Before returning to the harbor, my stepfather knew his parents would come to collect most of his salary, leaving him with only a few thousands. Yet for the value of currency then in early 1960s, that amount was more than enough for a young man to enjoy beyond his imagination on the coast among alcohol, women and films. When every dollar was gone, he would also be ready for another journey. But for an unfortunate event of attack on their boat, I guess he might not have wanted to end this life that soon.
How weird is this feeling of deja vu between a piece of life I heard in the 21st century and history books on life lived at least four hundred years ago in the 16th and 17th centuries! The utterly adventurous but reckless lifestyle on both sea and shore; the unpredictable and intransigent turn of fate on board; the insanely lucrative but very short career span. Whether it is a fishing boat, a pirate vessel or a slave ship, similar fates lead these lives on high waters.
The first book: Pirates of Barbary by British historian Adrian Tinniswood (Vintage, 2011).
Sixteen chapters in total, Pirates of Barbary brings readers back to the 17th-century Mediterranean Sea when Europeans vied for valuable goods from the East at the cost of personal freedom. The more lucrative the trade, the riskier the sea; the riskier the sea, the heavier the human loss. According to the book, such risk was in the end minimized by state-initiated peace treaties. Particularly this book discusses England's efforts in tackling with Barbary pirates between James I and Charles II.
Whether operating with an official license (privateers) or not (pirates or corsairs in this region) and whether launching in the name of revenge or jihad, men involved in piracy were drawn hither largely by profit and self-autonomy. As the History Channel documentary "The Real Caribbean Pirates" (2017) indicated, life on board was true democracy; everything was run by consensus; everyone had a voice.
Nevertheless, even this romantic scene could not cancel the cruelty on board, nor the irony. While piracy was constructed as 'sea jihad' against European greed and anti-piracy as 'salvaging Christian souls from the heathens', it could not be denied that most ferocious corsair leaders were European renegades! English, Dutch, French, Danish, Italian, Greek...all included. Isn't the entire business more like brother-to-brother feud over money in a family than like race-to-race / religion-to-religion fight over ideology?
In my personal view, this irony stands side by side with the hypocrisy the author reveals about Britain position on abolition movement: "how could it [Britain] be so eager to put a stop to the traffic in black slaves while it turned a blind eye to the enslavement of white Christians on the Barbary Coast?" (p. 293)
In my personal view, this irony stands side by side with the hypocrisy the author reveals about Britain position on abolition movement: "how could it [Britain] be so eager to put a stop to the traffic in black slaves while it turned a blind eye to the enslavement of white Christians on the Barbary Coast?" (p. 293)
The second book:The Slave Ship: A Human History by American historian Marcus Rediker (Penguin, 2007).
This is a painful book to write, according to the author. It spans the entire 18th century and documents the journey from Africa through the Middle Passage to the New World.
Apart from some overlapping thoughts, this 400-page and 10-chapter book dissects the journey of a slave ship from multiple perspectives, including the vessel, environment, people (slave and resistance/sailor and daily business /captain and management on board), and finally abolition discourse. It reads like a compact and informative textbook. Just right for beginners.
As gruesome and inhuman as the practice was, it also sheds insights on the evolution of certain human institution. For example, in the book the institution of race seems to be challenged by the 'fictive kinship' slaves developed on board. Despite of their various and sometimes conflicting backgrounds, slaves were united in the face of common enemy: enslavement. Besides, slaves assisting or even taking charge of navigation for the fallen crew also challenges a rigid path of right or wrong. Regardless of the ship's final destination towards enslavement, at a moment when lives of so many people were on the line, the Samaritan chose to help steering as much as s/he could.
In the 17th century, the Barbary coast was riddled with a million European slaves; after the 18th century, the New World claimed millions of African slaves. In addition to natural produces, apparently human cargo was a real source of income that many in the past found it hard to resist. Sadly.
I especially appreciate these two historians' skills in drawing out an entire century by real historical figures, significant or insignificant, well-known or anonymous. Just imagine the tons of materials they had to go through to piece these many lives together! That is to me the true craft of history.
I especially appreciate these two historians' skills in drawing out an entire century by real historical figures, significant or insignificant, well-known or anonymous. Just imagine the tons of materials they had to go through to piece these many lives together! That is to me the true craft of history.
Truly, life on high waters was never easy nor simple. But it was lucrative, enticing as well as amoral, risky. All depends on 'Who's talking'. My stepfather had enjoyed that life and felt sorry for its early end. For others, especially the British navy hunting after pirates or the African slaves lying below the deck of a slave ship, however, the opposite can't be truer. Kaleidoscopic realities. That is life.
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