Thursday, January 28, 6-7:30pm
Jacob Leisler Institute Director David Voorhees on Leisler’s capture and enslavement by pirates.
Throughout the early modern era, North African raiders known as Barbary Corsairs, trolled Europe’s coasts from the Aegean Sea to the Netherlands and as far north as Iceland in search of European slaves. American ships were among their victims. On October 8, 1677, Algerian Corsairs boarded New York City merchant Jacob Leisler’s ship Susannah in the English Channel and captured Leisler along with his crew, two stepsons, nephew, and a passenger. This lecture focuses on the Susannah’s dramatic captivity, the efforts to obtain the prisoners release, and their enslavement’s subsequent impact on New York politics.
The lecture is the first of four collaborations between the Leisler Institute and the Hudson Area Library, each featuring an expert in early colonial history.
The Jacob Leisler Institute – Hudson Area Library Lectures are made possible through the generous support of the Van Dyke Family Association.