Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean: The grand period of the Moslem corsairsCurrey, E. Hamilton (Edward Hamilton)
History
Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean: The grand period of the Moslem corsairs
Currey, E. Hamilton (Edward Hamilton)
Africa, North -- History; Pirates
In the year in which Selim descended upon Egypt the King of Spain,
Ferdinand V., died, and grave troubles immediately broke out in Spain.
This was an opportunity too good to be missed, as no reinforcements
could possibly be expected for the garrison in Algiers as long as
these disturbances lasted, and the Algerines took counsel together as
to the best means of driving out their enemies. It is a commentary on
the detestation in which they held the Spaniards that they should have
allied themselves for this purpose with the savages of the hinterland.
This, however, was what they did. As in the case of Jigelli, these
people could always be relied upon to go anywhere in search of booty,
and one Selim Eutemi entered the town at the head of his tribe. But
sheer, stark, savage valour could make no impression on Navarro’s
Tower and the ordnance that was mounted on its walls. The result was a
stalemate, as the Spaniards could by no manner of means get out, and
neither could their enemies, who swarmed innumerable in the town and
the surrounding country, get in. In time, of course, they might hope
to bring the garrison to surrender by starvation; but time pressed,
and no man knew when the troubles in Spain might be adjusted and help
come to the beleaguered. In the meanwhile Selim Eutemi and his men, who
had been taught some rude lessons in the power of firearms, kept out
of range of the cannon, while the Algerines held yet another council
of war, the result of which was that they decided to ask help from
Uruj and Kheyr-ed-Din Barbarossa, and to them they appealed. By this
time their fame was known to all men, and they could supply that which
was lacking—namely ships, artillery, a first-class fighting force, and
last, and best of all, the moral support which would stiffen and put
heart into the motley horde which at present surged around the gates of
the fortress of Navarro.
The Algerines did not appeal in vain, and an instant promise of
succour was forthcoming. Kheyr—ed—Din was away at sea, but Uruj, that
indomitable fighter, started at once. From whence we are not told, but
he must have been somewhere in the neighbourhood, as he and his men
marched along the shore; while, keeping pace with them, came a fleet of
eighteen galleys and three barques laden with stores.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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