gift from the United States in June 1815. The xebecks, the galliots and the shallops came from Algerian shipyards. Two polaccas were of Greek origin. Algiers bought four ships in 1817: a twenty-two-cannon brig and a fourteen-cannon schooner and a sixteen-cannon Neapolitan polacca.

17. Sixteen-cannon brig: 250,000 francs Twenty-cannon corvette: 383,000 francs Thirty-two cannon frigate: 690,000 francs Forty-cannon frigate with rigging and guns: 880,000 francs • In 1818 the regency of Algiers received a fourty-six-cannon frigate from the Sultan Mahmoud II. Notwithstanding, the purchase and repair of ships was very expensive. The example below shows the cost of ships in 1815: • The major concern of Algiers was providing timber, most of which were brought from the Kabylia region. The state of Algiers maintained good relationships with the local marabouts by appointing wazîr el-Kerasta, representative of the navy, who provided pieces of wood, as well as their prices and where he would deliver them.

18. 50 copper cannon 6 mortars 40 jib booms, 1,000 xebeck oars 1,000 rowboat oars 40 rudders 1,000 large oars 1,500 quintals of powder 30 quintals of tobacco, 1,500 quintals of rosin 500 quintals of tar 500 quintals of saltpetre 1,000 cannon carriages 1,500 quintals of wire 13,000 cannonballs. During the reign of Mustapha Pashaw , the Hadj-Youssef,wakîl el-kharj brought the following gifts from Constantinople: The regency of Algiers also received gifts from European nations as seen below: In April 1787, the English gave Algiers: * 4 cannons with gun carriages * 200 kgs of powder * 400 cannonballs * 8 rammers * 9 gun-cleaning brushes In 1811, Spain provided: *el-maoudj, a piece used for the stem * the rebiba, the flanks of the submerged hull * el-khazen, the belt that ran along the planking of the ship * el-kursia, the flanks above the waterline * es-sari, the mast.

19. Careenage • Careenage refers to fact of causing a vessel to keel over to one side in order to clean it. It also refers to the expence of repairing ships. • Ship-builders and crews needed regular scrumbling as weeds and marine worms grow on the hull of the ship. • They also needed careenage to repair the damaged parts of the ship. • The process of careening begins with hauling the ship in shallow waters. • Careening costed the naval authorities huge amounts of money, as well as time.

20. The Men • Privateering played a considerable role in the life of the North African regencies. It was an effective part of the economic activity of the region, involving, directly or indirectly, a considerable segment of the population. • Privateering had a strong influence on the diplomatic orientations of the leaders, and provided a justification for the very existence of these states: the corsairs were the heroes of the Dar el-Islam (دار الإسلام) who fought their enemies in the Dar el-Harb (دار الحرب). • Those involved in corsair activities participated in this double role: on the one hand, they exercised an essential socio-economic activity, and on the other, they carried out an importantly religious mission.

21. The Ship-owners • In 1798, Ben Zerzou equipped a xebeck • ordered by the raïs Hassan that carried out • four campaigns. • In 1799, Ben Zerzou entrusted the same • ship to the raïs Ali. • In 1798, el-Hadj Ali prepared another xebeck that • went out on two campaigns. • In 1800, it was the khaznadar(treasurer) who equipped • a corsair ship. • Theterdjüman(الترجمان) fitted out a corsair that • participated in four campaigns in 1807 and 1808. • For the North African regencies equipping corsair ships represented religious duty and economic investment. Two social categories were directly involved in these activities, namely the head of states, their representatives and private individuals. • Privateering in Tripoli, for instance, was entirely at the hands of the Pashaw. In Algiers and Tunis privateering was controlled by both heads of state and private individuals.

22. Almost all the xebecks filled out by private individuals had fewer than 18 cannons, and the majority had only 8 to 12 cannons, while most of the beylik’s had more than 20 cannons. • The large corvettes and all the frigates were fitted out by the beylik. • It was the military factor that dominated. The beylik fitted out 182 corsairs. (26.1% of the ships) Shipowners equipped 516 corsairs. (73.9% of the ships). The Beylik fitted out 40 xebecks out of 200 fitted out by shipowners.

23. These ship-owners belonged to social groups that were closely connected. • Merchants: Salah Bugdir (9 ships) Mohammed Koptan (11 ships) Ahmed and Yûnis Ben Yûnis (36 ships) • High Officials: Mohammed Hodja, amîn el-Tersane(director of the arsenal) (7 ships) Ahmed Hodja, kiaya(governor) of Bizerta (6 ships) Mohammed Hodja, kiayaof Porto-Farina. (43 ships) Hassan Nouira, Mohammed el-Ayashi, kaïds of Monastir. (8 ships) • Great families: Mahmoud Gelluli, kaïd of Sfax and then Sousse (98 ships) Ben Ayed family—Mustafa, Regeb, kaïd of Djerba (78 ships) • Representative: Yussuf sâhib at-tabaa, the bey’s keeper of the seals (127 ships) • These men, who founded their fortunes on trade and farming out taxes found privateering a profitable investment—at least until 1805.

24. The Corsair Captains and their Origins • North African privateering was conducted in a respectful diplomatic manner as the regencies abided by treaties signed between these states and certain European nations. • Every captain carried a passport delivered to him by the consuls of these states, indicating the captain’s name, the type of ship, its gunpowder, crew, and the name of the ship’s owner. • These passports protected the merchant ships that belong to these nations. The captains were also protected from possible attacks of the warships.

25. The records in Le Registre des prises show that 278 corsair captains were operating in the region between 1798 and 1816. • Captains identified with titles and nicknames and seldom geographical origins are indicated, except in cases where a series of information including the captain’s father’s name or even the grandfather’s is mentioned.

26. Djezairi Gharbhis Monastir Zouaouis M’Saken Djanet Djidjelly Sousse Zuara Tetuan Levantine Anatolia Balkans Crete Cyprus Albania • The following lists state the origin of some Algiers captains:

27. A number of captains bear Turkish nicknames: Uzun Ali (Ali the tall) Kütchük Mohammed (Mohammed the short) Halil Burunlu (Halil [big] nose) Kara Mustafa (Mustafa the black) There are also Arab nicknames that are doubtless references to the professions exercised by the raïs before they enlisted in the navy. Messaoud el- Haddad (the blacksmith) Mohammed Sebag (the dyer) Mohammed el-Hallâl (the butcher) Ali es-Saatchi (the watchmaker). • Aside from the Maltese captain, there was a famous case—Peter Lyle, a Scottish sailor who became one Murad, a corsair captain in Tripoli. • The number of raïs all came from the coastal provinces of the Ottoman Empire with a predominance from the Maghreb followed by the Balkans.

28. Only a minority of the raïs in the three regencies had true careers as corsair captains. Ahmed el-Haddad (1798-1815) Naaman (1797-1815) Hassan. Hamdan (1797-1812) Salah (1802-1818) Hadj Sliman (1788-1812) raïs Hamidou (1790-1801)

29. This is how a new raïsis appointed. The dey informs the vekil khradgof the one he has chosen. According to the custom, the vekil khradg, with all the raïsassembled in the morning, announces the orders of the dey from his kiosk. The raïswho has been chosen presents his thanks by reciting the fatiha. All those attending including the vekil khradgdo the same, with much gravity and reverence. When this is completed, the raïsrises and boards the vessel assigned to him and immediately calls for the hoisting of the flag, firing off five cannons. The otherraïsalso hoist their flags, saluting their new colleague with five cannon shots.

30. The Crews Officers: Raïs captain Bash-Raïs second-in-command Raïs el-Assa lieutenant Yakandji boatswain Ourdian quartermaster Raïs-Etterik prize-captain Bash-Tobdji chief-gunner Khodja secretary and chaplain Bash-Demandji chief helmsman. • The crews of corsairs ships were established in a distinct hierarchy and divided into the following: Kamera (officers) Komania (crew and gunners) Behari (forwardmen) Sotta-raïs (craftmen) Masters and Leading Seaman: Yarkandji master-sailer Garda-Kabou topman Britadji topgallant sail Demandji helmsman Sandal-Raïs coxswain Mesteurdach carpenter Kalafat caulker Amberdji steward’s man Khaznadji powder-room master Oukil el-Hardj superintendent

31. Bibliography • Albert, Devoulx, “La Marine de la Régence d’Alger”, 1869, Paris. “Le Registre des prises”, 1872. Editions Grand-Alger livres, 2005 Réimpression des éditions de 1859 et de 1911. • Vallière, Fonds [former French consul under Louis XVI], “Mémoires sur Tripoly de Barbarie au 30 décembre 1785.” • Mustafa, Belhamissi, «Histoire de la Marine Algérienne», 1986.. • Pictures: • http://www.modelships.de/Schebecke,_arabisch/kgDSC00171.jpg • http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/images/display/1931-1940/1933_10.jpg • http://www.hnsa.org/doc/steel/img/desc5.jpg • http://rosenblumtv.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/four_frigates_capturing_spanish_treasure_ships_5_october_1804_by_francis_sartorius_national_maritime_museumuk.jpg • http://www.nps.gov/foma/historyculture/images/galliot_1.jpg • http://easternyachts.com/grandturk/images/grandturk.jpg