The Corsairs by Roger Pocock (1896)
The Corsairs, by Roger Pocock, traces the rise of the Barbarossa brothers from the sons of a converted sailorman in Mitylene to the masters of the Mediterranean world. Their father, a Christian from the Balkan States who had turned Moslem and been banished from Constantinople following its fall to the Turks in 1453, married a Christian widow and raised his two sons to the sea trade. The elder son, Uruj, took to piracy at a young age, suffering early setbacks when he was captured by a galley of the Knights of Saint John and put to work as an oar slave, only to escape by slipping his shackles and swimming ashore. Captured again on a subsequent voyage, he escaped once more, and eventually received backing from the sultan's brother, who fitted him out as a corsair at the cost of five thousand ducats charged to the basha of Egypt. His younger brother Khizr joined the enterprise, and the two operated under the protection of the sultan of Tunis, who claimed twenty per cent of their plunder. Through steady and industrious application to their trade, the brothers built a fearsome reputation across the Mediterranean. Khizr received from the Grand Turk the title Protector of Religion, a distinction said never before or since to have been granted to a professional robber. Among their exploits was the capture of The Galley of Naples after a fierce engagement, with three hundred men and six lady passengers taken into slavery. Tiring of the sultan of Tunis and his commission, the brothers began seizing towns and fortresses for themselves, establishing independent bases, with Uruj as king of Tlemcen and Khizr as king of Algiers. Uruj eventually fell in battle, leaving Khizr, known as Barbarossa, to expand operations across the sea as a wholesale pirate with a branch kingdom of Tunis and fleets capable of destroying commerce and devastating coastal settlements. The Moors expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1493, civilised and landless, manned his fleets out of a desire for vengeance against Christian Europe. An expedition led by Charles V against Barbarossa was wrecked by a storm, which his followers took as evidence of divine favour. Internal troubles then threatened Barbarossa's position. His lieutenant Hassan, returning from a raid on the coast of Valencia having avoided engagement with a transport carrying a hundred veteran Spanish soldiers, found the king displeased. Prisoners were butchered and Hassan was publicly flogged. Hassan joined another disgraced officer, Venalcadi, and together they drove Barbarossa out of Algeria. Barbarossa returned with a fleet of brother corsairs, including the Jew, Hunt-the-Devil, Salerrez, and Tabas, and with the aid of sixty captive Spanish soldiers who earned their freedom in the fighting, he retook Algiers, destroyed the mutineers, and re-established his authority. To demonstrate that harmony had been fully restored among the corsairs, he despatched Hunt-the-Devil with seventeen ships to burn the coast of Spain. Barbarossa's hold on Algiers was not yet complete while the Peñon, a fortress facing the city, remained in Spanish hands under Martin de Vargas. After twenty years of resistance, the garrison, exhausted by disease and famine, fought until the walls were breached and all were put to the sword. De Vargas, taken prisoner, demanded the execution of a Spaniard who had betrayed him, and that man was beheaded at once; but Barbarossa then turned on De Vargas himself and had him killed as well for the trouble he and his garrison had caused. The outrage of Charles V at this affront drove him to engage Andrea Doria, the foremost Christian admiral of the age, for war against Barbarossa. At the same time the sultan Suleiman the Magnificent summoned Barbarossa to Constantinople to command the Turkish fleet. Barbarossa arrived bearing magnificent gifts, and the sultan granted him not only a great fleet but vice-regal powers to make war or peace. The following year eleven thousand Christian slaves and ships laden with plunder from Italy were sent back to the Golden Horn. Barbarossa also seized the kingdom of Tunis for himself and slaughtered three thousand inhabitants in the process. Charles V then came with an army and a great fleet to avenge the displaced king Hassan and the slaughtered citizens of Tunis. He drove Barbarossa out as a penniless and discredited fugitive, and his soldiers killed thirty thousand citizens of Tunis. Barbarossa, by then past seventy and stripped of his kingdom, his fleet, his arsenal, and fifty thousand men, still retained fifteen galleys at Bona and his kingdom of Algiers. He rallied his broken and starving Moorish seamen, and after a period of rest they sacked the Balearic Isles, taking five thousand seven hundred slaves and quantities of shipping. A new Turkish fleet was then built, and with one hundred and twenty sail Barbarossa won his final and greatest triumph, defeating Andrea Doria at Prevesa, where the Christian admiral had commanded one hundred and ninety-five ships, sixty thousand men, and more than two thousand five hundred guns. After that victory Barbarossa retired, and died in his bed eight years later, full of years and honours. For centuries afterwards, Turkish ships saluted with their guns and dipped their colours whenever they passed the grave of the King of the Sea.
By Roger Pocock · First published 1896 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Maritime Fiction · 1,495 words
First lines
A. D. 1534
In 1453 Constantinople was besieged and stormed by the Turks, the Christian emperor fell with sixty thousand of his men in battle, and the Caliph Mahomet II raised the standard of Islam over the last ruins of the Roman empire.
Similar titles
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- Rich Captures by W. Clark Russell
- The Life Adventures And Piracies Of The Famous Captain Singleton by Daniel Defoe
Genres
- Historical Fiction — The narrative is set in the 16th century and centers on real historical figures like Barbarossa, Khizr, and Uruj, blending documented events with narrative storytelling techniques.
- Adventure — The work is replete with action sequences including naval battles, captures, escapes, raids, sieges, and daring exploits across the Mediterranean Sea that drive the plot forward.
- Maritime Fiction — The entire narrative revolves around seafaring, piracy, naval warfare, galleys, and maritime commerce, making the sea and ships central to the story's identity.
- Political Thriller — The text involves intrigue, betrayal, power struggles between empires, alliances, and the maneuvering of sultans, emperors, and military commanders for dominance and control.
Tags
adventure · historical fiction · piracy · maritime · action · exploration · naval warfare · swashbuckling · high seas · treasure · danger · courage
What this Textopian page supports
The Corsairs is listed on Textopian as a novella by Roger Pocock, dated 1896 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Novella
- Author: Roger Pocock
- Date: 1896 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Maritime Fiction, Political Thriller, War Fiction
- Length: 1,495 words
- Structure: 1 section, 12 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Corsairs by Roger Pocock
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