Note 107 — Chapter VI · THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE CHRISTIAN NATIONS IN EUROPE UNDER THE TURKS.
Reading edition
Sir William Stirling-Maxwell says of these: “The poor wretches who tugged at the oar on board a Turkish ship of war lived a life neither more nor less miserable than the galley-slaves under the sign of the Cross. Hard work, hard fare, and hard knocks were the lot of both. Ashore, a Turkish or Algerine prison was, perhaps, more noisome in its filth and darkness than a prison at Naples or Barcelona; but at sea, if there were degrees of misery, the Christian in Turkish chains probably had the advantage; for in the Sultan’s vessels the oar-gang was often the property of the captain, and the owner’s natural tenderness for his own was sometimes supposed to interfere with the discharge of his duty.” (Vol. i. pp. 102–3.) ↑