Jan Janzoon Van Haarlem
Jan Janzoon or Jansen Van Haarlem, Van Salee, (also known as Murat Reiss)
Born: late 1500s, Haarlem, Netherlands
Died: after 1641, Morocco
Occupation: sailor, pirate. slaver
Military Service: Admiral of the Morroccan Navy (chief pirate of Morroco)
"Public Office": Governor of the Castle of El Qualidia, President of
island port city of Sallee (chief pirate)
Religious Affiliation: Islam
First Wife: unknown
Born: unknown
Died: unknown
(also had other wives, allowed under Islamic law)
Children:
Anthony Jansen
Lysbeth JanzoonBorn: unknown, Haarlem, Netherlands
Died: after 1641, probably Netherlands
other sons & daughters, names unknown
MURAT REISS (a.k.a. JAN JANZOON VAN SALEE), CORSAIR
Just as Thomas Trowbridge was about to settle the New World, another ancestor, through my great-grandmother, Anna Mae Southard, who went by the name of Murat Reiss (his Christian name was Jan Janszoon Van Harlem) was terrorizing the high seas. A very unsavory individual, who was Dutch
by birth, but heard the word of the Prophet Muhammed (but more motivated by "the profit") and converted to Islam (there was more money in being a Moroccan corsair than as a Dutch sailor). It is through Timothy Southard, the first Southard to settle the New World in Hempstead, Long Island, New York, and his wife, Annica or Eunice, a granddaughter of "the Grand Admiral", that I can trace my descent through the the grand-daughter of terror of the Mediterranean and north Atlantic during from about 1620 through 1641. The following is a biography of Janzoon from a book about the Southard Family:
"A journey of about 17 miles from Tangier, south along the Atlantic Coast, brings the traveler to the present-day twin cities of Rabat-Salee. Rabat, with a population of 600,000 is the capital of the Kingdom of Morocco. On the north side is the city of Salee (pronounced Sally) which was, during the Middle Ages, the most important merchant port and center of trade in Morocco. Many attempts were made by French and English expeditions to purge this den of its infamous pirates. Finally, the French succeeded in the 17th century. Jan Janszoon (also Janzoon and Jansen) was one of the most successful corsairs (pirates) of the Mediterranean Sea. As a young seaman, Jan Janszoon of the Netherlands ventured forth into the world and eventually won the favor of the Sultan of Morocco. The Sultan designated Jan as Morat Rais or Admiral of the Sultan's fleet at Salee (or Salea), Morocco. In addition, Jan received other honors such as the Governor of the Castle of El Qualidia. The plain truth is that Jan was a pirate leader who sailed the seas in the latter part of the 16th and early 17th centuries and was rewarded for his exploits by his employer. Jan, originally from the seaport city of Haarlem in the Netherlands, began his career as a Dutch privateer harassing Spanish shipping. He sailed with a letter of Marque to capture pirates that operated from Dunkirk in Belgium. He found there wasn't enough profit in this, so he sailed south to the Barbary Coast where he became a pirate and attacked ships of all countries. When he attacked a Spanish ship he flew the Dutch flag, when he attacked all others he flew the red half-moon of the Turks. He sailed with a small boat from La Rochelle in France, but he was captured in 1618 at Lanzarotte (or Lancerote), one of the Canary Isles, by Barbary Pirates and taken to Algiers. After this, he became a member of the crew of De Veenboer, another notorious and very successful pirate who had become Admiral of the Fleet of Algiers in 1617. Sailing under De Veenboer, he managed to work himself up to steerer. When De Veenboer decided to stay ashore, Janszoon took over as a commander of his ship (1618 or 1619). Jan had
abandoned his wife and at least two children back in Haarlem, but he
apparently had one of his sons, Anthony, with him in 1618 when he was captured. Jan embraced his new life, achieving success with the Admirals
of the Turkish fleet. Jan is quoted as saying, roughly, "It's better to sail with the Moor than to sail for the Papists." [in reference to the
Catholic powers of France and Spain] Anthony grew to manhood in Morocco, training as a sailor. While in Algiers, Jan converted to Islam and took
a Moorish woman as a second wife, which is acceptable according to the Islamic faith. He also adopted the name of Murat Reis (Murat, Morat, Murate or Morato). In 1619, Jan took Salee, a port city in Morocco, as his base of operations. Algiers was no longer a suitable harbor at that time to sell the cargo and captured ships because Algeria had made peace
with several European nations. Salee was the infamous home of the Salee Rovers, notorious buccaneers that preyed on shipping in the
Mediterranean, the Atlantic coasts, and the Indian Ocean. The port was nominally subject to the Sultan of Morocco. With a fleet of 18 ships
that were fast and well provisioned, Jan soon made Salee almost as feared as Dunkirk. In 1620, Jan met a Dutch man-of-war in the area of
Malaga, a port city in Spain. When the ship noticed the corsairs it immediately altered its course and sailed directly after them while
raising the red flag (this means that no quarter will be given). After seeing this, Jan turned and fled from the advancing ship. According to
the Dutch consul in Algiers, the ship was not a man-of-war, but a
courageous merchant that bluffed his way out of the meeting. Not long after this, in June and July of 1620, Janszoon was again capturing ships. Unlike his predecessor, De Veenboer, Jan attacked ships of all nations and did not distinguish between Dutch and other ships. Janzoon became a rich man between his Admiral perks, payments for anchorage, pilotage, other harbor dues and from the brokerage on stolen goods. He would become bored from time to time and sail off on an adventure. Salee became very prosperous and consequently the pirates declared Salee an independent republic governed by fourteen pirates and a president who was also the Admiral of the Navy. Jan was elected the first President and Admiral. After an unsuccessful siege by Morocco, the Sultan eventually acknowledged its independence. The main sources of income of Salee were piracy, shipping and dealing in stolen property. Janszoon
went privateering in the North Sea, the North-Atlantic Sea and the Canal. In 1622, he and his crew sailed into the English Channel to try
his luck there. When they ran low on supplies, in November 1623, they docked at the port of Veere, Holland under the Moroccan flag claiming diplomatic privileges. The authorities could not deny the two ships access to Veere because at that time several peace treaties and trade agreements existed between the Sultan of Morocco and the Dutch Republic. While there, the Dutch authorities trotted out his Dutch wife and
children to persuade him to give up pirating. The same happened to many more on board. Rather than succeeding in luring any of the crew to leave
their footloose ways, several young Dutchmen signed up for a lifetime of adventure and sailed off with Janszoon when he left in December despite their being prohibited to do so by the Dutch authorities. After Jan returned to Salee in 1624, Sultan Moulay Zaydan, who wanted a show of
sovereignty over the area, appointed Jan Governor of Salee. In Feb. 1626, Janszoon was again in Holland, though under different circumstances. He had left Salee with 3 ships and had apparently
captured a rich Spanish prize that he hoped to sell in the Dutch Republic. When his ships arrived in the North Sea they spotted what
appeared to be a rich Dutch merchant ship with only a few men on guard.
They went alongside, but just when fifty of their crew had boarded the ship the Dutch flag was struck and the Spanish flag went up instead.
They were immediately attacked by the crew that had hidden itself. The ship turned out to be a Spanish privateer from Duinkerken. One ship was
almost immediately disabled and forced to surrender. The other two ships barely managed to get away heavily damaged and with many dead and
casualties. One of the ships managed to sail into the Maas River. The most heavily damaged one was able to reach Amsterdam, via the Isle of
Texel, where they had a hard time getting medical aid. The ship in Amsterdam was sold and the pirates left with the ship that had entered
the Maas early in 1627. After this voyage, Janszoon was mainly active in Salee as a dealer in stolen goods. His reputation seems to have suffered from this less adventurous profession. Early in 1627, Janszoon hired a Danish slave to pilot them to Iceland where they raided Reykjavik, further north than he had ever previously sailed. In the harbor of the
capital, he attacked a ship, but they only managed to steal some salted fish and a few hides, so they captured 400 Icelanders to be sold as slaves. On the way, back he also took a Dutch vessel and imprisoned more people. The people were sold as slaves in Salee. The political climate changed in Salee toward the end of 1627, so Janszoon moved his family and operations back to Algiers and seems to have lived in Algiers and
Tripoli for some time. In 1631, Jan again sailed north, this time to England and Ireland where they captured and imprisoned about two hundred
men who were sold as slaves in Algiers. The poem, "The Sack of Baltimore", was written about this raid in Ireland. In Baltimore alone, he captured 108 men. From 1631 to 1640, not much is known about his actions. He may have been captured and held prisoner by the Knights of Malta for a short period, but whether this is true remains unclear. He apparently escaped because in 1640, he was appointed by the Sultan of Morocco as the Governor of the Castle Maladia on the West Coast of Morocco. Also in that year, his Dutch daughter, Lysbeth Janszoon (Lysbeth Jansen Van Haarlem) sailed to Morocco to visit him. The last
thing that is known is that he and his daughter stayed at the Castle of Maladia until August 1641 when she returned to Holland. Nothing is known
about him after 1641. The European records say that Jan, the Murat Reis,
came to a bad end, but this conclusion may have been fabricated to placate good, upright Christians of the time who would have found little propaganda value in the story of a man who had given up his faith and his family, found success with the infidel and died of peaceful old age in the bosom of his loving Muslim family.
Anthony Jansen (van Salee), one of the sons of Jan Jansen (Janszoon) van Haarlem was born about 1607. He died in 1676 and his estate was probated on September 26, 1676 in New York, New York. Anthony grew up in Morocco, but when he reached adulthood he returned to the Netherlands. He met Grietje Reyniers (or Reijners) in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, obtained a marriage license on December 15, 1629, and they were married on board the ship heading for New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1630. Grietje,
daughter of Johannes Reijners (born 1576 in the Netherlands) and Jannetje (born in 1580 in the Netherlands) was a widow when she met Anthony. The marriage certificate describes Grietje as coming from Wesel, Germany, although her parents were both from the Netherlands. Various authors insinuate that she used her wiles on him, being older than he, but he never seemed to mind. She apparently worked in a tavern in the Netherlands as a young woman, but she was fired for acting
inappropriately. Given the reputations of taverns in the Renaissance, one wonders what she did that was so bad as to get her fired. She was also an argumentative woman, so perhaps was the perfect match for Anthony, who enjoyed a good lawsuit against his neighbors. Anthony is described as being from Cartagena (in Spain), probably to avoid any problems from being recognized as a pirate and the son of a pirate. It is surmised by one author that Anthony and Grietje got married on board ship to bypass the religious authorities in either the Netherlands or New Amsterdam, because Anthony paid at least lip service to Islam and Grietje had little respect for the trappings of religion. He was referred to in the New World as The Turk, and he had in his possession a lovely Koran written in Arabic. In later years though, he was a moving force in legislation enforcing observance of Christian services in New Amsterdam. When Anthony arrived in New Amsterdam (today, New York City),
he proceeded to buy a great deal of land in what is now lower Manhattan and set himself up as a very prosperous farmer and landowner. It is possible that his father had provided him with a good nest egg to start him off in the New World. It is also suspected that contact was maintained between father and son, as Anthony's homestead on Long Island included an excellent deep-water anchorage, where mysterious ships and privateers would anchor. There apparently is a great deal of information that can be found on his land holdings, his marriage, and his relations with his neighbors, more information than can be related in these notes. Anthony was a contentious neighbor, and whether due to an ego brought onby this background, or a natural aversion to friendship, he was widely known as a very disagreeable fellow. He was constantly at odds with neighbors and he did not hesitate to tangle with the Dutch authorities, or the Church. (Several articles concerning the history of Long Island have included colorful descriptions of Anthony's background.) Still, he is also reported to have been well respected in the community. He is an acknowledged founder of several communities in Long Island, and his opinion was respected in the communities. As a result of the anti-social behavior of his wife, Anthony was induced to leave the city of New Amsterdam. Anthony took his time about leaving and even after moving to Long Island, continued to deal in New Amsterdam real estate for the rest of his life. After selling the farm on what is now lower Manhattan, Anthony bought 200 acres some 10 miles SSE on Long Island near the community of Gravesend thus becoming the first settler of Brooklyn. His land fronted on Gravesend Bay across from the present Coney Island and not far from the place where Henry Hudson was said to have come ashore less than 50 years earlier. Since Coney Island abutted his property, it was, until sometime in the last century, also referred to as Turk's Island, the word Turk being a designation of his which the records used interchangeably with, mulatto. According to some documentation, it would seem that Anthony van Salee never converted to Christianity. His Koran, in fact, was in a descendant's possession until about fifty years ago when, ignorant of its relevance to his family's history, he offered it for sale at auction. Anthony and Grietje had four children, Annica, Cornelia, Eva, and Sarah. Grietje died in 1669, and Anthony apparently re-married in 1670 to Metje Gravenaaet. He died six years later. Anthony and Grietje's eldest daughter, Annica (later Anglicized to Eunice), born around 1632, married Thomas Southard in 1650. Thomas and Annica had eight children and thus began the Southard family in the New World."
Home