Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 07 (of 15), SpanishMorris, Charles
History
Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 07 (of 15), Spanish
Morris, Charles
Spain -- History
On the right, as related, Andrew Doria had suffered a severe loss by
stretching his line too far. He would have suffered still more had not the
reserve under Santa Cruz, which had already given aid to Don John, come to
his relief. Strengthened by Cardona with the Sicilian squadron, he fell on
the Algerine galleys with such fierceness that they were forced to recoil.
In their retreat they were hotly assailed by Doria, and Uluch, beset on
all sides, was obliged to abandon his prizes and take to flight. Tidings
now came to him of the defeat of the centre and the death of Ali, and,
hoisting signals for retreat, he stood in all haste to the north, followed
by the galleys of his fleet.
With all sail spread and all its oarsmen vigorously at work, the corsair
fleet sped rapidly away, followed by Doria and Santa Cruz. Don John joined
in the pursuit, hoping to intercept the fugitives in front of a rocky
headland which stretched far into the sea. But the skilled Algerine leader
weathered this peril, losing a few vessels on the rocks, the remainder,
nearly forty in number, bearing boldly onward. Soon they distanced their
pursuers, many of whose oarsmen had taken part and been wounded in the
fight. Before nightfall the Algerines were vanishing below the horizon.
There being signs of a coming storm, Don John hastened to seek a harbor of
refuge, setting fire to such vessels as were damaged beyond usefulness,
and with the remainder of his prizes making all haste to the neighboring
port of Petala, the best harbor within reach.
The loss of the Turks had been immense, probably not less than twenty-five
thousand being killed and five thousand taken prisoners. To Don John’s
prizes may be added twelve thousand Christian captives, chained to the
oars by the Turks, who now came forth, with tears of joy, to bless their
deliverers. The allies had lost no more than eight thousand men. This
discrepancy was largely due to their use of fire-arms, while many of the
Turks fought with bows and arrows. Only the forty Algerine ships escaped;
one hundred and thirty vessels were taken. The Christian loss was but
fifteen galleys. The spoils were large and valuable, consisting in great
measure of gold, jewels, and rich brocades.
Of the noble cavaliers who took part in the fight, we shall speak only of
Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, a nephew of Don John, whom he was
destined to succeed in military renown. He began here his career with a
display of courage and daring unsurpassed on the fleet. Among the
combatants was a common soldier, Cervantes by name, whose future glory was
to throw into the shade that of all the leaders in the fight. Though
confined to bed with a fever on the morning of the battle, he insisted on
taking part, and his courage in the affray was shown by two wounds on his
breast and a third in his hand which disabled it for life. Fortunately it
was the left hand. The right remained to write the immortal story of Don
Quixote de la Mancha.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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