for one rightly known as "The Magnificent," the blood of Ibrahim flowed
to the feet of Roxalana. The disordered clothing, the terrible
expression of the face of the dead man, the gaping wounds which he had
received, bore witness that there had taken place a grim struggle
before that iron frame and splendid intellect had been leveled with the
dust. This much leaked out afterwards, as such things will leak out, and
then the Sultana took Soliman into her chamber and gazed up into his
eyes. The man was stunned by the immensity of the calamity which had
befallen him and his kingdom, but his manhood availed him not against
the wiles of this Circe. Ibrahim had been foully done to death in his
own palace, and this woman clinging so lovingly round his neck now was
the murderess. The heart's blood of his best friend was coagulating on
the threshold of his own apartment when he forgave her by whom his
murder had been accomplished. This was the vengeance of Roxalana, and
who shall say that it was not complete?
The Ottoman Empire was the poorer by the loss of its greatest man, the
jealousy of the Sultana was assuaged, the despot who had permitted this
unavenged murder was still on the throne, thrall to the woman who had
first murdered his son and then his friend and minister. But the deed
carried with it the evil consequences which were only too likely to
occur when so capable a head of the State was removed at so critical a
time. Renewed strife was in the air, and endless squabbles between
Venice and the Porte were taking place. With these we have no concern,
but, in addition to other complaints, there were loud and continuous
ones concerning the corsairs. Venice, "The Bride of the Sea," had
neither rest nor peace; the pirates swarmed in Corfu, in Zante, in
Candia, in Cephalonia, and the plunder and murder of the subjects of the
Republic was the theme of the perpetual representations to the Sultan.
The balance of advantage in this guerilla warfare was with the corsairs
until Girolame Canale, a Venetian captain, seized one of the Moslem
leaders known as "The Young Moor of Alexandria." The victory of Canale
was somewhat an important one as he captured the galley of "The Young
Moor" and four others; two more were sunk, and three hundred Janissaries
and one thousand slaves fell into the hands of the Venetian commander.
There being an absence of nice feeling on the part of the Venetians, the
Janissaries were at once beheaded to a man.
The whole story is an illustration of the extraordinary relations
existing among the Mediterranean States at this time. Soliman the
Magnificent, Sultan of Turkey, had lent three hundred of his
Janissaries, his own picked troops, to assist the corsairs in their
depredations on Venetian commerce. Having done this, and the Janissaries
having been caught and summarily and rightly put to death as pirates,
the Sultan, as soon as he heard of what had occurred, sent an
ambassador, one Yonis Bey, to Venice to demand satisfaction for the
insult passed upon him by the beheading of his own soldiers turned
pirates. The conclusion of the affair was that the Venetians released
"The Young Moor of Alexandria" as soon as he was cured of the eight
wounds which he had received in the conflict, and sent him back to
Africa with such of his galleys as were left. There was one rather
comical incident in connection with this affair, which was that when
Yonis Bey was on his way from Constantinople to Venice he was chased by
a Venetian fleet, under the command of the Count Grandenico, and driven
ashore. The Count was profuse in his apologies when he discovered that
he had been chasing a live ambassador; but the occurrence so exasperated
Soliman that he increased his demands in consequence.
Barbarossa, who had spent his time harrying the Spaniards at sea ever
since the fall of Tunis, was shortly to appear on the scene again. He
received orders from the Sultan, and came as fast as a favoring wind
would bring him. Kheyr-ed-Din had been doing well in the matter of
slaves and plunder, but he knew that, with the backing of the Grand
Turk, he would once again be in command of a fleet in which he might
repeat his triumph of past years, and prove himself once more the
indispensable "man of the sea."
Soon after his arrival his ambitions were gratified, and he found
himself with a fleet of one hundred ships. Since the death of Ibrahim,
and the incident which terminated with the dispatch of Yonis Bey to
Venice, the relations between the Grand Turk and the Venetian Republic
had become steadily worse, and at last the Sultan declared war. On May
17th, 1537, Soliman, accompanied by his two sons, Selim and Mohammed,
left Constantinople. With the campaign conducted by the Sultan we are
not concerned here; it was directed against the Ionian Islands, which
had been in the possession of Venice since 1401. On August 18th Soliman
laid siege to Corfu, and was disastrously beaten, re-embarking his men
on September 7th, after losing thousands in a fruitless attack on the
fortress. He returned to Constantinople utterly discomfited. It was the
seventh campaign which the Sultan had conducted in person, but the first
in which the ever-faithful Ibrahim had not been by his side.
This defeat at the hands of the Venetians was not, however, the only
humiliation which he was destined to experience in this disastrous year;
for once again Doria, that scourge of the Moslem, was loose upon the
seas, and was making his presence felt in the immediate neighborhood of
Corfu, where the Turks had been defeated. On July 17th Andrea had left
the port of Messina with twenty-five galleys, had captured ten richly
laden Turkish ships, gutted and burned them. Kheyr-ed-Din was at sea at
the time, but the great rivals were not destined to meet on this
occasion. Instead of Barbarossa, Andrea fell in with Ali-Chabelli, the
lieutenant of Sandjak Bey of Gallipoli. On July 22nd the Genoese admiral
and the Turkish commander from the Dardanelles met to the southward of
Corfu, off the small island of Paxo, and a smart action ensued. It
ended in the defeat of Ali-Chabelli, whose galleys were captured and
towed by Doria into Paxo. That veteran fighter was himself in the
thickest of the fray, and, conspicuous in his crimson doublet, had been
an object of attention to the marksmen of Chabelli during the entire
action. In spite of the receipt of a severe wound in the knee, the
admiral refused to go below until victory was assured. He was surrounded
at this time by a devoted band of nobles sworn to defend the person of
their admiral or to die in his defense. His portrait has been sketched
for us at this time by the Dominican Friar, Padre Alberto Guglielmotto,
author of "La guerra dei Pirati e la marina Pontifica dal 1500 al 1560."
The description runs thus: "Andrea Doria was of lofty stature, his face
oval in shape, forehead broad and commanding, his neck was powerful, his
hair short, his beard long and fan-shaped, his lips were thin, his eyes
bright and piercing."
Once again had he defeated an officer of the Grand Turk; and it may be
remarked that Ibrahim was probably quite right in the estimation, or
rather in the lack of estimation, in which he held the sea-officers of
his master, as they seem to have been deficient in every quality save
that of personal valor, and in their encounters with Doria and the
knights were almost invariably worsted. For the sake of Islam, for the
prestige of the Moslem arms at sea, it was time that Barbarossa should
take matters in hand once more.
The autumn of this year 1537 proved that the old Sea-wolf had lost none
of his cunning, that his followers were as terrible as ever. What did it
seem to matter that Venetian and Catalan, Genoese and Frenchman,
Andalusian and the dwellers in the Archipelago, were all banded together
in league against this common foe? Did not the redoubtable Andrea range
the seas in vain, and were not all the efforts of the Knights of Saint
John futile, when the son of the renegado from Mitylene and his
Christian wife put forth from the Golden Horn? What was the magic of
this man, it was asked despairingly, that none seemed able to prevail
against him? Had it not been currently reported that Carlos Quinto, the
great Emperor, had driven him forth from Tunis a hunted fugitive, broken
and penniless, with never a galley left, without one ducat in his
pocket? Was he so different, then, from all the rest of mankind that his
followers would stick to him in evil report as well as in the height of
his prosperity? Men swore and women crossed themselves at the mention of
his name.
"Terrible as an army with banners," indeed, was Kheyr-ed-Din in this
eventful summer: things had gone badly with the crescent flag, the
Padishah was unapproachable in his palace, brooding perchance on that
"might have been" had he not sold his honor and the life of his only
friend to gratify the malice of a she-devil; those in attendance on the
Sultan trembled, for the humor of the despot was black indeed.
But "the veritable man of the sea" was in some sort to console him for
that which he had lost; as never in his own history--and there was none
else with which it could be compared--had the Corsair King made so
fruitful a raid. He ravaged the coasts of the Adriatic and the islands
of the Archipelago, sweeping in slaves by the thousand, and by the end
of the year he had collected eighteen thousand in the arsenal at
Stamboul. Great was the jubilation in Constantinople when the
Admiralissimo himself returned from his last expedition against the
infidel; stilled were the voices which hinted disaffection--who among
them all could bring back four hundred thousand pieces of gold? What
mariner could offer to the Grand Turk such varied and magnificent
presents?
Upon his arrival Barbarossa asked permission to kiss the threshold of
the palace of the Sultan, which boon being graciously accorded to him,
he made his triumphal entry. Two hundred captives clad in scarlet robes
carried cups of gold and flasks of silver; behind them came thirty
others, each staggering under an enormous purse of sequins; yet another
two hundred brought collars of precious stones or bales of the choicest
goods; and a further two hundred were laden with sacks of small coin.
Certainly if Soliman the Magnificent had lost a Grand Vizier he had
succeeded in finding an admiral!
All through the earlier months of 1538 the dockyards of Constantinople
hummed with a furious activity, for Soliman had decreed that the
maritime campaign of this year was to begin with no less than one
hundred and fifty ships. His admiral, however, did not agree with this
decision; to the Viziers he raged and stormed. "Listen," he said, "O men
of the land who understand naught of the happenings of the sea. By this
time Saleh-Reis must have quitted Alexandria convoying to the Bosphorus
twenty sail filled with the richest merchandise; should he fall in with
the accursed Genoese, Doria, where then will be Saleh-Reis and his
galleys and his convoy? I will tell you: the ships in Genoa, the galleys
burned, Saleh-Reis and all his mariners chained to the rowers' bench."
The Viziers trembled as men did when Barbarossa stormed and turned upon
them those terrible eyes which knew neither fear nor pity. "We be but
men," they answered, "and our lord the Sultan has so ordained it."
"I have forty galleys," replied the corsair; "you have forty more. With
these I will take the sea; but, mark you," he continued, softening
somewhat, "you do right to fear the displeasure of the Sultan, and I
also have no wish to encounter it; but vessels raised and equipped in a
hurry will be of small use to me. In the name of Allah the compassionate
and his holy Prophet give me my eighty galleys and let me go."
In Kheyr-ed-Din Barbarossa sound strategical instinct went hand in hand
with the desperate valor of the corsair. To dally in the Golden Horn
while so rich a prey was at sea to be picked up by his Christian foes
was altogether opposed to his instincts: never to throw away a chance in
the game of life had ever been his guiding principle.
Soliman, great man as he undoubtedly was, had not the adamantine
hardness of character which enabled his admiral to risk all on the
hazards of the moment; or possibly the Grand Turk was deficient in that
clearness of strategical instinct which never in any circumstances
foregoes a present advantage for something which may turn out well in a
problematical future. Soliman, sore, sullen, and unapproachable, dwelt
in his palace brooding over the misfortunes which had been his lot since
the death of Ibrahim. Barbarossa, who so recently had lost practically
all that he possessed, and who had reached an age at which most men have
no hopes for the future, was as clear in intellect, as undaunted in
spirit, as if he had been half a century younger: to be even once more
with those by whom he had been defeated and dispossessed was the only
thing now in his mind. The capture of Saleh-Reis and his convoy would be
a triumph of which he could not bear to think. Further, it would add to
the demoralization of the sea forces of the Sultan, which were sadly in
need of some striking success after the defeats which had so recently
been their portion. The Sultan had decided that one hundred and fifty
ships were necessary; his admiral thought otherwise. There was too much
at stake for him to dally at Constantinople; his fiery energy swept all
before it, and in the end he had his way. On June 7th, 1538, he finally
triumphed over the hesitations of the Viziers and put to sea with eighty
sail.
The Sultan, from his kiosk, the windows of which opened on the
Bosphorus, counted the ships.
"Only eighty sail; is that all?" he asked.
The trembling Viziers prostrated themselves before him.
"O our Lord, the Padishah," they cried, "Saleh-Reis comes from
Alexandria with a rich convoy; somewhere lurking is Andrea Doria, the
accursed; it was necessary, O Magnificent, to send succor."
There was a pause, in which the hearts of men beat as do those who know
not but that the next moment may be their last on earth.
The Sultan stared from his window at the retreating ships in a silence
like the silence of the grave. At last he turned:
"So be it," he answered briefly; "but see to it that reinforcements do
not lag upon the road."
If there had been activity in the dockyards before it was as nothing to
the strenuous work that was to be done henceforward.
Before starting on this expedition Kheyr-ed-Din had made an innovation
in the manning of some of the most powerful of his galleys, which was
of the utmost importance, and which was to add enormously to the
success of his future maritime enterprises. The custom had always been
that the Ottoman galleys had been rowed by Christians, captured and
enslaved; of course the converse was true in the galleys of their foes.
There were, for the size of the vessels, an enormous number of men
carried in the galleys of the sixteenth century, and an average craft of
this description would have on board some four hundred men; of these,
however, the proportion would be two hundred and fifty slaves to one
hundred and fifty fighting men. That which Kheyr-ed-Din now insisted
upon was that a certain proportion of his most powerful units should be
rowed by Moslem fighting men, so that on the day of battle the oarsmen
could join in the fray instead of remaining chained to their benches, as
was the custom with the slaves. It is, however, an extraordinary
testimony to the influence which the corsair had attained in
Constantinople that he had been able to effect this change in the
composition of some of his crews; it must have been done with the active
cooeperation of the Sultan, as no authority less potent than that of the
sovereign himself could have induced free men to undertake the terrible
toil of rower in a galley. This was reserved for the unfortunate slave
on either side owing to the intolerable hardship of the life, and
results, in the pace at which a galley proceeded through the water,
were usually obtained by an unsparing use of the lash on the naked
bodies of the rowers.
This human material was used up in the most prodigal manner possible, as
those in command had not the inducement of treating the rowers well,
from that economic standpoint which causes a man to so use his beast of
burden as to get the best work from him. In the galley, when a slave
would row no more he was flung overboard and another was put in his
place.
The admiral, however, even when backed by the Padishah, could not man a
large fleet of galleys with Moslem rowers, and, as there was a shortage
in the matter of propelling power, his first business was to collect
slaves, and for this purpose he visited the islands of the Archipelago.
The lot of the unhappy inhabitants of these was indeed a hard one. They
were nearer to the seat of the Moslem power than any other Christians;
they were in those days totally unable to resist an attack in force, and
in consequence were swept off in their thousands.
Seven islands cover the entrance to the Gulf of Volo. The nearest to the
coast is Skiathos, which is also the most important; it was defended by
a castle built upon a rock. This castle was attacked by Barbarossa, who
bombarded it for six days, carried it by assault, and massacred the
garrison. He spared the lives of the inhabitants of the island, and by
this means secured three thousand four hundred rowers for his galleys.
He had to provide motor-power for the reinforcements which he expected.
In July he was reinforced from Constantinople by ninety galleys, while
from Egypt came Saleh-Reis, who had succeeded in avoiding the terrible
Doria, with twenty more; the fleet was thus complete.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] From _Sea Wolves of the Mediterranean_.
MORGAN AT PUERTO BELLO[8]
JOHN ESQUEMELING
Some may think that the French having deserted Captain Morgan, the
English alone could not have sufficient courage to attempt such great
actions as before. But Captain Morgan, who always communicated vigor
with his words, infused such spirit into his men, as put them instantly
upon new designs. He inspired them with the belief that the sole
execution of his orders would be a certain means of obtaining great
riches, which so influenced their minds, that with inimitable courage
they all resolved to follow him, as did also a certain pirate of
Campechy, on this occasion joined with Captain Morgan, to seek new
fortunes under his conduct. Thus Captain Morgan in a few days gathered a
fleet of nine sail, either ships or great boats, wherein he had four
hundred and sixty military men.
All things being ready, they put forth to sea, Captain Morgan imparting
his design to nobody at present; he only told them on several occasions,
that he doubted not to make a good fortune by that voyage, if strange
occurrences happened not. They steered towards the continent, where
they arrived in a few days near Costa Rica, all their fleet safe. No
sooner had they discovered land but Captain Morgan declared his
intentions to the captains, and presently after to the company. He told
them he intended to plunder Puerto Bello by night, being resolved to put
the whole city to the sack: and to encourage them he added, this
enterprise could not fail, seeing he had kept it secret, without
revealing it to anybody, whereby they could not have notice of his
coming. To this proposition some answered, they had not a sufficient
number of men to assault so strong and great a city. But Captain Morgan
replied, "If our number is small, our hearts are great; and the fewer
persons we are, the more union and better shares we shall have in the
spoil." Hereupon, being stimulated with the hope of those vast riches
they promised themselves from their success, they unanimously agreed to
that design. Now, that my reader may better comprehend the boldness of
this exploit, it may be necessary to say something beforehand of the
city of Puerto Bello.
This city is in the province of Costa Rica, 10 deg. north latitude,
fourteen leagues from the gulf of Darien, and eight westwards from the
port called Nombre de Dios. It is judged the strongest place the king of
Spain possesses in all the West Indies, except Havanna and Carthagena.
Here are two castles almost impregnable, that defend the city, situate
at the entry of the port, so that no ship or boat can pass without
permission. The garrison consists of three hundred soldiers, and the
town is inhabited by four hundred families. The merchants dwell not
here, but only reside a while, when the galleons come from or go for
Spain, by reason of the unhealthiness of the air, occasioned by vapors
from the mountains; so that though their chief warehouses are at Puerto
Bello, their habitations are at Panama, whence they bring the plate upon
mules when the fair begins, and when the ships belonging to the company
of negroes arrive to sell slaves.
Captain Morgan, who knew very well all the avenues of this city and the
neighboring coasts, arrived in the evening with his men at Puerto de
Naos, ten leagues to the west of Puerto Bello. Being come hither, they
sailed up the river to another harbor called Puerto Pontin, where they
anchored: here they put themselves into boats and canoes, leaving in the
ships only a few men to bring them next day to the port. About midnight
they came to a place called Estera longa Lemos, where they all went on
shore and marched by land to the first posts of the city. They had in
their company an Englishman, formerly a prisoner in those parts, who now
served them for a guide. To him and three or four more they gave
commission to take the sentinel, if possible, or kill him on the place:
but they seized him so cunningly, as he had no time to give warning with
his musket, or make any noise, and brought him, with his hands bound,
to Captain Morgan, who asked him how things went in the city, and what
forces they had; with other circumstances he desired to know. After
every question they made him a thousand menaces to kill him, if he
declared not the truth. Then they advanced to the city, carrying the
said sentinel bound before them: having marched about a quarter of a
league, they came to the castle near the city, which presently they
closely surrounded, so that no person could get either in or out.
Being posted under the walls of the castle, Captain Morgan commanded the
sentinel, whom they had taken prisoner, to speak to those within,
charging them to surrender to his discretion; otherwise they should all
be cut in pieces, without quarter. But disregarding these threats, they
began instantly to fire, which alarmed the city; yet notwithstanding,
though the governor and soldiers of the said castle made as great
resistance as could be, they were forced to surrender. Having taken the
castle, Morgan resolved to be as good as his word, putting the Spaniards
to the sword, thereby to strike a terror into the rest of the city.
Whereupon, having shut up all the soldiers and officers as prisoners
into one room, they set fire to the powder (whereof they found great
quantity) and blew up the castle into the air, with all the Spaniards
that were within. This done, they pursued the course of their victory,
falling upon the city, which as yet was not ready to receive them. Many
of the inhabitants cast their precious jewels and money into wells and
cisterns, or hid them in places underground, to avoid as much as
possible, being totally robbed. One of the party of pirates, assigned to
this purpose, ran immediately to the cloisters, and took as many
religious men and women as they could find. The governor of the city,
not being able to rally the citizens, through their great confusion,
retired to one of the castles remaining, and thence fired incessantly at
the pirates: but these were not in the least negligent either to assault
him, or defend themselves, so that amidst the horror of the assault,
they made very few shots in vain; for aiming with great dexterity at the
mouths of the guns, the Spaniards were certain to lose one or two men
every time they charged each gun anew.