Upon the Restoration in 1660 Charles II appointed his brother, James (Duke of York and later James II), to the position of Lord High Admiral, in which capacity he commanded the Royal Navy during the Second (1665-7) and Third (1672-4) Anglo-Dutch Wars (the First (1652-4) took place in Cromwell’s time). In 1675 he commissioned from the recently-arrived Dutch artists (Van de Veldes, father and son) a set of large canvases depicting episodes in these two conflicts and the ongoing struggle against the Barbary Corsairs. Previous commissions of this type had been for tapestries, like the famous Armada set hanging at this date in the House of Lords. The Van the Veldes’ paintings in this series have the character of tapestries, with high view points and a crowding of incidents (as opposed to the sea-level, atmospheric view of their other oil paintings).

The Barbary Corsairs or Pirates operated out of the principal Mediterranean ports of North Africa - Tripoli, Tunis and Algiers - terrorising all shipping in the region and mounting raids against coastal settlement throughout Europe in search of slaves. During their wars against Spain (1568-1648) the Dutch used Barbary bases against Spanish shipping and shared technology with their hosts. Other European sea-powers similarly connived with the pirates when campaigning against each other. Thus encouraged, the menace reached its peak about the mid-point of the seventeenth century. Under Charles II the Royal Navy mounted a systematic campaign against the corsairs, enforcing treaties on each major port in turn. The threat was not however entirely eliminated until 1830.

Sir Edward Spragge, commander in chief of the Mediterranean, attacked a group of Barbary ships in the harbour of Bugia (present day Bejaia in Algeria) on 8 May 1671. This is the first of three paintings depicting this episode (CW 222-4, 405972, 405214-5). The Corsairs had set up a beam across the harbour mouth; in this scene the English war ships lie outside the boom firing on the town of Bugia and the Barbary ships. The English fire-ship (not yet alight) is sailing towards the boom in the distance.

Inscribed lower left: 'W. V. Velde 1675'