Background and Early Career
Salih Reis was born in Biga, a village between Çanakkale and Edremit, near Kaz Dağı (Mount Ida) to the south of ancient Troy, on the Aegean coast of Turkey, in around 1488.
At a very young age he joined the fleet of Oruç Reis (Aruj Barbarossa), the most famous of the Turkish corsairs and privateers from Anatolia who sought fortune in the West Mediterranean by operating from their bases on the Barbary Coast. He gained experience in seamanship as a crew member of the Barbarossa brothers, Oruç Reis and Hızır Reis, and soon became one of their chief lieutenants.
Salih Reis was around 30 years old when Oruç Reis died in 1518 during a battle against the Spaniards in Algeria. From 1518 onwards, he joined the fleet of Hızır Reis, who inherited the title of Barbarossa from his older brother, Baba Oruç (Father Aruj).
In 1520 he went to Djerba together with Hızır Reis and Turgut Reis, and later that year assaulted Bône, which was under Spanish control.
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