Hark Olufs (July 17 or 19, 1708 in
Nebel – October 13, 1754) was a
North Frisian sailor
A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship.
The profession of the s ...
. He was captured by Algerian pirates and sold into slavery. By successfully working as a slave servant to the Bey of Constantine, he eventually obtained his freedom from captivity.
Life
Hark Olufs was born as son of a
nautical captain
A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficie ...
named Oluf Jensen on either July 17 or 19 in 1708 on the
North Frisian island of
Amrum
Amrum (; Öömrang, ''Öömrang'' North Frisian: ''Oomram'') is one of the North Frisian Islands on the Germany, German North Sea coast, south of Sylt and west of Föhr. It is part of the Nordfriesland district in the federal state of Schleswig-H ...
, which then belonged to
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
. In 1721 he became a seaman on the ''Hoffnung'', a ship belonging to his father.
In 1724, on a voyage from
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
to
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, Olufs’ ship was seized by
Algerian pirates and he, and his two cousins, were taken hostage. Olufs' family could not afford the high price which was demanded in ransom by the
Barbary slave trade
The Barbary slave trade involved slave markets on the Barbary Coast of North Africa, which included the Ottoman states of Algeria, Tunisia and Tripolitania and the independent sultanate of Morocco, between the 16th and 19th century. The Ottom ...
rs for his release. Because the ship had been sailing under Hamburg colours, the family's request for a loan from the slavery fund of the Danish Kingdom was rejected.
Subsequently, Olufs was sold as a slave on
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
' slave market. From 1724 to 1727/28 he was a slave servant of the
Bey
Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
of
Constantine
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
*Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...
and advanced in responsibility to become the Bey's
treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury o ...
. Between 1728 and 1732 he was made
Commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
of the Life Guards. In 1732 he became ''Agha ed-Deira'',
Commander in Chief of the local
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
. In 1735, he took part in the conquest of Tunis by the Algerian army during the disposal of
Al-Husayn I ibn Ali
Al-Husayn I ibn Ali, also known as Hussein I ( ar, حسين الأول; born in 1675 – 13 September 1740). He was the founder of the Husainid Dynasty, which ruled Tunisia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1957.
Biography
Husayn was born ...
. As a reward, Olufs was released on October 31 and was allowed to return to Amrum.
In 1747 he published an
autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
in
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
, which was translated into
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
in 1751. Hark Olufs died on October 13, 1754, in Süddorf on Amrum. His headstone is still visible in the
graveyard of Nebel.
Legacy
Hark Oluf's life was chronicled in a
biographical novel
The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fiction ...
in 2010:
*
See also
*
Turkish Abductions
The Turkish Abductions ( is, Tyrkjaránið) were a series of Slave raiding, slave raids by Barbary pirates, pirates from Northwest Africa that took place in Iceland in the summer of 1627.
The pirates came from the cities of Algiers and Salé.
T ...
*
Sklavenkasse
The term Sklavenkasse (slave fund) was a travel and ransom insurance scheme designated to pay ransom for European seafarers who had been captured by Barbary Pirates in the Mediterranean and off the coasts of Western Europe and sold into the Ba ...
References
;Notes
;Sources
*
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Olufs, Hark
1708 births
1754 deaths
Danish Frisian people
People from Nordfriesland
Ottoman Army officers
Slaves from the Ottoman Empire
North Frisians
Amrum
People who wrote slave narratives
Converts to Islam
18th-century slaves
Danish slaves
Danish autobiographers
Slavery in Algeria