On Saturday a major event in the history of a west Cork fishing village will be recalled. For some things are not easily forgotten, even when the centuries ought to have dimmed the memories. The sack of Baltimore is one of them.
This harks back to 1631, when Baltimore was not much different from the village we know today. Even in those days the rich Irish fishing grounds off the southwest coast were being targeted. Fishermen from East Anglia, Holland and France began to look enviously at our bountiful fisheries.
Indeed, the O'Driscolls, who held sway in the area, had to write to the English monarch pointing out that encroaching fishermen from that side of the water were bound to clash with the native Irish. But on June 20th, 1631 - 369 years ago today - fishing problems were not uppermost in the minds of the local inhabitants. Strange events were about to unfold.
In 1605, Fineen O'Driscoll had leased the town of Baltimore and its hinterland to Sir Thomas Cooke. Two years later, Baltimore was to become a predominantly English town with a militia presence, although the two communities lived in harmony.
On the day in question a pirate ship sneaked into Baltimore harbour and a landing party disembarked with the aim of taking as many people as possible into slavery.
It was led by Morat Rais, a colourful character who foraged on the high seas for any booty he could find. His career began as a Dutch privateer against Spanish shipping, when he was known as Jan Jansen.
By 1613 he found himself in Algiers, became a Muslim and adopted the name of Morat Rais. A successful pirate, he raided Iceland in 1627 and took captives. By May of 1631, when he again sailed from Algiers with two ships, his sights were on the Irish coast.
Rais and his motley band of pirates encountered a Dungarvan fisherman, John Hackett, as they rounded the coast and forced him to join them. He became an unwilling guide and led them to Baltimore. In darkness, the heavily armed raiding party made its way ashore, broke down doors and assembled 100 men, women and children in the square. They were bound for slavery on the coast of Africa.
It took the two pirate ships six weeks to make it back to Algiers, and it seems the west Cork people were separated from one another and sold off as slaves. One thing is sure - they were never seen in Baltimore again.
It was an intriguing episode in the life of a normally sleepy village. Matters might have been worse had it not been for the actions of a villager who saw what was happening and began beating a drum. This duped Rais and his band into believing that the militia was on its way and they beat a hasty retreat with their captives.
Hackett was tried and hanged, protesting to the end that he was an innocent fishermen who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The events will be brought to life again in a pageant to be staged in the village during the O'Driscoll Clan Mid-Summer Festival, which begins on Friday.
The festival takes place on the last weekend of June each year and aims to bring together clan members from all over the world. Events will open with a lecture by Prof Donnchadh O'Corrain of UCC. On Sunday a clan Mass will be celebrated on Sherkin Island, and in the afternoon there will be an Internet link-up with O'Driscolls, wherever they may be, in cyberspace.