City Descriptions in Barbary Coast Captivity Narratives
by Robert Spindler
Abstract
The individual experiences of the countless European and American sailors, merchants, soldiers, and civilians who fell victims to Barbary Coast pirates between the 16th and early 19th century differed greatly. Some captives were literally enslaved and forced to do hard physical labor, others persevered under relatively comfortable conditions awaiting their ransom. A considerable number were also gradually integrated into the culture of their captors and managed to pursue a formidable career in North Africa. Those who eventually returned to their home countries, whether through escape or release, and whose captivity experience was written down either by themselves or someone else, had become keen observers of their new exotic surroundings. Besides depictions of the North African flora and fauna, descriptions of cities and their walls, houses, fortifications and inhabitants are a standard feature of most Barbary Coast captivity narratives.
Including such an urban topography in a captivity narrative could serve a number of purposes. The information was useful for military purposes, as it could reveal strengths and weaknesses of a city's fortifications and indicate strategical points for a potential attack or conquest. It also served the purpose of the author, for example by denigrating or vilifying Muslim culture and depicting captivity conditions as particularly harsh. And not at last, it served the curiosity for the exotic in readers of the broad public. In this way, the city descriptions also contributed to a contorted, romanticized, and hybridized Western view of Eastern culture, a concept which was notably discussed by Edward Said in his book Orientalism and is still perceptible in the literature, art, and architecture of the West.
The city descriptions in Barbary Coast captivity narratives can take as different shapes as the experiences of the captives, but they can also follow topical schemes. In this paper, I will take a close look at various city descriptions in European and American Barbary Coast captivity narratives and analyze them with such aspects as purpose, authenticity, readership, effects, etc. in mind. A particular focus will be put on the interesting case of the capture of the crew of the Philadelphia in the course of the Tripolitan War of 1801-05, which is documented in three contrasting captivity narratives, all featuring distinct descriptions of the city of Tripoli.