The Sack of Baltimore took place on June 20, 1631, when the village of Baltimore, West Cork, Ireland, was attacked by Algerian pirates from the North African Barbary Coast, led by a Dutch captain turned pirate, Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, also known as Murat Reis the Younger. Murat's force was led to the village by a man called Hackett, the captain of a fishing boat he had captured earlier, in exchange for his freedom (it brought Hackett no luck, as he was later hanged for his part in aiding the raiders). The raid was one of Murat Reis' many profitable adventures against European cities. is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events February 5 - Roger Williams emigrates to Boston. ... Baltimore (Dún na Séad in Irish) is a small town in western County Cork, Ireland. ... The Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans till the 19th century to refer to the coastal regions of what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. ... Jan Janszoon van Haarlem (circa 1570 - post 1641) was a Dutch pirate also known as Murat Reis the Younger. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Murat's crew was made up of Dutch, Moroccan, Algerian and Ottoman Turks. They launched their covert attack on the remote village on June 20th 1631, capturing 108 English planters and local Irish people, but not much in terms of valuable treasure. Almost all of the villagers were put in irons and taken to a life of slavery in North Africa. Some prisoners were destined to live out their days as galley slaves in the bellies of pirate ships, while others would spend long years in the seclusion of the Sultan's harem or within the walls of the Sultan's palace as laborers. Only two of them ever saw Ireland again. The Ottoman Turks were the ethnic subdivision of the Turkish people who dominated the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire. ... Slave redirects here. ... A galley slave was a slave rowing in a galley. ... Coming from the Arab tradition, the harîm حريم (compare haram) is the part of the household forbidden to male strangers. ... Sultan (Arabic: سلطان) is an Islamic title, with several historical meanings. ...

The incident inspired Thomas Osborne Davis to write his famous poem, The Sack of Baltimore. Thomas Osborne Davis (October 14, 1814 - September 16, 1845) was an Irish writer and politician who was the chief organizer and poet of the Young Ireland movement. ...

External links

• Baltimore, West Cork County, Ireland
• The Sack of Baltimore — short account from the Baltimore Web site
• The Sack of Baltimore — the text of Davis's poem
• The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates
• Fineen the Rover, Hackett and the Algerian pirates

This article about a historical battle is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.