Horrors of Slavery: Or, The American Tars in Tripoli

William Ray

Published by Rutgers University Press 2008

Horrors of Slavery

Or, The American Tars in Tripoli

William Ray
Edited by: Hester Blum
With contributions by: Hester Blum

In the series Subterranean Lives

https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813545677

Overview
Contents

About this book

Barbary pirates in Africa targeted sailors for centuries, often taking slaves and demanding ransom in exchange. First published in 1808, Horrors of Slavery is the tale of one such sailor, captured during the United States's first military encounter with the Islamic world, the Tripolitan War. William Ray, along with three hundred crewmates, spent nineteen months in captivity after his ship, the Philadelphia, ran aground in the harbor of Tripoli. Imprisoned, Ray witnessed-and chronicled-many of the key moments of the military engagement. In addition to offering a compelling history of a little-known war, this book presents the valuable perspective of an ordinary seaman who was as concerned with the injustices of the U.S. Navy as he was with Barbary pirates.

Hester Blum's introduction situates Horrors of Slavery in its literary, historical, and political contexts, bringing to light a crucial episode in the early history of our country's relations with Islamic states.

A volume in the Subterranean Lives series, edited by Bradford Verter

Author / Editor information

Hester Blum is an assistant professor of English at Penn State University. She is the author of The View from the Masthead: Maritime Imagination and Antebellum American Sea Narratives

Reviews

William Ray's Barbary captivity narrative takes us on a wide-ranging journey through genres and geographies: from Philadelphia to North Africa, in prose and in poetry, Ray narrates the remarkable history of his experiences as a sailor, prisoner, and keen political observer during the Tripolitan War. This superb edition of RayÆs text marks a key contribution to the genre of the captivity narrative in early American literature and provides a window onto an important historical episode of the early national periodùnamely, the earliest military encounters between the U.S. and Islamic states.

— Elizabeth Maddock Dillon, author of The Gender of Freedom: Fictions of Liberalism and the Literary Public

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Chronology Publicly Available Download PDF	xxxi
A Note on the Text Publicly Available Download PDF	xxxv
Horrors of Slavery; or, The American Tars in Tripoli
Exordium Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. Introductory Remarks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
II. Commencement of Service Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
III. A Sketch of Biography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
IV. Suicide Attempted Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
V. Embarkation—Celebration of Independence— Exemplary Punishment, &c. Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
VI. A Voyage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
VII. Exercising Ship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
VIII. Remarks on Dr. Cowdery’s Journal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
IX. A Petition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
X. Commodore Preble’s Engagement with the Tripolitans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
XI. Elegy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
XII. Description of the Place Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
XIII. Manners, Customs, &c. of the Tripolitans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
XIV. Public Transactions of the United States with the Regency of Tripoli; Including General Eaton’s Expedition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
XV. Sketch of General Eaton’s Expedition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
XVI. Return Home Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Poetry, Published in The Albany Register, during the summer of 1807 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Explanatory Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Further Reading Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
About the Editor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203

Language: English
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 240

eBook

Published: September 11, 2008
ISBN: 9780813545677