DRAGUT-REIS
How Dragut was blockaded in the Island of Jerbah—How he
left Andrea Dona “with the dog to hold”—His return to
Constantinople, and how he sailed from thence with a
great expedition against the Knights of Malta.
Charles V. had “smoked out the fox,” but his admiral in so doing had
not succeeded in capturing that remarkably wily animal; for Dragut was
not only still at liberty, but was burning for revenge on those by
whom he had been dispossessed. He had lost “his city,” as he called
“Africa”; he had lost two thousand five hundred men—among them some
of the fiercest and most experienced of his corsairs; he had lost ten
thousand slaves, representing a large sum of money, and much wealth
besides. The corsair, however, was not one of those who merely sit
down and repine; for him strenuous and continued action was the law
of his being, and he at once repaired to Constantinople. Here he was
well known as an adroit and skilful seaman and a most determined enemy
of the Christians, and, in consequence, was not only certain of a
welcome, but of substantial help as well, if he could but win over
the Grand Turk to take the same view of his grievances as he did
himself. In reality, the corsairs, as we have seen, played the game of
the Padishah, as a rule, at no expense to that potentate; when they
were in trouble he was therefore by no means indisposed to render them
assistance.
Dragut, like all the sea-wolves, was fond of money, fonder still of
what money could buy; he now hankered after revenge as the sweetest
morsel that his hoarded ducats could procure for him. That the Sultan
was well disposed to him he had every reason to think; none the less
did he spend royally among the venal favourites of the Court in order
that nothing might be left undone to inflame the ardour of Soliman
against those whom he considered to be his hereditary foes.
With such skill and address did the corsair manage his suit that he
prevailed upon the Sultan to address a letter to Charles demanding the
immediate return of the towns of Susa, Sfax, Monastir, and “Africa.”
This, of course, meant war; as Charles immediately replied that these
places were dependencies of the King of Tunis, and that that ruler was
under his special protection; further that they were his by right of
conquest; finally that the matter was no concern whatever of the Sultan
of Constantinople. The stern and imperious Christian Emperor was in no
mood to brook interference, the more so that he discerned plainly that
though the demand was that of Soliman, the mover in the affair was none
other than Dragut. He therefore by way of a rider to his answer to the
Sultan informed that monarch that these places which he had taken on
the coast of Africa had been reft by him “from one Dragut, a corsair
odious to both God and man”; that without in any way departing from
the treaty which he had made with Soliman “he intended to pursue this
pirate whithersoever he might go.”
Whether or no this denunciation of Dragut had any influence on the
Sultan it is impossible to say; he was in the habit of employing
the corsairs, and apparently cared nothing about their piratical
reputation, so long as their depredations were confined to Christian
vessels. Shortly after the receipt of the answer of Charles, however,
the Sultan conferred upon Dragut the title of Sandjak or governor of
the island of Santa Maura, thus constituting him a Turkish official.
Once again was Andrea Doria ordered to put to sea to fight against
neither small nor great save Dragut alone; he was to take him dead or
alive, but alive for choice, in order that he might be made to answer
at the bar of Christian justice for all the atrocities committed by
him both by land and sea. The corsair had returned in the meanwhile
to Jerbah, an island on the east coast of Tunis much affected by the
sea-wolves, and which in contemporary histories is known as Jerbah, as
Los Gelues (by the Spanish writers), as Gelves, and various other names
which greatly confuse its identity.
Doria put to sea with twenty-two royal galleys before Dragut was aware
of the fact. The Genoese admiral heard that his prey was at Jerbah;
he repaired thither without losing a moment, found that he had been
correctly informed, and anchored at the mouth of the harbour, at a
place known as La Bocca de Cantara. Dragut was completely hemmed
in, Doria was in such strength that he could not, reckless as he
was, attempt to force the passage. But as the hour came the spirit
of the corsair rose to answer the challenge: it was one thing to get
Dragut-Reis into a trap, it was quite another to keep him there.
Accordingly, he assembled all his troops, dragged cannon to the mouth
of the harbour, and opened so brisk a foe on the Christian ships as to
compel them to haul out of range. These tactics left Doria unaffected;
there was but one way out of the harbour, and he felt quite convinced
that when Dragut had had enough of starvation he would either surrender
or else fight a hopeless action. The admiral surveyed his anchored
fleet with a contented mind; his enemy had been delivered into his
hand, he had nothing to do now but wait for that final triumph of
appearing before his master the Emperor with the famous corsair as his
prisoner. He saw a great fort rising before his very eyes at the mouth
of the harbour, and merely smiled serenely; he sent off to Sicily and
Naples for reinforcements in order that when the psychological moment
should arise he might crush the corsair stronghold so thoroughly that
it should never rise again. In the despatches which he sent he said
“the fox is trapped”—“which news rejoiced all parts of Christendom, and
most powerful succours came daily flocking to the seaports from every
quarter; so eager were the sufferers to revenge themselves on this so
much dreaded corsair.”
The history of what now happened is given by Don Luys de Marmol
Caravajal in his “Descripcion general de Affrica,” which was printed
in Granada, “en casa de Rene Rabat impresor de libros año de 1573,” or
only some twenty years or so after these occurrences; it is set forth
in his chapter entitled “Como Andrea Doria fue en buscar de these
occurrences; it is set forth in his chapter Dragut Arraez.” We have
also the authority of that eminent historian, M. L’Abbé de Vertot.
Captain Juan Vasquez Coronado journeyed to Naples carrying with him
letters from Andrea Doria to Don Pedro de Toledo, requesting that the
Viceroy would send him all the galleys in Naples, carrying as many
soldiers as possible, pointing out that he had Dragut in a trap, from
which he could not possibly escape, but that this time he wished to
make security doubly secure. Letters to the same purport were also sent
to Don Juan de Vega, the Viceroy of Sicily, and to Marco Centurion at
the admiral’s own city of Genoa. Doria was leaving nothing to chance
this time. Meanwhile, great earthworks had been thrown up at the Bocca
de Cantara at the entrance of the harbour by Dragut, and any ship which
approached within range was most furiously bombarded. This served
to amuse Andrea Doria, who, confident that the jaws of the trap had
closed, kept a sharp look-out for vessels issuing from the harbour, but
otherwise concerned himself not at all about the entrenchments. Was
not Naples humming with the note of preparation? Would not the Genoese
come in their thousands to the summons of their renowned chieftain?
Could not the Viceroy of Sicily be trusted to work his best to gain the
favour of his Imperial master?
“Time and I are two” was the favourite expression of King Philip
II. of Spain; the same idea might have crossed the mind of Doria on
this memorable occasion. He had only to wait; the longer he waited the
more secure he would be of success, the more certain would he be of
the complete undoing of his enemy. But even yet the admiral did not
know the man to whom he was opposed; in all the years in which he had
done battle against Dragut, he had never gauged the limitless resource
and calculated audacity of this lineal successor of Kheyr-ed-Din
Barbarossa. While the admiral had been sending his despatches, and
idly watching that which he considered to be the futile construction
of earthworks on the shore at the Bocca de Cantara, his enemy was
preparing for him that surprise which was shortly afterwards to make of
him the laughing-stock of the whole of Europe. Dragut was in a trap,
and he was quite aware of the fact; by way of the Bocca de Cantara
escape was impossible, and neither a tame surrender nor complete
annihilation was by any means to the taste of the pirate leader. Had
Doria gone in and attacked at once, the fate of the corsair had been
sealed; the policy of delay adopted by the Christian admiral was his
salvation.
A man less able, less determined, than Dragut, might well have
despaired; but he brought to bear on the problem with which he was
confronted all the subtlety of his nature, all the resourcefulness
of the born seaman that he was. His mind had been made up from the
very beginning: the earthworks at the Bocca de Cantara, the movements
of troops, the furious cannonading, had all been nothing but a blind
to hide the real design which he had in view. In addition to his
fighting men he had at his command some two thousand islanders,
stout Mohammedans to a man, ready and willing to assist him in his
design of cheating the Christians of their prey. Day and night, with
ceaseless silent toil, had garrison and islanders been at work on the
scheme which the leader had devised. From the head of the harbour
Dragut had caused a road to be made right across the island to the
sea on the opposite side: on this road he caused planks to be laid,
bolted to sleepers and then thickly greased. The vessels of the day
were of course comparatively speaking light, and capable of being
manhandled, supposing that you had sufficient hands. At dead of night
Dragut assembled his forces, and before morning every galley, galeasse,
and brigantine had been dragged across the island and launched in the
sea on the opposite side. There was then nothing left to do but to
embark stores, guns, and ammunition and to sail quietly away, and this
was what happened. Once again Dragut faded away beyond the skyline,
“leaving Andrea Doria with the dog to hold,” in the quaint language of
the chronicler of these events, Don Luys de Marmol Caravajal.
Not only did the indefatigable corsair get clear away without any
suspicion on the part of the admiral, but his first act on gaining the
open sea was to capture the _Patrona_ galley sent from Sicily by Don Juan
de Vega to say that reinforcements were on the road. In this ill-fated
craft was Buguer, the son of Muley Hassan, King of Tunis, who was
sent as prize to Soliman at Constantinople, where the Sultan caused
him to be shut up in the “Torre del Mar Negro.” Here he remained
till he died, as a punishment for that he, a Mussulman, had aided the
Christians.
Never again was Dragut to be in such sore straits as he was on this
occasion at the island of Jerbah, when, by sheer wit and cunning, he
escaped from the trap in which he had been held by Doria. What the
emotions of the admiral must have been when he found that once again
he had been fooled, it is not difficult to imagine, as by no possible
means could the story be hushed up; and, in spite of the annoyance
of Christendom generally at the escape of Dragut, no one could help
admiring his extraordinary cleverness, or roaring with laughter at the
discomfiture of Doria and the viceroys of Naples and Sicily.
Dragut now returned to Constantinople to receive congratulations
upon his escape, and to take part in a fresh design of stirring up
the Sultan against the Christians. All who professed this faith were
naturally obnoxious to the corsair; but his private and personal hatred
was entirely directed against the Knights of Malta, with whom he had
been at war all his life. The present preoccupation of the Sultan was
to regain the towns on the coast of Africa which had been taken by
the Spaniards; but it was represented to him by Dragut that “until he
had smoked out this nest of vipers he could do no good anywhere.” The
Bashaws and the Divan, heavily bribed by the corsair, held the same
language, until Soliman heard of nothing from morning till night but
the ill deeds of the Knights of Malta. They were represented to him as
corsairs who ruined his commerce and defeated his armadas, who let
slip no opportunity of harrying the Moslem wheresoever he was to be
found. In this there was more than a grain of truth, as we shall see
when we come to the next chapter, which will be devoted to a sketch of
this militant order. Suffice it to say here that the Knights fought for
what they termed “the Religion” (it was in this manner they designated
their confederacy), and to harry and enslave the Mussulman, to destroy
him as a noxious animal wherever he was to be found, was the reason for
which they existed. It is true that they plundered not for individual
gain, but many was the rich prize towed into Malta past St. Elmo and
the ominously named “Punta delle Forche” (the “Point of the Gallows,”
where all captured pirates were hanged), the proceeds of which went to
the enrichment of the Order; to buy themselves the wherewithal to fight
with the Mahommedan again.
The abuse of the Knights fell upon sympathetic ears; in his early days
Soliman the Magnificent had expelled the Knights from Rhodes; since
then Charles V. had given them the islands of Malta and Gozo, and the
town of Tripoli in Barbary as their abiding place; from Malta they
had never ceased their warfare against the corsairs, and incidentally
against the Sultan and his subjects. Therefore, in this year 1551,
Soliman ordained that an expedition should be prepared with the object
of crushing once and for all these troublers of the peace of Islam.
The preparations were on so large a scale that very soon it became
noised abroad in Europe that something really serious was in the wind:
in Constantinople, however, men kept their own counsel; it was ill
talking of the affairs of the Padishah, and, further than that, beyond
Dragut and the proposed leaders of the expedition, the Sultan took
no one into his confidence. Charles V., well served as he was by his
spies, was as much in the dark as to the destination of this new armada
as were humbler folk; in it he recognised the hand of Dragut again,
and Doria had standing orders to catch that mischievous person if he
could. At present, however, there was no chance of so desirable a thing
happening, as Dragut was superintending the fitting out of the new
expedition at Constantinople.
Anxious and suspicious of the designs of the Turks, Charles ordered a
concentration of his fleet at Messina.
The Grand Master of the Knights of Malta at this time was a Spaniard,
one Juan d’Omedes; he was, says de Vertot, “un Grand Maître Espagnol,”
meaning by this that he was completely under the domination of the
Emperor and ready at any time to place the galleys of “the Religion”
under the orders of that monarch. The Knights, like every one else,
had watched with anxiety the preparation of this great expedition in
Constantinople, and when the Grand Master proposed to send the galleys
of the Order to join forces with Doria at Messina, there was great
dissatisfaction at the Council Board. That which it behoved them to
do, the members informed the Grand Master, was not to help a great
potentate like Charles, but to make provision for their own security
by attending to their fortifications, which were in anything but a
satisfactory condition. D’Omedes maintained that this expedition was
destined to serve with the King of France against the Emperor, and
that Malta was not the objective. He accordingly sent away the galleys
of “the Religion” under the Chevalier “Iron-Foot,” the General of the
Galleys, to join the fleet which had its rendezvous at Messina. Hardly
had he done so when news came from the Levant that the fleet of the
Grand Turk was at sea heading for Sicily. The fleet was composed of
one hundred and twelve royal galleys, two great galeasses, and a host
of brigantines and transport vessels. Sinan-Reis was in command with
twelve thousand Janissaries, numerous pioneers and engineers, and all
the necessary appliances for a siege.
The embarkation of so large a number of Janissaries was the measure of
the serious purpose of the expedition, as the Sultan did not readily
part with the men of this _corps d’élite_ unless he was in person taking
the command. It may be as well to explain here exactly what the
Janissaries were, and it cannot be better done than by an extract from
the famous historian Prescott:
“The most remarkable of the Turkish institutions, the one which may
be said to have formed the keystone of the system, was that relating
to the Christian population of the Empire. Once in five years a
general conscription was made by means of which all the children of
Christian parents who had reached the age of seven and gave promise of
excellence in mind or body were taken from their homes and brought to
the capital. They were then removed to different quarters and placed
in seminaries where they might receive such instruction as would fit
them for the duties of life. Those giving greatest promise of
strength and endurance were sent to places prepared for them in Asia
Minor. Here they were subjected to a severe training, to abstinence,
to privations of every kind, and to the strict discipline which should
fit them for the profession of a soldier. From this body was formed the
famous corps of the Janissaries.... Their whole life may be said to
have been passed in war or in preparation for it. Forbidden to marry,
they had no families to engage their affections, which, as with the
monks and friars of Christian countries, were concentrated in their
own order, whose prosperity was inseparably connected with that of
the State. Proud of the privileges which distinguished them from the
rest of the army, they seemed desirous to prove their title to them
by their thorough discipline and by their promptness to execute the
most dangerous and difficult services. Clad in their flowing robes, so
little suited to war, armed with the arquebus and the scimitar—in their
hands more than a match for the pike or sword of the European—with
the heron’s plume waving above their head, their dense array might
ever be seen bearing down in the thickest of the fight; and more than
once when the fate of the Empire trembled in the balance it was this
invincible corps which turned the scale, and by their intrepid conduct
decided the fortune of the day. Gathering fresh reputation with age,
so long as their discipline remained unimpaired they were a match for
the best soldiers in Europe. But in time this admirable organisation
experienced a change. One Sultan allowed them to marry; another to
bring their sons into the corps; a third opened the ranks to Turks as
well as Christians; until, forfeiting their peculiar character, the
Janissaries became confounded with the militia of the Empire. These
changes occurred in the time of Philip the Second.”
But to resume: just before the sailing of the galleys of “the Religion”
from Malta there had arrived in that island from France the famous
Chevalier, the Commandeur de Villegagnon. This great noble told the
Grand Master to his face that he was neglecting his duty, that the
expedition of the Grand Turk was bound for Malta and Tripoli: further,
that he was charged by Anne de Montmorency, Constable and First
Minister of France, to advise the Grand Master that this armament was
directed against “the Religion.” The interview between the Grand Master
and de Villegagnon took place at a chapter of the Grand Crosses of the
Order; when the Commandeur had finished speaking, he was coldly thanked
by D’Omedes, who then bowed him out. Turning to the Knights Grand
Cross he said with a sneer, “Either this Frenchman is the dupe of the
Constable or he wishes to make us his.” He then proceeded to give at
length the reasons why Soliman would not direct so huge an expedition
against “the Religion.” Many of the Knights dissented vehemently from
his conclusions, but D’Omedes refused to listen to their arguments.
Even advices which arrived on July 13th, representing that the armada
was moving southwards devastating the Italian ports, did not move him
from his obstinate pre-occupation; till on July 16th the arrival of the
Ottoman fleet put an end to all speculation.
The armada which had sailed from Constantinople was under the command
of Sinan Basha: but he had explicit orders that he was to take no
important step without first consulting Dragut, who was nominally his
lieutenant. It was well for the Knights that on this occasion the
corsair was not in supreme command; had this been the case the islands
must have been taken, as no preparations had been made to repulse an
attack in force, and Juan D’Omedes was a Grand Master who excited
little enthusiasm either among the Knights or the inhabitants. The
choice of Sinan was not one which did great credit to the penetration
of the Sultan. Let us explain. We are all of us conscious at one time
or another of a desire to express some fact in the fewest possible
words; to place the transaction or the circumstance which we wish
to describe in the searchlight of truth in so undeniable a fashion
that the illumination consequent upon this mental effort of our own
shall throw up our meaning in immediate relief on the intelligences
of those whom we address. This attribute is possessed by but few even
among great writers—indeed, some historic sayings which have come
down to us have not emanated from the writing fraternity at all, but
from soldiers, sailors, statesmen, and other busy men of affairs.
The quality which distinguishes a man of action above all others is
fearlessness of responsibility; the possession of sufficient greatness
of soul and of moral fibre to seize upon an opportunity and to make
the most thereof when an occasion arises which has not been foreseen
by those in authority over him. But far more often in the history
of the world has it happened that brave and capable leaders have
failed for the lack of the indefinable quality that separated their
sterling merits from that absolute and real supremacy which marks the
first-class man.
How then is it possible to differentiate, to describe where and in
what manner this luck occurs?
Fortunately, this has been done for us in seven words by Seignelay, the
Minister of Marine to Louis Quatorze in 1692. Speaking of Admiral de
Tourville, who defeated the English and Dutch at the Battle of Beachy
Head, July 10th, 1690, Seignelay says of him that he was “poltron
de tête mais pas de coeur.” The judgment was just: de Tourville, as
recklessly gallant as any French noble of them all, failed to live up
to his responsibilities two years later at the Battle of La Hogue.
Mahan says: “The caution in his pursuit of the Allies after Beachy
Head, though so different in appearance, came from the same trait
which impelled him two years later to lead his fleet to almost certain
destruction at La Hogue because he had the King’s order in his pocket.
He was brave enough to do anything, but not strong enough to bear the
heaviest burdens.”
We see the application of this truth in the period which we are
considering; particularly is it borne in upon us in the case of the
leaders of the Ottoman Turks. Serving as they did a despot of unlimited
powers, failure in the success of his arms was apt to lead to the
immediate and violent death of the man in command. If, therefore,
precise instructions were issued, they were, as a rule, carried out
to the letter; as in case of defeat an effort could be made to shift
responsibility on to the shoulders of the Padishah. Failure owing to
initiative was certain of prompt retribution; success complete and
absolute would be the only justification for a departure from orders.
Far otherwise was it with the Sea-wolves, who were a law to themselves
and to themselves alone. Should they care “to place it on the hazard of
a die to win or lose it all,” there was none to say them nay, there was
no punishment save that of defeat. This it was that so often conduced
to their success. Despots as were such men as Kheyr-ed-Din Barbarossa
and Dragut, they were none the less dependent on the goodwill of their
followers. If, therefore, they decided on a desperate enterprise, they
appealed to the fighting instincts, the cupidity, and the fanaticism
of these men. Should they succeed in gaining their good will for the
attempt which they meditated, then all was well with them, and behind
them was no grim sinister figure whose word was death and whose breath
was destruction.
Freed from all the trammels which bound the ordinary warrior of the day
in which they lived, they were able, as we have seen, to go far; for
the man in whom supreme ability is united to absolute unscrupulousness
is the most dangerous foe of the human race. The despotism of the
leaders among the sea-wolves was not theirs by right divine, as men
considered it to be in the case of the Padishah; none the less in its
practical application it was but little inferior to that wielded by
the Sultan. For reasons of policy, the Sea-wolves allied themselves
to the Grand Turk; for reasons of policy that monarch employed them
and entrusted them with the conduct of important affairs. The bargain
was really a good one on both sides; as to the sea-wolves was extended
the ægis of one of the mightiest empires of the earth; while to
the Sultan came “veritable men of the sea,” hardened in conflict, as
fearless of responsibility as of aught else; capable in a sense that
hardly any man could be capable who had grown up in the atmosphere of
the court at Constantinople. To Kheyr-ed-Din the Sultan had extended
his fullest confidence; he had been rewarded by seeing the renowned
Doria forsake the field of battle at Prevesa, and by the perpetual
slights and insults put upon his Christian foes by that great corsair.
To Dragut he had now turned, and, as we have said, when Sinan Basha
sailed from the Golden Horn he had orders to attempt nothing important
without the advice of the corsair. It is impossible to say why the
command-in-chief had not been entrusted to him, as the Sultan had the
precedent of Kheyr-ed-Din upon which to go. It can only be conjectured
that Soliman, having discovered how unpopular that appointment had been
amongst his high officers, did not care to risk the experiment the
second time; and in consequence employed Sinan. To this officer the
aphorism of Seignelay applies in its fullest force. He was as brave a
man as ever drew a sword in the service of his master; he was, however,
a hesitating and incompetent leader, with one eye ever fixed on that
distant palace on the shores of the Golden Horn in which dwelt the
arbiter of his destiny and of all those who sailed beneath the banner
of the Crescent.