John Joe McGinley recalls the night 107 men, women and children were stolen from the Cork town

 

On June 20th, 1631, Baltimore in County Cork was the victim of one of the most infamous pirate attacks in Irish history. Barbary Corsairs pirates led by a Dutch captain called Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, better known as Murat Reis the Younger attacked the town. One hundred and seven men, women and children were abducted during the raid, most of them sold into slavery in North Africa.
Was this an opportunistic raid led by a captain desperate for plunder before he returned home or was there a more sinister reason for the attack on Baltimore?

The land where the town of Baltimore was established had been owned by the O’Driscoll clan for over four hundred years.
The clan was led by Sir Fineen O’Driscoll, known as Fineen of the ships. This was because any vessel passing through his territory had to pay homage to his clan if they wished to use their territory for commercial fishing and the salting of herring.

Any captain who did not pay this ‘Black Rent’ would soon find themselves attacked by the O’Driscoll’s boats.
In a strange foreboding of the fate that would later await Baltimore, Sir Fineen’s eldest daughter, Máire, was captured by a pirate named Ali Krussa, and sold into slavery in North Africa.

Whilst loyal to the Crown, Sir Fineen was reluctantly convinced by his sons to join the rebellion during the Nine Years War, and his forces were present at the Battle of Kinsale.
To receive a pardon from Queen Elizabeth he proposed to allow English settlers on his land. Sir Thomas Crooke would lead these.

Crooke was an English-born lawyer and a staunch Calvinist who established an English colony in Baltimore.

With the ascent of King James 1st, Crooke resolved to curry his favour and surrendered his extensive lands granted to him by O’Driscoll. This was a clever ploy, as while King James was wary of Calvinism he was astute enough to realise the strategic importance of an English colony in rebellious west Cork.
King James regranted the lands back to Crooke whose position was now greatly enhanced, and he resolved to grow the town of Baltimore with the aid of two hundred Calvinist settlers.
Baltimore was soon a prosperous town with numerous pilchard fisheries and a thriving wine trade.

In 1607, it became a market town which entitled it to hold a weekly market and two annual fairs.
However, rumours persisted that the success of Baltimore was not down to the hard work and endeavour of the English settlers but to piracy. It was said that all the inhabitants including Crooke himself participated in piracy or aided pirates.

In 1608, Crooke was summoned to London by the Privy council to answer to a charge of piracy.
One accusation was that the townspeople were slaughtering cattle to feed the pirate ships that anchored in the many hidden coves around Baltimore.

While the privy council was inclined to find him guilty, he was saved by an impassioned plea by William Lynn, the Bishop of Cork, who lavished praise on Crooke’s achievements in creating a robust economy in Baltimore.
Acquitted of all charges Crooke returned to Cork but more trouble awaited him.

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