![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() But the merchandise was a mere pittance compared to the real prize of the ship: its crew. ![]() Upon setting sail for home, the Francis was overtaken by a band of "fanatical corsairs of Barbary" who, in a "deranged fury," boarded the ship, overpowered its unarmed crew and seized its precious cargo of Italian wares meant for sale in England. Pellow's ship left Cornwall in 1715, carrying a cargo of salted pilchards to trade in Genoa. In the 17th and 18th centuries, countless vessels leaving the coasts of Europe and colonial North America were seized at sea by bands of Barbary corsairs, who confiscated their cargo and dragged their hapless crews to the shores of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli to be sold into slavery.īased primarily on narratives published by freed or escaped slaves, White Gold recounts the story of Thomas Pellow, who at age 11 joined the crew of an English trading vessel, the Francis, as a cabin boy and merchant's apprentice. Giles Milton's new book is a fascinating account of a long-forgotten era when an awful menace terrorized the coastal waters of North Africa. ![]()
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