The Pirate City, an Algerian Tale; R. M. Ballantyne

Cover via AmazonThis is a review of "The Pirate City" by R. M. Ballantyne. Publication is 1874. Ballantyne was a fairly prolific writer of a variety of youth adventure books.

There is just something that draws the baser elements of my character to the history and mythology of the pirate. Therefore, when I saw "The Pirate City, an Algerian Tale," on a list of recent releases from Gutenberg.org, I felt obliged to download it.

In the beginning, three characters are sent off to fates that none of them wants: Mariano, to be a clerk; Juliet, to be a nun; Lucien, to that of a priest.

As they sail off from Sicily to their unwanted fates, however, a pirate who will be well known throughout the tale as Sidi Hassan. He and his crew capture the ship and the three characters, alongside a Jew named Bacri who does everything in his power to help the three during the fight between the two ships and then even more as the three are brought into the Pirate City.

There is no known reason why Bacri decides to help these three. And for the way they treat him, it is hard to understand what his motivation is. In the end, though, without his help, they would have all died at the hands of the Turks who run the city.

Juliet is taken to a British consul's villa, Colonel Langley, to become the servant and slave to his wife, Agnes. Often the Langley couple are described as being superior to those around them in many ways.

Eventually, the king of city, referred to as the Dey, is disposed by a ruthless man. He, in turn, is disposed by one of his allies in the coup who is executed as soon as the coup is successful.

In the end, a small British fleet, under the command of Lord Exmouth, destroy the pirate city and liberate most of the slaves and effectively cripple the power of the pirate city which would never quite recover from the attack.

Racism!

The problem I had with this book relates to the way Bacri is treated. Even at the end of the tale, we find that he is strangled. Bacri is essential to the survival of all the important characters in the story. Yet, the author has him strangled at the end.

It's also difficult to reconcile with the way Christians are promoted, and the way that the other religions are denigrated. Also, for parents of younger children, there might be some objectionable violence graphically depicted in the tale.

Nonetheless, it was a fun book to read.