Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

The renegades largely contributed to the creation of that negative image
about Algerian corsairs and subsequently collapse of corsairing. Economic
opportunities provided by corsairing were such that idle European corsairs
joined the Algerian navy in search of fortune. 101 Many of them were motivated
more by economic gain than by religious conviction. 102 Steering their corsairs
to their original homelands, with which they were familiar, they ravaged shores
not known and never reached before by Turkish corsairs. Haedo wrote in the
1580s:
The generality of the Corsairs are no other than renegadoes, and all of
them exceedingly well acquainted with the coasts of Christendom, and
even within the land, they very deliberately, even at noon-day, or indeed
just when they please, leap ashore, and walk on without the least dread,
and advance into the country, ten, twelve, or fifteen leagues or more;
and the poor Christians, thinking themselves secure, are surprised
unawares. 103
The raids on Madeira, the English Channel, Iceland, and Ireland
certainly can not be considered as part of the geo-political, strategic, and
religious concerns of the Muslim corsairs of Algiers. 104 The renegades, even
though they contributed skills and technical knowledge to the Algerian navy, in
terms of reputation and ethics, they did more harm than good. In this case,
economic profit became an end in itself rather than a by-product of corsairing.
101 Ben Rejeb, “Barbary’s Character,” p. 346.
102 The Dutch corsair Jan Leendertsz, known as Suleyman Rais, converted to Islam and became one of
the Ri’yas of the Algerian fleet. At his time, 6 out of the 55 sea captains in the Algerian fleet were
Dutch. In 1655, after his corsair was captured by one of his former compatriots, he went back home
and re-converted to Christianity. Krieken, Corsaires et marchands, pp. 139-40.
103 As translated by Morgan, Complete History of Algiers, p. 593.
104 All these attacks were the work of the Dutch corsair Jan Janszoon van Haarlem (1570-1641), also
known as Murad Rais the Younger. For the raids see Clark, “Barbary Corsairs,” p. 23.
149