Captured by Barbary corsairs: an Englishwoman's extraordinary tale

Welcome to the History Extra podcast. In 1756, Elizabeth Marsh set sail from Gibraltar to Britain with the intention of meeting her fiancee. Instead, she was captured by Barbary corsairs and taken to a Moroccan prince. But could she win her freedom? Here, talking to Spencer Mizen, Adam Nichols tells a story of lust, trickery, a fake marriage, and the delicate relationship between Britain and the power brokers of North Africa.

Adam, you wrote a feature for the Christmas 2025 issue of BBC History magazine on Elizabeth Marsh, a young English woman taken captive by Barbary pirates in the 18th century. Can you start by introducing us to Elizabeth? What is it about her life that made it so extraordinary? The most interesting thing about Elizabeth Marsh is that she was a woman of her time.

She was captured by Barbary corsairs, but she wasn't just a woman on a ship who got caught by pirates. She was caught up in what we would think of today as large-scale geopolitical events. Her dad was a ship carpenter, and he was an ambitious man, and he went to Jamaica with the Navy in hopes of bettering himself. And while he was in Jamaica, he managed to marry a widow who had some property. She owned a tavern, and she conceived Elizabeth in Jamaica, and the two of them went back to England.

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