With a plot to grace any comic opera, the 1859-1872 'Pig War' broke out when an American living on a quietly disputed small island in the Gulf of Georgia shot a British pig he found rooting up his garden produce. The authorities on nearby Vancouver Island and the military leadership of adjacent Washington Territory both felt they had good reasons to escalate a trivial incident into a full-blown war between the United States and Great Britain. Soon, American soldiers found themselves looking down the barrels of Royal Navy cannon. Whilst both the British authorities and the American continued to threaten and bluster, the Royal Marine and their US counterparts settled down to a round of social events, including sports days, combined dinners and even summer balls. Despite the outbreak of the American Civil War, and British intervention on the Confederate side, the hot-heads were restrained and, eventually, it was decided that the problem should become one of the earliest examples of international arbitration. The German Kaiser was brought in - and came to the wrong decision (from the British point of view). Set against the framework of US attempts to gain control of the North Amercian continent, The Pig War is a highly readable account of a little-known episode in Anglo-American history.