The town was depopulated in 1631 in the Sack of Baltimore, a raid by Barbary pirates from either Ottoman Algeria or Salé (Morocco). Between 100 and 237 English settlers and local Irish people were sold into slavery, of whom only two or three ever saw Ireland again. Reminders of the incident still exist in the form of pub names, like the "Algiers Inn". The survivors fled to Skibbereen, and Baltimore for generations was almost deserted. A slow recovery began in the 18th century, and by the early 1800s the village was starting to prosper again, only to suffer further great losses in the Great Famine.