9. Privateer

Yes Mrs Black, thou art right in thine judgement. I was a Pirate, in the view of thine people. Thou raisest many questions, and I will address them each one, to the best of my ability.

I first settled my wife and son in quarters leased unto those who led the cannons of the Sultan over the seas. After my first incursions I gained distinction within my fellow sailors for two reasons: first, my skill on the ropes and sword; second, my persistent backing of the innocent according to the merciful teachings of the Holy Book. I got into more than a quarrel for that reason, but on most occasions events transpired with only me being called in play the scholar-warrior once again. One sailor once asked me from which part of the Spanish main, as he called, did I hail. Upon expounded the misty understanding of my bearings in that regard, he was left as baffled as me.  On a following occasion, when manning a small fleet of corsair, we overran a Spanish one. Once the fighting was over I was directed towards a dying man who had fought alongside the Spaniards. My comrades had noticed his likeness to me. Upon seeing me he uttered his last words begging for mercy. I would have granted it, had he not let out his last breath from the severity of his wounds. The most remarkable part of this short meeting was that his words were in Nawatl, the tongue of trade in my homeland. I was overtaken my mixed feelings of astonishment and joy at the closeness of the land of my forebears.

Our most common booty was slaves for the Algiers market. Therefore it seemed odd that I would try to persuade our captives to convert sincerely, and by that utterance become only free servants in a Algiers household and not merchandise. It wasn't at all easy, since a slave could claim freedom after a ransom was paid for him by his family or companions. A converted servant, on the other hand, faced death for apostasy if he relapsed to his former beliefs, being then in a sense more permanently bounded to his master than as a slave. It was a stark choice for many, but I did my best to help them make it with the utmost eloquence and using their soundest judgement, giving a complete and sincere understanding of their predicament. Not only faithful were gained, it was not all too rare that their sailors would turn against their kin and join our forces. I can only hope these considerations may lighten thine judgement on this turn in my career.

I shall not omit one prisoner we took, one who has been present before in my narrative: Jan de Graeff. He was as surprised as me and it was not a minor undertaking to let him be my part of the booty. He assured I was to receive a sizable ransom on his name from his Masters. I told him the debt of gratitude I owned him accounted for any ransom, but for the time being he had no choice but to remain a prisoner. I took him and the rest of my booty to Algiers, where I delivered him to a French merchant. I had quickly become acquainted with the many peoples settling the northern reaches of the White Sea. Here it was that those with the means ransomed themselves. Hence I took those staunch in their faith to Cairo. We usually would sell them in the Algiers market, but this time I took them to Cairo, where I learned of the Shayk's passing. I managed to find his friend who had taken unto him a debt of gratitude owed to the former owner of Therese and informed him that he was going to be delivered of it by me. I presented myself in the regalia of a successful man of the seas and offered the slave merchant a small assortment of slaves, as befits a man of his word.

In the novelty of heading a household of my own, I saw it grow. Servants and slaves required larger quarters, all of which was skilfully managed by Therese. She also gave me a second healthy son there, my fortunes praised by my mates for such a fruitful wife. Yousuf grew strong and well nurtured. I encouraged Therese to train him in her native tongue despite her inclination towards her new allegiances. From her first bonding to me she had served my wish of learning yet another speech, her own English tongue. I later learned I had been fortunate to receive this training from an English subject of refined upbringing, in sharp contrast to the coarse cant I was to use with other acquaintances I will recount of soon. As my standing as a warrior grew I was enlightened on the importance of an additional wife to aid Therese. To renegade this, which was considered a duty, would gain me the name of a miser and bring disrepute to my household. As thou seest, it was not too different from the usage in any plantation, with the benefit of a position blessed by the congregation for a woman in such a position. She may claim the title of a lady and not be relegated to an obscure place, far from the society of her betters. Following these mores, I contracted the services of a matchmaker, an esteemed occupation in those lands. A daughter from a seasoned soldier was declared the best choice for the purpose and she joined Therese in heading a growing family. I will point out to thee the preponderance held by my first wife in the hierarchy within my family, carried on to the offspring born of her over those of my second wife. This was the only addition to my family deemed necessary, withstanding further improvement in my rank.

I will tax thine forbearance towards this humble servant and put forward the following assertion. The sea has always been a dangerous place, and the English cannot claim a role in making it safer, other than for their own people. There have been famous corsairs for the English crown who have plundered the Spanish possessions, some of them with ferocious savagery. We held an uneasy peace treaty with the English in favour of their shipping, with occasional breakups. We were not such a formidable foe to Christian powers, since at times our own bases received devastating blows from their fleets. In the port of Algiers there were Christian clerics who worked for the release of the captives, having funds of their orders for that purpose, as I found out in interviews with them. We also released some of our own people who were held captives, chained to the oars of Christian galleys we would take as prizes. To what may be thine great surprise, I will relate thee about the English and Dutch corsairs in Sale, a distinguished base for those in my line of service to the Sultan. These held letters of corsair from their Great Lord, not from the English king, and all had converted to Islam. From all of the Corsairs in the western sea they were the most ferocious, disregarding any truce among their masters, finally setting up Sale, an independent fortification of their own in the western Morroccan coast. During my years of activity there, their strength was dwindling, but their fame still lingered. Another line of activity, that I stayed away from, was the sacking of coastal towns in the Christian kingdoms. I found out soon enough how unworthy of a man of arms it was, and my standing as a warrior was strong enough for my services to be required in many other sea-faring expeditions. Finally, let me say that at this time I am a renegade of all my fighting, seeking the forgiveness of all those I caused grief, and also thine, my generous friend and correspondent. Had I achieved what in the eyes of men is a great fortune, I would have retired to a life of leisure in Algiers, but by that time I was weaving plans to take my family a across this western sea and find another place of settlement among those I had began to call again my people.

By the unresisting will of our Creator, I was captured in an unfortunate engagement. Our Captain recklessly refused to respect the English truce and with their own flag raised we attacked a vessel, which proved to be much stronger than he assayed. That was to be my last battle, which left my left leg severely injured for a time. The All-Merciful spared my life and set prone by my injury and bleeding. My fame as a defender of the downtrodden had reached our victor's Captain and he ordered my bleeding to be stopped so my spirit could hang by a thin thread to my body. When I came back from the verge of death, I learned he had commuted the grin sentence for a pirate meted to my fellows-in-arms. I was to be sold as a slave to a plantations in our next stop, Barbados, where I was to drag a chain and work on the strength I could muster, with the limp you saw in my gait.