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The Sack of Baltimore: Ireland’s Slave Raid
Detestable as it may be, slavery has been an almost constant presence in human civilization until recent history. Most people are aware of slavery’s role in history’s most dominant societies, such as the Americas, the Roman Empire and ancient Egypt. But human bondage didn’t always occur on these massive scales.Over the centuries many people and communities have been forced into unpaid servitude, but due to their small numbers or marginalized culture have been largely forgotten. One such example is the little-known Sack of Baltimore. This slave raid on the edge of Europe was carried out by a group that were, for a time, one of the most feared bands in the Mediterranean and beyond.OJ Wheaton explains.
A depiction of an Algerian slave market by Jan Luyken.
The Barbary piratesThe Barbary pirates were privateers consisting mostly of Muslim crews from the north African coast, who made their living via frequent raids throughout the Mediterranean, West Africa and the northern Atlantic. During these raids people would be kidnapped en masse to be transported back to the slave markets of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. It is often believed that their name derives from the ‘barbaric’ nature of their trade, but in truth it stems from the Berbers - the oldest known inhabitants of this region of Africa[OW1] .Unlike the Atlantic Slave Trade in which notions of racial superiority were used to justify the enslavement and trafficking of black Africans, the Barbary pirates held no such distinctions for their victims. Christians, Jews and Muslims were all taken by force[OW2] . Distance from north Africa also failed to provide safety: some raiding parties went as far as Iceland in search of their human loot. An unlikely targetIn the year of 1631 the few hundred people living peacefully in Baltimore would have unlikely even heard of the Barbary pirates. The village had been founded as an English colony almost thirty years earlier, and enjoyed a small economy based mostly around commercial fishing.On June 20 the pirates descended on the village. They were led by Dutch captain Murad Reis the Younger. Murad was himself once a slave of the Barbary pirates, but after converting to Islam he joined the profession of his captors and rose in the ranks until he was also committing the deeds he was previously a victim of.[OW3] There is debate over how exactly the pirates found their way to Baltimore. The generally accepted story concerns the capture of a local fisherman by the name of John Hackett who, in exchange for his own freedom, led the pirates to Baltimore. Hackett may have been acting out of desperation, but as the villagers who escaped the slavers’ clutches returned to their now-deserted village, they sought vengeance. Hackett was hanged for his treachery.[OW4] Into bondageAt least 107 of Baltimore’s residents were kidnapped by Murad and his crew, with some estimates reaching above 200. More of these were native Irish people, with a few English settlers taken as well. The fate of these unfortunate innocents was varied, but all faced the standard horrors that has awaited slaves throughout the ages.Some were destined to become galley slaves. A practice widely used by the Romans, this was a particularly cruel destiny that would see able-bodied slaves chained up and forced to row their masters’ vessels. The punishing work and horrific conditions resulted in a short life expectancy – most galley slaves would live and die in the bowels of the ship without ever setting foot on land again.Other victims of the raid were taken back to the Barbary states and sold in the slave markets. Records of slave transactions in this area at the time were sparse, so exact details of what happened to the majority of Baltimore’s victims are impossible to know. However it’s likely that some of the women would have been kept in a harem and faced sexual slavery at the hands of their masters. Others would have been used as laborers, forced to undertake the most back-breaking of tasks until their bodies were spent.[OW5] It is known that of the more than 100 villagers who were captured, only three would return to see their homes again. The lucky fewAs mentioned, records of this era are sketchy at best, but it was reported that three women from Baltimore were ransomed and eventually able to return home[OW6] . It’s unclear just how the families of these villagers would have afforded such a ransom, but some historians speculate that wealthy relatives would deal with pirates in complete secrecy, fearful that if news of their willingness to pay for their loved ones’ freedom got out, more of their family would be targeted by kidnappers.The Irish poet Thomas Davis (1814–1845), who was writing 200 years after the raid, immortalized it in his poem The Sack Of Baltimore[OW7] . Although its historical accuracy cannot be guaranteed, a line from this poem gives a tale of a kidnapped villager who kills her captor before being executed herself.The maid that Bandon gallant sought is chosen for the Dey—She's safe—he's dead—she stabbed him in the midst of his Serai And what of the remaining villagers of Baltimore, many of whom watched their friends and family being carried off by the pirates? Most of them moved to the nearby town of Skibbereen. Anyone who stumbled across Baltimore in the following decades would have found an eerily-empty town, featuring only abandoned homes and a crumbling stockade where Hackett was put to death. Voices of the victimsNo words from the people of Baltimore speaking about their plight remain, however some victims of the Barbary pirates did manage to record their experiences.Olafur Egilsson was a reverend from the western islands of Iceland. He, along with his pregnant wife and children were enslaved during a raid by Babary pirates in 1627. His wife gave birth during the voyage to Africa. Eglisson was set free, without his family, with the intention that he would travel to Denmark (Iceland was a Danish Dependency at the time) and ask Danish King Christian IV to ransom the captives. Unfortunately due to the expense of the 30 Years War, King Christian was unable to buy the freedom of his subjects.[OW8] Eglisson wrote about his experiences [OW9] of the slave market he was taken to in Algiers:“When we came to the marketplace, we were placed in a circle, and everyone’s hands and faces were inspected. Then the local King chose from this group those who he wanted. His first choice amongst the boys was my own poor son, 11 years old, whom I will never forget, as long as I live.” Did you find that piece interesting? If so, join us for free by clicking here. [OW1]https://www.britannica.com/place/Ottoman-Empire [OW2]https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml [OW3]https://www.google.com/url?q=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id%3DSJEg0p4RCP4C%26pg%3DPA97%26redir_esc%3Dy%23v%3Donepage%26q%26f%3Dfalse&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1760218418798850&usg=AOvVaw0UOlgfc7sGES4nCqW4m6-M [OW4]https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BBHpBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA34&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false [OW5]https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.org/details/trent_0116405722392&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1760218418799392&usg=AOvVaw351Tkidjpv3ExC1vhnk9PV [OW6]https://www.google.com/url?q=https://baltimorepolicemuseum.com/en/the-sack-of-baltimore&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1760218418798215&usg=AOvVaw3Hcy8W8eBs0acM4v8FlE9b [OW7]https://www.google.com/url?q=https://celt.ucc.ie/published/E850004-001/text001.html&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1760218418797830&usg=AOvVaw2Lr6S7_XGvUVRNK2DOxHCl [OW8]https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grapevine.is/icelandic-culture/books/2009/08/20/book-review-travels-of-reverend-olafur-egilsson/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1760218418797376&usg=AOvVaw3JQ9WXofDo2MNhTDbVXvqy [OW9]https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DM2EJChRdxL0&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1760218418797551&usg=AOvVaw1w6vPAJyCHfuJcM_B8pqcn
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