In a heavy south-westerly gale, which, as often happens in the Mediterranean, was accompanied by terrific thunderstorms, the Venetians bore down upon their opponents. They evidently had the advantage of being before the wind, while the Genoese must have been obliged to heave to in order to hold their own, a matter of no small difficulty for a war vessel of the fourteenth century. Yet in spite of their superior position at the time of the attack, four out of the fourteen Venetian galleys were so hopelessly separated from the rest as to be unable to join in the fight. Any seaman will at once understand that they must have run past the Genoese to the northward, and that they were then unable to beat back to the scene of action before night. On the other hand, one of the Genoese ships got aground on the dangerous lee shore and went to pieces. The result of long and fierce fighting was a complete victory for the Venetians. They captured five of the enemy’s galleys and took Fieschi himself prisoner. He must have had gloomy forebodings when he was taken, remembering how Pisani’s terrible namesake had drowned five thousand prisoners of war after the battle of Lojera, or Cagliari. And the Venetian admiral doubtless remembered and hoped to atone [Illustration: THE SALUTE, NIGHT] for that barbarous deed, for he treated his captives with every kindness; and even after they had reached Venice they were not confined in the prisons, but were merely shut up and guarded in vast warehouses, where they had plenty of air and were abundantly provided with necessaries. A committee of noblemen was deputed to take care of them, and to see that they lacked nothing. The ladies of Venice also organised themselves in a sort of sisterhood, for the purpose of ministering to the not over-great sufferings of the vanquished, and the noblest names of the Republic stand on the list of those charitable women. Anna Falier, Francesca Bragadin, Margherita Michiel, Marchesina Bembo, and several others are especially mentioned by the historians as ‘angels of goodness and devotion.’ All Venice sought to be forgiven by Europe for the horrors of Lojera. Pisani had been far too prudent to push on to Genoa with a fleet which only counted nineteen sail, including his five prizes, and he deemed it wiser to return to the Adriatic and to harass the Genoese on the coast of Greece and Dalmatia, whence, under the protection of the King of Hungary, they constantly made piratical excursions against the Venetian merchantmen. [Sidenote: _Storming of Cattaro, A. Vicentino; Sala dello Scrutinio. Rom. iii. 265._]