Barbery Coast pirates; Gee POC taking White slaves ? The Barbary corsairs, Barbary pirates, Ottoman corsairs,[1] or naval mujahideen (in Muslim sources)[2] were mainly Muslim corsairs and privateers who operated from the largely independent Barbary states. This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast, in reference to the Berbers. Ireland was attacked similarly. In June 1631, Murat Reis, with corsairs from Algiers and armed troops of the Ottoman Empire, stormed ashore at the little harbor village of Baltimore, County Cork. They captured almost all the villagers and took them away to a life of slavery in North Africa. The prisoners were destined for a variety of fates—some lived out their days chained to the oars as galley slaves. At the same time, women spent long years as concubines in harems or within the walls of the sultan's palace. Only two of these captives ever returned to Ireland