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Zymen Danseker

Seimen Danziger
Born c. 1579
Dordrecht, Netherlands
Died c. 1615
Algiers
Piratical career
Nickname Simon Re'is
Type Barbary Corsair
Allegiance Algiers
Years active 1600s–1610s
Rank Admiral
Base of operations Barbary coast
Battles/wars Eighty Years' War

Siemen Danziger (c. 1579 – c. 1615), better known by his anglicized names Zymen Danseker and Simon de Danser, was a 17th-century Dutch privateer and corsair. His name is also written Danziker, Dansker, or Danser.

Danseker and the English pirate John Ward were the two most prominent renegades operating in the Barbary coast during the early 17th century. Both were said to command squadrons in Algiers and Tunis that were equal to their European counterparts, and, as allies, together represented a formidable naval power (much as had Aruj and Hayreddin Barbarossa in the previous century). Later in his Barbary career, Danseker became known by the Turkish epithet Simon Re'is.

Commanding a vast squadron made up of English and Turks while in the service of Algiers, Danziger captured more than 40 ships in a two-year period after "turning Turk" and was stopped only by his capture and execution in 1611. Both men are featured prominently in Kitab al-Munis fi Akhbar Ifriqiya wa Tunis written by Tunisian writer and historian Ibn Abi Dinar.

A Dutchman, Danseker served as a privateer in the Eighty Years' War. He settled in Marseilles, France, marrying the governor's daughter. In 1607 he stole a ship and sailed for Algiers. Finding himself in the service of Redwan, the Pasha of Algiers, he led a brief but infamous career as a Barbary corsair. According to Ina B. McCabe, he introduced the round ship.

It is unclear why he became a corsair. He was made welcome as an enemy of the Spaniards"' and, within a year of his arrival, became one of the taife reisi's leading captains. Often bringing Spanish prizes and prisoners to Algiers, due to his exploits he became known under the names Simon Re'is, Deli-Reis (Captain Crazy) and Deli Kapitan among the people on the Barbary coast and the Turks. He incorporated captured ships into his fleet, and was supplied by Algiers with men and the use of their shipyards. He was also the first to lead the Algiers out of the Straits of Gibraltar, the farthest distance any had ever successfully navigated, and traveled as far as Iceland. Iceland would later be attacked by Barbary corsairs in 1616. Simon took at least forty ships and sank many of them during the three years that followed. After three more years of pirating, he had become quite rich and lived in an opulent palace. Simon The Dancer attacked ships of any nation, making trading in the Mediterranean Sea increasingly difficult for every nation. Many nations therefore looked for ways to stop his attacks (by counterattack, bribes for safe-passage or employing him as a privateer in their navy).


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