Some expulsion ships nominally bound for Christian ports were diverted to Muslim harbors

Evidence

There were various reasons to account for obfuscation with regard to the real destinations of some of the ships. Surveillance of contraband was likely to be less severe for ships ostensibly sailing to Christian ports, for example, but above all there was, still and always, the question of young children. Initially during the Expulsion from 1609 on, it had been the intention to keep back infants (as in Portugal with the Jews). Lapeyre (1959, 153), in his discussion of this topic comments that “[i]t does not seem that these instructions [i.e., about taking children away from their parents] were known about, or at least it seems that they were not applied from the beginning of the embarkations.” Nevertheless, as he goes on to say: “One is struck by the great number of the ships which were freighted for Christian ports, and for Marseilles above all. Did they all really go to these places?” Clearly, Lapeyre supposes that some ships apparently sailing to Christian ports were diverted after leaving Spain and sailed into Muslim harbors. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1631

Categorization

• QUESTION: The plan to keep back Morisco infants during expulsion mirrors the Portuguese Jewish policy — worth investigating how consistently either was actually applied.