The Sublime Porte now entrusted the command of the fleet to Murad Beg formerly governor of the sanjak of Katif, and ordered him to remain at Bassora, with the vessels already in his command, consisting of five galleys and one goletta. Shortly after, he quitted Bassora, at the head of a fleet of fifteen galleys and two barges, (one of his galleys having sunk,) and directed his course towards Egypt. Near Ormuz he met the infidels’ fleet, which he immediately attacked, and a desperate engagement ensued, in which Soleiman Reis, (the Capudan Reis,) Rajab Reis, with a great number of men, obtained the palm of martyrdom, and many others were wounded. The infidels did considerable damage to the Moslem ships, which, unable to sustain the continual fire of the enemy, escaped by night. One of their vessels, which was left behind, was driven ashore near Lar, and captured by the infidels, part of the crew escaping and the rest being made prisoners. The remainder of the fleet returned to Bassora, whence tidings of the sad event were immediately communicated to the Sublime Porte. ACCOUNT OF SEIDI ALI, CAPUDAN. Seidi Ali Ibn Hosein, whose poetical appellation was Katebi, besides being famed for his poetical productions, was celebrated for his works on navigation and astronomy, as well in prose as in verse. He was author of a work called _Mohit_, (the Ocean,) on the Indian Ocean, and of another called the _Merat al Kainat_, (the Mirror of Creation,) treating of the science of the astrolabe, of squares, circles, and sines. He was moreover the translator of a work called the Fat’hia. There has never been his equal in the arsenal. He served with the late sultan, Soleiman Khan, at the capture of Rhodes, and afterwards in Moghreb, and other places with Khair-ad-din Pasha, Senan Pasha, and many others. His father and grandfather having held the office of governor of the arsenal ever since the capture of Constantinople, the science of navigation descended to him as a legacy; and it was on this account that Sultan Soleiman Khan, about the end of the year 960 (A. D. 1553), rewarded him with the post of capudan of Egypt, and ordered him to bring to Cairo the vessels which were lying at Bassora. EXPEDITION OF SEIDI ALI TO THE EASTERN OCEAN.