In 1573, Haarlem, birthplace of Jan Janszoon, was destroyed by the Spanish. It is here where his dislike of the Catholic Spaniards begins. As a privateer he targets Spanish ships, but after a truce with the Spanish he loses his job, ends up in North Africa and becomes a pirate. He raids Dutch ships and sells Christian slaves on the Algiers slave market. He converts to Islam and takes a new name: Mourad Raïs. Narrator Abelkader Benali has long been fascinated by Jan Janszoon: 'I came to the Netherlands from Morocco with my father and mother, he took the opposite route.'