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Marsh (Elizabeth) Narrative of her Captivity in Barbary [...et al.]
LSC.170/604
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Elizabeth Marsh Narrative of her Captivity in Barbary [...et al.]
Creator:
Marsh, Elizabeth
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.170/604
Physical Description:
1 items
Date (inclusive): circa 1760-1795
Abstract: This bound manuscript contains two separate narratives. Narrative of her
Captivity in Barbary, a draft of the earliest Barbary captivity narrative to be published by an Englishwoman, details Elizabeth Marsh's 1756 capture
by pirates. The second piece,
Journal of a Voyage by Sea from Calcutta to Madras, and of a
Journey from thence back to Dacca, written considerably later circa 1775, describes her travels around India.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
General Physical Description note: 106 leaves extant, 3 have been removed: paper; 240 x 190 mm. bound to 249 x 200 mm.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
[Identification of item], Elizabeth Marsh Narrative of her Captivity in Barbary [...et al.] (Collection 170/604). UCLA Library
Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Ex libris John Marsh [author's brother]; his bookplate on upper paste-down (see also note on leaf 69v). Library's acquisition
source and date unknown.
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processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
Prepared by Manushag Powell, with assistance from Jain Fletcher and Laurel McPhee, July 2004, in the Center For Primary Research
and Training (CFPRT).
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Binding: Red morocco, gold tooling, gilt edges.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9984987273606533
Elizabeth Marsh, a middle-class Englishwoman, was born in 1735 to a naval dockyard manager and his wife. She was living with
her parents in Minorca when the start of the Seven Years' War in 1756 forced the family to relocate to Gibraltar. On a sailing
voyage to visit friends in England, her ship was attacked by corsairs. Marsh, along with the other passengers and sailors,
was taken captive and sent to Sallee (Salé) and then Marrakesh (Marrakech), Morocco. Her sufferings were politically motivated;
the soon-to-be sultan, Sidi Mohammed, had responded to the insulting behavior of an envoy of the British government with a
wave of aggressive captive-taking. Marsh was ransomed by the British government after several months, and returned safely
to Gibraltar.
During her initial voyage, she was traveling (she states) under the protection of a family friend, a young merchant named
James Crisp. The two claimed to be siblings upon the commencement of their captivity, and later claimed to be married, ostensibly
to protect Marsh from the sexual interest of Sidi Mohammed. Marsh narrates that, by repeating some words spoken to her by
one of his women, she converted or was tricked into converting to Islam. It took a great deal of tears and pleading to convince
Mohammed to respect her preference of remaining a "married" Christian woman. After her release, Marsh returned to her parents
and married Crisp legally. The pair settled in England until financial troubles forced Crisp to relocate to India, where his
wife eventually joined him and where the two remained until the ends of their lives. If her journal of her tour of the Indian
coast is any indication, her traumatic Barbary experience did not quash her taste for adventure, and she seems to have enjoyed
traveling despite the dangers and discomforts she sometimes faced. The couple had two children, a son and a daughter. Both
their son and son-in-law worked for the East India Company.
Some of the details of Marsh's life as she gives it in these works have indeed been verified (see Linda Colley's work), although
this does not mean that all aspects of her narratives are invariably true.
The first account,
Narrative of her Captivity in Barbary (1r-59), begins with the author's capture by Barbary pirates. Marsh describes her captivity and her travels therein from Sallee
(Salé) to Marrakesh (Marrakech) to Safee (Safi), and her eventual return to Gibraltar. The second, Journal of a Voyage by
Sea from Calcutta to Madras, and of a Journey from thence back to Dacca (69v-102r), details her travels around India in an
effort to improve her health. The manuscript records the places she visited, and her impressions of the climate, people, and
landscape.
The narrative sections are as follows:
- Narrative I: Narrative of her Captivity in Barbary (ca. 1760).
- Narrative II: Journal of a Voyage by Sea from Calcutta to Madras, and of a Journey from thence back to Dacca (ca. 1775).
Bound Manuscripts Collection (LSC 170). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Manuscripts.