ast weekend I spent a pound at the Boot Fair and learned a little more about British History.
This past weekend, my wife and I went to our local boot fair (flea market) which is held every weekend in the car park (parking lot) of the local football (soccer) stadium. We bought a few cheap DVDs and a painting. The painting, which was actually a print carefully attached to an incredibly heavy wood backing, was called “The Bombardment of Algiers” by George Chambers. It depicts a group of British Warships bombarding a distant fortress.
Although I had never heard of the artist, or the incident, I guessed it was a scene from the Napoleonic Wars. A little research taught me that this was not the case. In fact, the incident depicted took place in 1816 (one year after Waterloo), when a combined fleet of British and Dutch ships launched an attack against the Barbary pirates in Algiers. After a long bombardment, Algiers surrendered. The British forced the pirates to pay restitution, to turn over all the Christian slaves they held, and to never again take Christians into slavery. This incident was the final major strike by a western power against the Barbary pirates.
It’s amazing what you can learn from the boot fair, and the painting looks pretty good above our kitchen table.
