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
Dire was the vengeance taken by the corsairs. They sacked Fundi and
burned the town; they killed every man on whom they could lay their
hands, and carried off the women and girls to the fleet.
Kheyr-ed-Din was furious with anger and disappointment. “What is the
value of all this trash?” he demanded, with a thundering oath, of
the commander of the unsuccessful raiders, surveying as he spoke the
miserable, shivering women and girls. “I sent you out to bring back a
pearl without price, and you return with these cattle.”
Thus balked of his prey, Barbarossa swung his fleet round to the
southward and westward and sailed for Sardinia, where, from the Straits
of Bonifacio to Cape Spartivento, he left no house standing that would
burn, or man alive who was not swept in as a captive. The descent of
the corsairs in force, such as Kheyr-ed-Din now had at his disposal,
was one of the most awful calamities for a country that it is possible
to imagine. When Sardinia had ceased to yield up either booty or
slaves the fleet sailed for Tunis, where it arrived before Bizerta on
August 15th. The arrival of the corsairs was totally unexpected, and
caused the greatest consternation. The story which Barbarossa had told
to Sultan Soliman concerning the reigning King Muley Hassan was correct
in every detail, and there is no doubt that he was a bloody and cruel
tyrant of the worst description.
Therefore when the wily Barbarossa sent on shore and informed the
sheiks and ulemas of the place that he had come in the name of the head
of the Mohammedan religion to free them from this monster by whom they
were oppressed, and that he intended to place on the throne the brother
of Muley Hassan, Raschid, who had miraculously escaped from the fate
which had overtaken all the other members of his house, the townspeople
were inclined to listen to his advances and to admire the picture which
he drew of the peace and prosperity which would accrue to them should
Raschid, and not Muley Hassan, be on the throne of their country. That
which he inferred in all his dealings with these people was that he had
Raschid with him ready to step into the shoes of his unpopular brother
as soon as the latter should be deposed by a justly indignant populace.
The fact of the matter was that Kheyr-ed-Din had taken the fugitive
prince with him to Constantinople, thinking to make use of him, and
that, when he was sailing, Soliman had absolutely forbidden him to
remove Raschid from his capital.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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