SEA-ROVERS 



English or foreign, that they met in the narrow waters. The crews and 

 passengers were murdered and it was not until some sort of order had 

 been restored to the country that these conditions were ended, although 

 the Ports had a bad reputation for many years afterwards. 



The Victualling Brothers. 



The pirate organisations which sprang up during the Middle Ages 

 are almost too numerous to mention but particular notice may be paid 

 to the Victualling Brothers. Originally they were an irregular supply 

 force which kept the fleets and bases of the Hanseatic towns victualled 

 during the war with Denmark, but when this was over they remained as 

 a corporation headed by two men named Moltke and Manteuffel. They 

 operated from Gothland and covered both the Baltic and the North Sea, 

 actually holding up the herring fisheries for three years and on one 

 occasion attacking the Spanish coast. On these more ambitious forays 

 the leader was generally Stortebeker, a ruined nobleman who earned 

 this name among the pirates by his drinking capacity. Finally in 1400 

 things got so bad that the Hanseatic League determined that the band 

 must be stamped out and a fleet under Simon of Utrecht, with his flag in 

 the Spotted Cow — Bunte Kuhe is still often found as a name for Hamburg 

 ships — contrived to rout the pirates off Heligoland in 1402 after a three 

 days' fight. Some of the pirate ships actually had their mainmasts 

 hollowed out and filled with molten gold. 



The Barbary Corsairs. 



Although it is an unpleasant thought, it has in fairness to be admitted 

 that the Barbary Corsairs which were the scourge of the Mediterranean 

 and even of Northern Europe for centuries were brought into being and 

 maintained entirely by the Christian powers. When the Moors were in 

 possession of Spain the greatest injury that they did was to Castilian 

 pride, for their rule was enlightened and they were wonderfully tolerant 

 in religious matters. When they were turned out of the country after 

 bitter fighting and those who remained were subjected to appalling 

 cruelties, it was a different matter and on the inhospitable African shore 

 all that was savage in their natures came out. The Spaniards had called 

 the tune and they could dance to it. At first their expeditions were for 

 the purpose of obtaining the necessities of life only and to rescue their 

 oppressed brethren who were still in Spain, but every fresh batch of 

 refugees brought fresh stories of atrocities, stories which had solid enough 

 foundation but which lost nothing in the telling. It would have required 

 little effort then to have crushed them, but the Spaniards did not take 

 their opportunity and the Moors realised their weakness before it was 

 too late. They got the necessary strength by putting themselves under 

 the suzerainty of the Sultan and before long they had their ships' lists 

 full of refugees and desperadoes from all over the Mediterranean. Until 

 the Turks came their galleys were comparatively small and were manned 

 Viking fashion by free men who would both row and fight. Then that 

 was changed and they cruised for slaves as well as plunder. 



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