The Story of the Barbary CorsairsLane-Poole, Stanley
History
The Story of the Barbary Corsairs
Lane-Poole, Stanley
Africa, North -- History -- 1517-1882; Pirates
The Sultan, Suleymān the Great, was little pleased to see a Moslem
fortress summarily stormed by the troops of his ally, the Emperor.
Charles replied that he had fought against pirates, not against the
Sultan's vassals; but Suleymān could not perceive the distinction,
and emphasized his disapproval by giving Dragut twenty galleys, which
soon found their way to Christian shores. The lamentations of his
victims roused Doria, who had the good fortune to surprise the Corsair
as he was greasing his keels in the strait behind Jerba. This strait
was virtually a _cul-de-sac_. Between the island and the great lake
that lay behind it, the sea had worn a narrow channel on the northern
side, through which light vessels could pass, with care; but to go out
of the lake by the southern side involved a voyage over what was
little better than a bog, and no one ever thought of the attempt.
Doria saw he had his enemy in a trap, and was in no hurry to venture
in among the shoals and narrows of the strait. He sent joyous messages
to Europe, announcing his triumph, and cautiously, as was his habit,
awaited events.
Dragut, for his part, dared not push out against a vastly superior
force; his only chance was a ruse. Accordingly, putting a bold face on
the matter, he manned a small earthwork with cannon, and played upon
the enemy, with little or no actual injury, beyond the all-important
effect of making Doria hesitate still more. Meanwhile, in the night,
while his little battery is perplexing the foe, all is prepared at the
southern extremity of the strait. Summoning a couple of thousand field
labourers, he sets them to work; here a small canal is dug--there
rollers come into play; and in a few hours his small fleet is safely
transported to the open water on the south side of the island. Calling
off his men from the illusive battery, the Corsair is off for the
Archipelago: by good luck he picks up a fine galley on the way, which
was conveying news of the reinforcements coming to Doria. The old
Genoese admiral never gets the message: he is rubbing his eyes in sore
amazement, wondering what had happened to the imprisoned fleet. Never
was admiral more cruelly cheated: never did Doria curse the nimble
Corsair with greater vehemence or better cause.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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