The ships of the Barbary pirates

[OSHIROmodels]

No, I'm not building any, just interested in what sort of ships the Barbary pirates would use to raid the English coast in the17th century?

We were thinking dhows but would they survive the channel crossing 

cheers

James

[Furt]

Unfortunately, I believe they would have used "Western" style ships, captured and turned to their own cause. 

Certainly after a period they stopped (or toned down) the use of galleys, tartanes, feluccas, etc and I'm pretty sure the use of lateen sails is almost confined solely to the Mediterranean only.

Not very exotic I know, but I remember researching this a bit myself when I made my own corsair ship.

[emosbur]

I think that in summer polacras and xebecs could go to the north sea:

http://www.hobbiesguinea.es/3144-6012-thickbox/corel-models-sm21-le-mistique-1750-jabeque-polacra-810-mm-eslora.jpg

Emilio

[Cory]

A xebec would be nice, but as Furst said most of the Atlantic activity seemed to have involved European captains on European ships in nominal service to a North African power.

On the other hand most of the gamer pirate ships I have seen are so abstract that I wonder how much you can really tell what exact type they are meant to be.

[OSHIROmodels]

Thanks chaps 

Makes sense to use proper sea worthy vessels as I couldn't imagine the med boats being able to do the crossing.

cheers

James

[former user]

Unfortunately, I believe they would have used "Western" style ships, captured and turned to their own cause.  

always the eurocentric perspective....

I would be actually very keen know where exactly You researched that this happened on a regular basis

the atlantic is the medium of christian maritime power, the indian ocean is the medium for muslim maritime power.
and the tradition from times predating.
it is the mediterranean where they meet.
As has oriental trade brought indian glass beads to east africa around BC/AD, so have scandinavian rowing ships inspired by the roman navy (or was it the other way round?) crossed the stormy biscaya. So far for Dhaus that can't cross the channel. Lateen sails were used in the atlantic too, for instance to discover a new continent


of course, I might be ignorant and the terror of the mediterranean for centuries were too stupid to develop technologies of their own and had to rely on captured ships...
Always keen to learn something new

[former user]

this book review reveals that the antagonistic clash of the cultures could appear a bit more differentiated
www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/books/review/Toll-t.html?_r=0

"Because the Barbary states were Islamic, and their victims predominantly Christian, the conflict was understood on both sides as a clash of civilizations. In the Islamic world, the corsairs were hailed as “mujahedeen” who had devoted themselves to “sea-jihad” against Christian encroachments. Europeans deplored “Mahometan tyranny” and conflated Islam and piracy as if they were one and the same — “the present terror of the world.” But once the veneer of religious purpose was stripped away, Barbary piracy was a commercial enterprise, offering a handsome livelihood to those dusty, sun-drenched city-states for the better part of three centuries. "

"Tinniswood, the author of several works of English history, explains that for all the talk of a confrontation between Christianity and Islam, the most notorious corsairs were European renegades who had learned the trade on “privateers,” or private warships commissioned by a government to prey on enemy merchantmen."

it would appear that the author can call some considerable chops in naval history his own

[Furt]

Ships such as this crossed the Atlantic and voyaged to India and beyond.

I did say almost confined. 

[former user]

Yes, I am pretty sure that as long oared ships were used (Lepanto 1571, or the famous chebeques), or the lateen sail, in the conditions they were useful, these would have been used by all sailors.

The more interesting question is whether the reports about raids in Ireland and Britain are a myth or founded in actual records.
I understand that the peak of the barbary piracy was facilitated by coincidence of the Ottoman Empire rising in Power and the Spanish having to deal with the revolt in the Netherlands. By that time it is perfectly concise to take the assumptions for granted that many Europeans from the land population and the merchant navies were captured and enslaved and the mediterranean coasts and the spanish atlantic were threatened, and that the trade to the mediterraen was a serious economic problem, but anything north of the gulf of biscaya could have been only episodic.
Apart from that, my educated guess would be that indeed any kind of abundance in captured ships would have been used, however, my idea of Ottoman naval yards and ship production is still to be filled with substance...