This coloured aquatint depicts the Bombardment of Algiers, with ships of the line ranged in the foreground, their sails holed by gunfire and backlit by the explosion of rockets and cannonfire. Smoke billows between the ships and the city which is illuminated in the background. Granicus is shown port quarter view, just left of the centre of the picture. The bombardment of Algiers was part of a continuing campaign by the European and American navies to suppress piracy against Europeans by the North African Barbary states. The specific aim of this expedition, in which an Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Exmouth bombarded ships and the harbour defences of Algiers, was to free Christian slaves and to stop the practice of enslaving Europeans. To this end it was partially successful, as the Dey of Algiers freed around 3,000 slaves following the bombardment and signed a treaty against the enslavement of Europeans. This slavery did not end completely, however, until the European conquest of Africa. The print is dedicated to Lord Viscount Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty. Several other important vessels are also shown. The Albion is depicted in broadside view to the right of the composition. Her identity has been established from her position in the sketch plan made by William Gossett, Major in the Royal Engineers, in Algiers on 28 August 1816, and from the resemblance of the ship in this picture to the small engraving of the 'Albion' by Henry Moses ('Visit of the Duke of Clarence to Portsmouth in 1827'). The Albion's position is also shown in a plan drawn by W.I. Pocock ('Historical Notices of Algier, 1817'). The Minden is shown in the foreground, centre right of the picture, in port quarter view. PAJ2328 is an uncoloured version of this engraving.