In 1687, four Muslims came to the court of Galata with the French ship captain Cazican regarding the redemption of a Muslim captain named Hüseyin Reis. Hüseyin Reis’ ship had been attacked in the Mediterranean by Venetian corsairs and he himself was captured. Cazican had ransomed him for 900 esedi guruş of his own money, to be paid back by Hüseyin Reis in Istanbul. In their statement, the four Muslims at court stated that Hüseyin Reis could not pay the ransom amount as he had lost everything during his captivity and was now destitute, owning nothing but the clothes on his back. They explained that they were now at the court because of charity (merhameten) to help him repay his debt. While they were not capable of paying the full amount, they collectively agreed to take shared responsibility for 400 guruş of the debt. After this, Cazican renounced the remaining 500 guruş in Hüseyin Reis’ presence, stating that it was simply impossible to collect it from him. By utilizing extensive unpublished legal court records belonging to the court of Galata as well as mühimme defterleri (registers of important affairs) and the ahkâm defterleri (registers of edicts), this paper provides an analysis of the social support and solidarity enlisted on behalf of Ottoman captives by their families, friends, neighbors, or the wider community in Istanbul during the seventeenth century. It argues that this social support was essential to the functioning of ransom networks in the Ottoman Mediterranean, as most captives were in financially dire conditions and could not afford to pay their ransom price or ransom-related debts after their redemption. In many cases, a captive’s ability to gain freedom, repay debts to intermediaries, resolve or settle disputes with them, and get back on their feet depended on social networks composed of friends, neighbors, and community members. This social support proved particularly valuable in the absence of systematic institutional intervention from the Ottoman state on behalf of captives. While the political and economic aspects of captivity and ransoming in the Ottoman Mediterranean have received significant historiographical attention, the social aspects of ransoming—especially as they related to conceptions of charity—have not been analyzed to the same extent. This contribution seeks to ameliorate this gap in the literature.