June 20th: Today in 1631 the Irish town of Baltimore was raided by Algerian pirates who took over 100 people to be sold as slaves in North Africa. The town was inhabited by English settlers and the local O’Driscolls resented them so they have been suspected of organizing the raid, but the town was also known to be a haven for pirates and smugglers so perhaps they brought it on themselves. The Sack of Baltimore was memorialized in a famous poem of the same name.

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