Miguel de Cervantes became a slave-prisoner under the Turkish command.

After leaving the battlefield for Spain, Cervantes and Rodrigo's new existence is cut short when they crash with a Turkish ship. Ironically, he was taken prisoner by the Turks at Lepanto, whom he had just vanquished. He returned to Spain in 1575 in the hopes of being given the position of captain, but sadly the ship he was aboard was taken, prisoner. The Turks sold him, and for five years he was held as a slave in Alger.

The Dali Mami's captain, also known as "El Cojo," is keeping them as slaves. His family could not pay the "500 escudos de Oro" demanded as ransom. Cervantes made repeated unsuccessful attempts to flee. Three years before Cervantes, Rodrigo was published. He spent five years behind bars. After a ransom was paid, he was eventually able to obtain his freedom in 1580.

Despite the failure of all four of his attempts to flee, his kidnappers did not torture or murder him, this favor might have even saved his life. But because of this treatment, his ransom price increased. After his family paid a sum of 500 escudos (with assistance from the Trinitian brothers) to the Muslim slave owners in 1580, he was eventually set free.