Heimaey – image: visitwestmanislands.com
During my last visit to Heimaey, I made a trip to Pirate Cove. The name interested me, and I found that it came from a fascinating chapter in the island’s history, involving a raid on the local population made by Barbary Corsairs in 1627.
There were actually two separate Corsair raids on Iceland during the summer of 1627. The first involved Corsairs from Sale (on the Atlantic coast of Morocco) who arrived on June 20th, and spent over a week pillaging south west Iceland, and notably Grindavik. The second was made by Corsairs from Algeria who arrived on July 5th, and spent ten days plundering the eastern fiords before arriving at Heimaey. Between them, the two raids killed dozens of Icelanders, and captured nearly 500 citizens who were taken to Africa to be sold as slaves.
“I cannot truly record here with any justice the wicked deeds that ere done , save to say that no more terrible a thing has ever occurred, neither abroad nor within Iceland, to a defenceless and harmless people, not even, perhaps, in the destruction of Jerusalem” (Klaus Eyjolfsson, 1627)
Pirate Cove. Image: Paul Berry
Plaque at Pirate Cove. Image: guidetoiceland.is
The total population of Iceland in the early seventeenth century was only around 50,000. The capital city Reykjavik did not even exist until the end of the eighteenth century, and the population of the country up until then was living in scattered farmsteads and practicing subsistence agriculture. Iceland was extremely isolated, with its nearest neighbour Norway a 750 mile sail away – a journey that would take a month if the weather was bad. Most Icelanders never travelled more than a few tens of kilometres from home and had little connection with the outside world. The last thing they expected was an attack from the Barbary Corsairs of North Africa.
View of main town on Heimaey from Eldfell. Image: Paul Berry
As for Heimaey (or ‘Home Island’), in the Westman Islands, this location was first settled by Norse adventurers around 900 AD, bringing with them a number of Irish slaves. Legend claims that some of these slaves had killed the brother of Ingolfur Arnarsson (the first settler in Iceland) before fleeing to Heimaey. Arnarsson is said to have hunted them down and killed them. The Vikings called the Irish the ‘Westmen’, and that’s how this group of islands got its name.
In 1627, the population of Heimaey was just 500, and out of this small total, the Corsair pirates killed between 30 and 40, and took 242 captives – including men, women and children. Heimaey (the only inhabited island of the Westmans) has a fine harbour which led to fishing becoming the main industry. Subsistence agriculture (including farming of puffins) was practised here, and in the early 17th century there were around 18 farmsteads, 40 houses, and one church. The island was divided into two parishes, one to the east called Kirkjubaer, with the pastor Jon Thorsteinsson, and one to the west called Olfanleiti, with the pastor Olafur Egilsson.
Harbour today. Image: Paul Berry
Who Were The Corsairs?
Barbary Corsair. Image: turgut-reis-ottoman-admiral-photo-researchers
Piracy had been common in the Mediterranean since the days of ancient Greece and Rome, but the Corsairs were more recent additions, first appeared in the sixteenth century. Muslims had been in the Iberian peninsula for some 800 years, and in 1492, the last Muslim kingdom in Spain in al-Andalus was conquered by Spanish forces. Around 250,000 Muslims were forced into exile and scattered across the lands of North Africa, with the Spanish going on to invade and occupy large parts of the Maghreb (Mediterranean coast of North Africa from Egypt to Morocco). Muslims responded with a jihad, attacking the Spanish in Iberia and North Africa.
Corsair Pirate. Image; corsairsandcaptivesblog.com
Privateering became popular, and the Barbary Corsairs grew in strength. Cities took their cut of captured booty through the taxation of goods and their sale, taxation of ransoms, and taxation of slaves. Corsair capitals emerged at Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, and became dependent on income from the holy war being fought at sea. Corsair ships included indigenous north Africans, Turkish immigrants, European Christian renegades converted to Islam, Moriscos (expelled from Spain), and European slaves. They also sometimes carried janissaries – Ottoman troops serving as marine troops – along with professional soldiers.
Leaders of both of the Corsair expeditions to Iceland were renegade Dutchmen who had converted to Islam. In the middle of the sixteenth century, the Netherlands fought for independence in the Eighty Years War (1568-1648), and in 1609, a truce was signed, which meant that privateers were no longer needed. Many became pirates and gravitated to North African ports where they joined the Corsairs. The renegades were able to teach the locals how to sail square-rigged European ships, much better in open water than the oar-driven galleys used by the Barbary Corsairs that restricted them to Mediterranean waters only.
Square-rigged Corsair ship. Image: corsairsandcaptivesblog.com
The Raid on Heimaey
The Algiers Corsairs that came to Iceland were businessmen, looking for profit from slaves. The raid on Heimaey was led by Murate Flamenco (or ‘Murate the Dutchman’), his European name not recorded.
Early on the morning of July 16th, 1627, three unidentified ships approached the island from the east. Locals first thought they were Danish ships carrying the supplies they had been waiting for. But Danish factor Lauritz Bagge who was living on the island, knew that three and a half weeks previously, a Corsair ship from Sale had sacked the town of Grindavik on the mainland. He assembled everyone (several hundred) in the harbour to form a defence, believing that with the rocky coast protecting the rest of the island, this would be the only place a raiding party could land. The Corsairs would have faced little opposition, the locals armed only with a couple of small cannons and a few muskets. But the approaching ships never arrived, so the people drifted away to their homes to cook meals and put their children to bed.
The three ships bearing down on Heimaey had actually arrived in Icelandic waters on July 5th. Here, they landed in the Eastern Fiords, where they attacked Djupivogur on the shores of Berufjordur where there was a Danish trading post. From here they broke into groups and spent several days raiding farmsteads, capturing 50-60 people in the process before moving north-east along the fiords of the coast. Local people fled inland, and the wind turned against the pirates, leaving them to turn to sail west along the south coast of Iceland. By the time they arrived at Heimaey, they had gathered over 100 captives aboard their ships.
As the islanders were defending the only harbour at the north end of Heimaey, a straight-on attack by the pirates was deemed to be too risky. They had captured an English fishing boat near to Eyjafjallajokull, and told the fishermen if they could show them a way of landing on the island, they could all go free. The Corsairs were taken to the south end to Brimurd, a shallow cove (Pirate Cove) with gently sloping rocky beach, where they could row ashore with 200-300 men armed with muskets, pistols, cutlasses and spears.
The Corsair ships carried many men, and employed ‘shock and awe’ tactics, landing and then sweeping across the island like a human tsunami. A small number of pirates were left to man the ships and guard the captives on board. Murate Flamenco divided his men into three groups – one to race up the east side of the island, one to head up the west coast, and a third to march up the middle towards the harbour. Each group consisted of over 100 men armed to the teeth and yelling like crazed dervishes.
One group of Corsairs headed to the west and overran the farmstead of Reverend Olafur Egilsson. He was given a thorough beating, and his eleven year-old son was tied up, while the vicious pirates threw a crippled woman and her two year-old son onto the fire of burning house. As the Corsairs passed the fish caves (Fiskhellar) high in the cliffs, they discovered islanders hiding there. They dragged them out and took them captive.
The east group came to Kirkjubaer, the residence of Reverend Jon Thorsteinsson. His family and staff had hidden in a cave, but an old man peering out was spotted and shot. The pirates came to the cave, and Reverend Jon was killed. The murderer was an Icelander captured earlier from the English fishing boat who had been previously sacked by the Reverend so killed him in revenge. Reverend Jon (who was only in his 50s) was considered amongst the foremost poets in Iceland, and became known as Reverend Jon Thorsteinsson the Martyr. The Reverend’s wife, daughter and son were destined to be taken to Algiers and sold as slaves.
The third group of Corsairs headed up the centre of the island to the harbour, driving people and livestock along the way. They passed the island’s church Landkirkja and smashed through the door. The pirates put on holy vestments and looted the church, while despoiling Christian symbols like the altar. Any captives lagging behind were beaten and left for dead.
“The pirates landed so suddenly that the people found it hard to escape them. They rushed with violent speed across the island, like hunting hounds, howling like wolves, and the weak women and children could not escape …. Only a few of the people who were the strongest, or had nothing to carry, or did not pay attention to anybody else, managed to avoid capture. Some of my neighbours were able to escape quickly into the caves or down the cliffs, but many were seized and bound” (Reverend Olafur Egilsson)
Corsair raid on Heimaey. Image: corsairsandcaptivesblog.com
In the harbour, Henrich Thomasson, captain of the Danish merchant ship ‘Krab’, decided to scuttle his ship to avoid it being captured. Meanwhile, Lauritz Bagge, the Danish Factor, took his family onto a fishing boat (along with Thomasson) and crossed to the mainland for safety. The Corsairs put all captured islanders into Danish houses on the harbourside, and then selected them for boarding onto their ships – the young, fit and beautiful first. Reverend Egilsson was deemed to be too old and was to be left behind, but his wife begged him not to abandon her, so the two parents and their children were loaded aboard ship to join the captives from the Eastern Fiords. The Corsairs had murdered 34 islanders, and gathered 242 captives for their journey back to Algiers.
The Journey To Algiers
The trip home took just under a month. The Corsairs left Heimaey on July 19th, and arrived back in Algiers on August 16th or 17th. The 300+ crew and nearly 400 slaves (700 in total in 3 ships) were at sea for some 2,800 miles. The ships were not designed to hold so many people, so there was no comfort. The captives were kept below decks during the voyage, but regularly brought up for air and exercise to keep them healthy before their eventual sale. It was an eventful voyage, during which Reverend Olafur’s wife gave birth to a boy, severe storms scattered the three ships, and a mutiny was attempted.
Algiers in the Sixteenth Century. Image; places.branipick.com
When the ships returned to Algiers, a celebratory cannonade was fired to welcome the successful Corsairs mission home. By the 1620s, Algiers had grown to become one of the most cosmopolitan and populous cities in Mediterranean. Over 100,000 people lived in narrow streets in tightly packed houses where neighbours could be visited by stepping across between roofs. The economy of the city depended on Corsair treasure, and its harbour was rammed full of the Corsair fleet of 70-80 square-rigged sailing ships, a dozen or so galleys, and a horde of smaller vessels. The Pasha (Ottoman governor) received one eighth of everything, then port fees and taxes paid before the financial backers got their cut, and finally members of the expedition got their pay.
Slavery
Slavery had been part of the culture of North Africa for millennia, and under Islamic law, people could only be enslaved if they had been captured in a jihad or were children of two enslaved parents taken in a jihad. On whole, being a slave in Muslim North Africa was probably less disastrous than being on the plantations in Americas. Some captives worked in the fields, some in building, some in domestic service, and others as innkeepers, carpenters, and all sorts of other jobs. It was possible for a slave to run a business and earn money, better their position (better even than at home) and even gain their freedom. Their prospects were raised even further if they converted to Islam.
Slaves were auctioned and sold at the Badestan (market), along with other goods such as sugar, salt, oil, fish, timber, leather goods, silk, wine, and tobacco. The slaves were initially presented to the Pasha for first choice, and he chose Reverend Egilsson’s son from the children on offer, along with around 50 slaves in total (to keep or sell). The rest were then auctioned.
Slave market at Algiers. Image: corsairsandcaptivesblog.com
There was no Danish Consul for the Icelanders to appeal to, but some slaves wrote home to try to raise ransoms – the highest profits for the Corsairs came from such fundraising. Reverend Olafur’s wife and children demanded a ransom of 1200 Danish rigdalers, the equivalent to 15 years worth of wages for an ordinary worker in London at the time.
The more fortunate slaves became domestic servants, spending their days cooking, cleaning, and minding children. Less fortunate slaves were bought by the city authorities for manual labour, and kept in bagnios (work camps) – a bit like Nazi concentration camps. they were a disposable resource, and many didn’t survive. The worst fate of all was to be assigned to the galleys, were 5 or 6 slaves were employed per oar on galleys with 18-20 pairs of oars (that could be increased to over 200 if needed).
Misbehaving slaves were punished with the bastinado, a 6 foot staff with two holes in middle and loops of cord. The slave’s feet were put in the loops, and the staff picked up by two men and twisted to trap the slave’s feet which were raised with the soles upwards at shoulder height. With the slave’s neck now resting on the ground, blows were delivered to the soles of the feet with short truncheons.
Bastinado in use in Persia.
Other punishment faced by the slaves included ganching. Ganches were iron hooks set into the wall by the city gates. Slaves were made naked with their hands tied behind back, and taken to the top of wall and pushed off. The unfortunate victims were caught on the hooks, and died slowly as a public spectacle.
Ganching. Image; corsairsandcaptivesblog.com
Even worse perhaps was impalement, where the slave was stretched out face down and a wooden stake inserted into his behind. The stake was then struck with a mallet until it emerged from the body near the head or shoulder. The stake was planted in the ground, and the slave left to slowly die over maybe 3-4 days. Burning at the stake and crucifixion were also used.
Many slaves converted to Islam, or ‘took the turban’ as it was known. 117 of the Icelanders gave up their religion. Jon Thorsteinsson’s son Jon converted to Islam, and he rose to high social circles, becoming a Corsair and ultimately a Corsair Captain. Einar Loptsson had been captured from his farmstead in Iceland, and served as domestic servant but refused to convert. He was imprisoned and beaten, with both ears and part of his nose sliced off before he managed to ransomed himself and return to Iceland.
Charities were set up in Catholic countries with the specific purpose of raising ransoms for captive slaves, like the Order of Our Lady of Mercy for Redemption of Captives (known as the Mercedarians). They arranged expeditions to go and free slaves – from a few dozen to several hundred – and five voyages were made to Algiers. From 1600-1635 Catholic charities freed nearly 2,500 captives.Non Catholics didn’t have the equivalent religious orders to support them, and they had to rely on private wealth or government funds to help them.
A Danish ransom mission set out in 1635-6, and a ship brought many captives home, but still left behind a number of women and men. On June 13th, 1636, 50 slaves (13 men from Norway and Denmark, 9 Icelandic men, and 28 Icelandic women) left for home – 10 years after their abduction
Out of 400 or so Icelanders captured, 37 had been ransomed (9 men, 28 women), 33 left Algiers, and 7 died on the journey to Copenhagen. Only 27 managed to returned to their homes. Murate Flamenco did try to return to Iceland at least once – but on the way he captured a rich ship in the English Channel so had no need to go further. In 1634, he was taken captive by the Knights of Malta.
After the Corsairs raid on Heimaey, a lookout fort was established by the islanders on the volcano Helgafell – but the pirates never returned.
Information largely taken from the book “Stolen Lives” by Karl Smari Hreinsson and Adam Nichols
Heimaey in summer. Image: Paul berry
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