enemy, had, as we have seen, taken care to please and deceive both.
Karacosh had indeed been present at the review of Gomenzia, but he had
erred considerably in his reckoning of the numbers of the Christian
fleet. Either by accident or design, he computed the vessels at fifty
less than the real number, and he, besides, greatly underrated the
weight of the artillery. Ali was still further deceived by the reports
of three Spanish soldiers, captured on the shore near Gomenzia, where
they had strayed too far from their boat. These prisoners assured the
Pacha that the Christian fleet had not as yet been joined either by the
great ships or the galeases, and that forty galleys, sent under Santa
Cruz to Otranto for troops, and two galleys with which Andrade had gone
on a cruise of observation, had not yet returned. This story confirmed
the accounts both of Karacosh and the Greek fishermen. The Pacha was
naturally no less anxious to meet Don John with Santa Cruz than Don John
had been to meet the Pacha without the Viceroy of Algiers. It was no
wonder, then, that the chiefs of the Turkish fleet led their galleys
down the gulf in the ardent hope of speedily meeting with an enemy in
whom they made certain of finding a rich and easy prey. The three
hundred sail of the Sultan moved, as already described, in the form of
an immense crescent, stretching nearly from shore to shore.
When the Christian armament first came in sight, nothing was seen of it
but the small vanguard of Cardona's Sicilian galleys, and a portion of
the right wing under Doria. The rest was hidden by the rocky headlands
at the north of the gulf. For a while this circumstance buoyed up the
Turks in their belief that the force of the enemy was greatly inferior
to their own. As, however, the long lines of the centre under Don John
of Austria, and of the left wing under Barbarigo, came galley after
galley into view, they began to discover their mistake. The men posted
aloft were eagerly questioned by the officers as to the result of their
observations, and their answers, always announcing accessions of
strength to the Christians, led to misgivings, and to vehement
denunciations against Karacosh for the inaccuracy of his report from
Gomenzia. When Ali perceived that the Christians had adopted a long
straight line of battle, he also caused his fleet to take the same
order, drawing in the horns and advancing the centre of his crescent. As
the fleets came nearer to each other, the leaders of the League were
encouraged by observing that the enemy's rear was not covered by
anything that could be called a reserve, but only by a number of small
craft. Ali, on the contrary, was surprised to see the galeases which had
been pushed forward by the Christians. He inquired what these _mahones_
were, and was told that they were not mahones, but galeases; the very
vessels, in fact, which he had been led to believe had been separated
from the enemy, and whose formidable artillery he did not expect to
encounter. He also observed with concern the large number of the
galleys which were Spanish, or western (_ponenirinas_, as they were
called in the Levant), and of a stronger build than those which were
constructed at Venice by the Orientals. He now saw that the victory was
not to be so easy as he had anticipated, and that he must neglect no
means that might avert defeat. A kind-hearted as well as a brave man,
he had always been remarkable for the humanity with which he had cared
for the unhappy Christian slaves who rowed his galley. He now walked
forward to their benches and said to them in Spanish: "Friends, I
expect you to-day to do your duty by me, in return for what I have done
for you. If I win the battle, I promise you your liberty; if the day is
yours, God has given it to you."
When the fleets neared each other, and the Christians were all prostrate
before their crucifixes and friars, and no sound was heard on their
decks but the voices of the holy fathers, the Turks were indulging in
every kind of noise which nature or art had furnished them with the
means of producing. Shouting and screaming, they bade the Christians
come on "like drowned hens" and be slaughtered; then they danced and
stamped and clanged their arms; they blew trumpets, clashed cymbals, and
fired volleys of useless musketry. When the Christians had ended their
devotions and stood to their guns, or in their ordered ranks, each
galley, in the long array, seemed on fire, as the noon-tide sun blazed
on helmet and corselet, and pointed blades and pikes with flame. The
bugles now sounded a charge, and the bands of each vessel began to play.
Before Don John retired from the forecastle to his proper place on the
quarter-deck, it is said by one of the officers, who had written an
account of the battle, that he and two of his gentlemen, "inspired with
youthful ardor, danced a galliard on the gun platform to the music of
the fifes." The Turkish line, to the glitter of arms, added yet more
splendor of color from the brilliant and variegated garb of the
janizaries, their tall and fanciful crests and prodigious plumes, and
from the multitude of flags and streamers which every galley displayed
from every available point and peak. Long before the enemy were within
range the Turkish cannon opened. The first shot that took effect carried
off the point of the pennant of Don Juan de Cardona, who in his swiftest
vessel was hovering along the line, correcting trifling defects of
position and order, like a sergeant drilling recruits. About noon a
flash was seen to proceed from one of the galeases of the Christian
fleet. The shot was aimed at the flag-ship of the Pacha, conspicuous in
the centre of the line, and carrying the sacred green standard of the
Prophet. Passing through the rigging of the vessel, the ball carried off
a portion of the highest of the three splendid lanterns which hung on
the lofty stern as symbols of command. The Pacha, from his quarter-deck,
looked up on hearing the crash, and perceiving the ominous mischief,
said, "God grant we may be able to give a good answer to this question."
The next shot split off a great piece of the poop of an adjacent galley.
Of the six galeases four were soon pouring a murderous fire into the
Turkish centre and right wing; the remaining two, which were intended to
gall the left wing, having been rendered of little use, then and during
the battle, by dexterous southerly movements of Aluch Ali. The balls
from the galeases appeared to stop the vessels which they struck, and
which seemed to have been met as by a wall. Two of them were speedily
sunk by the terrible fire. Perceiving the great superiority of the
galeases in weight of metal, Ali ordered his galleys not to attempt to
attack them, but, avoiding them as well as they could, to push on
against the galleys of the Christians. Obedience to this order, however
necessary, produced great confusion in the Turkish line.
The Pacha of Alexandria, who led the right wing, endeavored both to
elude the galeases and circumvent his antagonists, the Venetians on the
Christian left, by passing between them and the shore. Barbarigo
observed the movement, and prepared to oppose by adopting it; but his
pilots, inferior to those of Sirocco in local knowledge, dreading the
shoals and shallows, did not stand toward the coast with sufficient
boldness. The Pacha therefore effected his purpose with a few of his
vessels and Barbarigo found himself placed between two fires; his own
galley at one time being engaged by no less than eight Turkish vessels.
As they approached the Christians, the Turks assailed them not only with
cannon and musketry, but also with showers of arrows, many of which,
from the wounds inflicted by them, were supposed to have been poisoned.
As Barbarigo stood giving orders on his quarter-deck, he became a
conspicuous mark; and the hail of arrows fell so thick around him that
the great lantern which adorned the galley's stern was afterward found
to be studded with their shafts. At length one of these ancient missiles
pierced the left eye of the gallant commander and compelled his
immediate removal below. The wound, in three days, proved mortal. His
nephew, Marco Contarini, rushing to his assistance, was also slain.
These untoward events for a moment paralyzed the efforts of the
Venetians. The galley became the centre of so severe a fire that its
defenders were more than once swept away, and it was in great danger of
being taken. Frederigo Nano, however, who, by Barbarigo's desire, had
assumed the command, succeeded in rallying his men, and not only beat
off Sirocco, but made a prize of one of his best galleys and its
commander, the corsair Kara Ali. The combat between the Turks and the
Venetians seemed inspired by the intensest personal hatred; the Turks
thirsting for fresh conquests, the Venetians for vengeance. That they
might the more effectually use their weapons, many of the soldiers of
St. Mark uncovered their faces and laid aside their shields. No quarter
was given, and the slaughter was very great on both sides. One of the
Sultan's galleys near the shore being very hard pressed, the Turks
jumped overboard and escaped to land. Some of the Venetians followed and
slew them as they ran to the cover of some rocks. One of these pursuers,
being armed only with a stick, contrived with that simple weapon to pin
his victim through the mouth to the ground, to the great admiration of
his comrades.
As the centre divisions of the two fleets closed with each other the
wisdom of Don John in retrenching the fore-peaks of his vessels became
abundantly apparent. The Turks had neglected to take this precaution;
the efficiency of their forecastle guns was therefore greatly impaired.
Their prows were also much higher than the prows of their antagonists.
While their shot passed harmlessly over the enemy, his balls struck
their galleys close to water-mark with fatal precision. The fire of the
Christians was the more murderous because many of the Turkish vessels
were crowded with soldiers both on the deck and below.
Ali and Don John had each directed his helmsman to steer for the
flag-ship of the enemy. The two galleys soon met, striking each other
with great force. The left prow of the Pacha towered high above the
lower forecastle of Don John, and his galley's peak was thrust through
the rigging of the other vessel until its point was over the fourth
rowing-bench. Thus linked together the two flag-ships became a
battle-field which was strongly contested for about two hours. The Pacha
had on board four hundred picked janizaries--three hundred armed with
the arquebus and one hundred with the bow. Two galliots and ten galleys,
all filled with janizaries, lay close astern, the galliots being
connected with the Pacha's vessels by ladders, up which reënforcements
immediately came when wanted. The galley of Pertau Pacha fought
alongside. Don John's consisted of three hundred arquebusiers; but his
forecastle artillery was, for reasons above mentioned, more efficient,
while his bulwarks, like those of other Christian vessels, were
protected from boarders by nettings and other devices with which the
Turks had not provided themselves. Requesens, wary and watchful, lay
astern with two galleys, from which he led fresh troops into the
flag-ship from time to time. Alongside, Vaniero and Colonna were each
hotly engaged with an antagonist. The combat between the two chiefs was
on the whole not unequal, and it was fought with great gallantry on both
sides. From the Turkish forecastle the arquebusiers at first severely
galled the Christians. Don Lope de Figueroa, who commanded on the prow
of the flag-ship, lost so many of his men that he was compelled to ask
for assistance. Don Bernardino de Cardenas, who led a party to his aid,
was struck on the chest by a spent ball from an esmeril, and in falling
backward received injuries from which he soon expired. Considerable
execution was also done by the Turkish arrows, with which portions of
the masts and spars bristled. Several of these missiles came from the
bow of the Pacha himself, who was probably the last commander-in-chief
who ever drew a bowstring in European battle. But on the whole the fire
of the Christians was greatly superior to that of the Turks. Twice the
deck of Ali was swept clear of defenders, and twice the Spaniards rushed
on board and advanced as far as the mainmast. At that point they were on
each occasion driven back by the janizaries, who, though led by Ali in
person, do not appear to have made good a footing on the deck of Don
John. A third attempt was more successful. Not only did the Spaniards
pass the mast, but they approached the poop and assailed it with a
vigorous fire. The Pacha led on his janizaries to meet them, but it
seems with small hope of making a successful resistance, for at the same
moment he threw into the sea a small box which was supposed to contain
his most precious jewels. A ball from an arquebuse soon afterward struck
him in the forehead. He fell forward upon the gangway (_crucija_). A
soldier from Malaga, seizing the body, cut off the head and carried it
to Don John, who was already on board the Turkish vessel, leading a
fresh body of men to the support of their comrades. The trophy was then
raised on the point of a lance, to be seen by friend and foe. The Turks
paused for a moment panic-stricken; the Christians shouted victory, and,
hauling down the Turkish standard, hoisted a flag with a cross in its
place. Don John ordered his trumpets to sound, and the good news was
soon proclaimed in the adjacent galleys of the League. The Turks
defended their flag-ship but feebly after the death of their Pacha. The
vessel, which was the first taken, was in the hands of the Spaniards
about two o'clock in the afternoon--about an hour and a half after the
two leaders had engaged each other. A brigantine which had been employed
in bringing up fresh troops, surrendered almost at the same time. The
neighboring galleys of the Sultan had themselves been by this time too
severely handled to render much assistance. Only one serious attempt was
made to recover the ship of Ali or to avenge its loss. Several galleys
from other parts of the line bore down at once upon Don John. The
movement was perceived by Santa Cruz, whose vessels of reserve were
still untouched. Dashing into the advancing squadron, he had the
good-fortune to sink one galley by the force of his fire; and he
immediately boarded another and put all the janizaries to the sword. Don
John himself dealt with the remaining assailants.
Vaniero and Colonna fought with great gallantry and success, and each
vanquished the Turk who had engaged him. The brave old Admiral of Venice
fairly earned the Doge's cap, which soon after crowned his hoary brow.
He was often in the thickest of the fire; and when, in the absence of
many of his men, who had boarded the Turkish flag-ship, his own was also
boarded, he repulsed the assailants in person, and, fighting with all
the vigor of youth, received a wound in the foot on the deck of the
galley of Pertau Pacha, whither he had pursued his advantage. A second
Turkish galley, advancing to attack Vaniero, was run into about midships
and sunk by Giovanni Contarini. Giovanni de Loredano and Caterino
Malipieri were less happy in the enemies whom they encountered, and
perished in their sunken vessels. From the flag-ship of Genoa the young
Prince of Parma, followed by a single Spanish soldier named Alonso
Davalos, leaped into a Turkish galley, fought their way through its
defenders without a wound, and might also boast of having, unaided,
caused it to strike its flag. Two other Turks afterward surrendered to
the Genoese flag-ship, the captain of which, Ettore Spinola, lost his
life by an arrow. In the flag-ship of Savoy, under a captain named Leni,
of remarkable courage, who was also severely wounded, the Prince of
Urbino likewise greatly distinguished himself. The gallant Karacosh was
compelled to surrender to Juan Bautista Cortez, a captain of the King of
Spain, although his galley was defended by one hundred fifty picked
janizaries and was one of the best built and equipped vessels in the
fleet. The Eleugina of the Pope had the credit of taking the guard-ship
of Rhodes; and the Toscana, also a papal galley, in making a prize of
the vessel of the Turkish paymaster recovered to the pontifical squadron
the flag-ship of the contingent of Pius IV in the unfortunate battle of
Gerbi. The crowning achievement of the central division was performed by
the Grand Commander, who attacked and captured after an obstinate and
bloody contest, a fine galley, in which were the sons of the deceased
Ali Pacha. These lads--Mahomet Bey, aged seventeen years, and Said Bey,
aged thirteen--had been brought to sea by their father for the first
time. Their capture was of importance, because the mother of one of them
was a sister of Sultan Selim.
Juan de Cardona, who sailed on the left of the right wing, finding no
enemy opposed to him, brought his vessel round to the rear of the
Turkish centre, and attacked Pertau Pacha, with whom Paolo Giordano
Orsini was engaged in a somewhat unequal conflict. After a stout
resistance the Christians entered the Turkish galley, out of which the
Pacha, though wounded, succeeded in escaping in a boat.
The right wing of the Christians and the Turkish left wing did not
engage each other until some time after the other divisions were in
deadly conflict. Doria and Aluch Ali were, each of them, bent on
outmanoeuvring the other. The Algerine did not succeed, like Sirocco,
in insinuating himself between his adversary and the shore. But the
seamen whose skill and daring were the admiration of the Mediterranean
were not easily baffled. Finding himself foiled in his first attempt, he
slackened his course, and, threatening sometimes one vessel and
sometimes another, drew the Genoese eastward, until the inferior speed
of some of the galleys had caused an opening at the northern end of the
Christian line. Upon this opening the crafty corsair immediately bore
down with all the speed of his oars, and passed through it with most of
his galleys. This evolution placed him in the rear of the whole
Christian line of battle. On the extreme right of the centre division
sailed Prior Giustiniani, the commodore of the small Maltese squadron.
This officer had hitherto fought with no less success than skill, and
had already captured four Turkish galleys. The Viceroy of Algiers had,
the year before, captured three galleys of Malta, and was fond of
boasting of being the peculiar scourge and terror of the Order of St.
John. The well-known white cross banner, rising over the smoke of
battle, soon attracted his eye and was marked for his prey. Wheeling
round like a hawk, he bore down from behind upon the unhappy prior. The
three war-worn vessels of St. John were no match for seven stout
Algerines which had not yet fired a shot. The knights and their men
defended themselves with a valor worthy of their heroic order. A youth
named Bernardino de Heredia, son of the Count of Fuentes, signally
distinguished himself; and a Saragossan knight, Geronimo Ramirez,
although riddled with arrows like another St. Sebastian, fought with
such desperation that none of the Algerine boarders cared to approach
him until they saw that he was dead. A knight of Burgundy leaped alone
into one of the enemy's galleys, killed four Turks, and defended himself
until overpowered by numbers. On board the prior's vessel, when he was
taken, he himself, pierced with five arrow wounds, was the sole
survivor, except two knights, a Spaniard and a Sicilian, who, being
senseless from their wounds, were considered as dead. Having secured the
banner of St. John, Aluch Ali took the prior's ship in tow, and was
making the best of his way out of a battle which his skilful eye soon
discovered to be irretrievably lost. He had not, however, sailed far
when he was in turn descried by the Marquess of Santa Cruz, who, with
his squadron of reserve, was moving about redressing the wrongs of
Christian fortune. Aluch Ali had no mind for the fate of Giustiniani,
and resolved to content himself with the banner of Malta. Cutting his
prize adrift, he plied his oars and escaped, leaving the prior
grievously wounded to the care of his friends, and once more master, not
only of his ship, but of three hundred dead enemies who cumbered the
deck, a few living Algerine mariners who were to navigate the vessel,
and some Turkish soldiers, from whom he had just purchased his life.
This struggle cost the order, in killed alone, upward of thirty knights,
among whom was the Grand Bailiff of Germany, commander-in-chief of its
land forces. A few were also made prisoners, most of them desperately
wounded. For one of them, Borgianni Gianfigliazzi, his relations at
Florence, supposing him dead, performed funeral obsequies, in spite of
which he returned home from captivity, and was afterward ambassador from
the Grand Duke to Sultan Amurath. Two other knights, Mastrillo and
Caraffa, finding themselves unsupported in an enemy's brigantine, had
given themselves up, and had just bribed their captor to spare their
lives and admit them to a ransom, when a Neapolitan galley coming by
boarded the brigantine and turned their new master into their slave.
The main body of the Turkish left wing, though long of engaging the
Christian right, fought with perhaps greater fierceness than any other
part of the fleet. The battle was raging in that part of the line with
very doubtful aspect, when Don John of Austria found himself free from
the attacks of the enemies immediately around him. Thither, therefore,
he steered to the assistance of his comrades. The Turks, perceiving the
approach of a succoring squadron, and surmising the disasters which had
occurred in the centre, immediately gave way and dispersed. Sixteen of
the Algerine galleys, however, retired together, and rallying at a
little distance, adopted the tactics of their chief, by making a circuit
toward the shore of the Morea, and endeavoring to sweep round upon the
rear of the Christians. Their manoeuvres were closely watched by Don
Juan de Cardona, who placed himself in their path with eight galleys.
The encounter which took place between the two unequal squadrons was one
of the bloodiest episodes of the battle. Cardona was completely
successful, disabling some of his antagonists and putting the rest to
flight. His loss was, however, very severe. His own galley suffered more
damage than any vessel in the fleet which was not rendered absolutely
unfit for service. The forecastle was a ruin; the bulwark and defences
of all kinds were shattered to pieces; and the masts and spars were
stuck full of arrows. Cardona himself, after escaping a ball from an
arquebus, which was turned by a cuirass of fine steel given to him at
Genoa by the Prince of Tuscany, received a severe wound in the throat,
of which he died. Of the five hundred Sicilian soldiers who fought on
board his galleys only fifty remained unwounded. Many of the officers
were slain, and not one escaped without a wound. Others had suffered
even greater loss. In the Florence, a papal galley, not only many
knights of St. Stephen were killed, but also every soldier and slave;
and the captain, Tommaso de' Medicis, himself severely wounded, found
himself at the head of only seventeen wounded seamen. In the San
Giovanni, another vessel of the Pope, the soldiers were also killed to a
man, the rowing-benches occupied by corpses, and a captain laid for dead
with two musket-balls in his neck. The Piamontesa of Savoy had likewise
lost her commander and all of her soldiers and rowers.
Although Doria, having suffered himself to be outmanoeuvred by Aluch
Ali, and having failed to exchange a shot with that leader, could not
claim any considerable part of the laurels of the day, he was
nevertheless frequently engaged with other foes and made several prizes.
He escaped without a wound, though he was covered with blood of a
soldier killed by a cannon-ball close behind him.