Another distinguished family of Ragusan mariners was that of Ivelja Ohmučević, Count of Tuhelj. The Ohmučevići were among the earliest exiles from the Herzegovina, who took refuge at Ragusa at the time of the Turkish conquest, and were granted lands at Slano. They at once began to devote themselves to maritime affairs, and in 1540 and 1541 the Republic hired their ships to transport grain from Italy. Their house at Slano was a miniature court, and fitted up with every luxury and elegance. It was a haven of refuge, where hospitality was dispensed to all sailors or voyagers who entered Slano harbour to escape from the tempest or from the pirates. Thus the Greek prince Alexius Comnenus, after having been defeated by the corsair Karakosha, put in at Slano and repaired his ships in Ivelja’s docks in 1569. He eventually settled there, and married into the Count’s family. Ivelja’s sons all entered the Spanish service, in which they greatly distinguished themselves. The most famous of them was Don Pietro d’Ivelja Ohmučević-Grgurić, who took part in the expedition to Portugal in 1580, where it is said that forty Ragusan vessels were lost, and in 1582 he commanded some Ragusan ships in the expedition to the Azores, under the Marquis de Santa Cruz. Later he raised a force against the pirate Passareto, who was eventually killed. He fitted out a fleet of twelve ships, known as the “Twelve Apostles,” for the service of Spain, manned by 3200 Ragusans and other Dalmatians, at a cost of 190,000 ducats.[483] This squadron took part in an expedition to the Indies and in the Invincible Armada. One of the ships, the _Annunciation_, was commanded by Count Peter’s brother-in-law, the Almirante Don Estevan de Olisti-Tasovčić, “a very brave youth, of high spirits and beautiful manners,”[484] who behaved with conspicuous gallantry in the Armada. “Finding himself separated from the body of the Spanish fleet, he was bombarded by the enemies’ batteries, and escaped out of the range of their fire with difficulty, and in such a terrible plight that he was in danger of foundering, and unable to repair the damages. The Duke of Medina-Sidonia, grasping the situation, at once sent two _pataches_[485] to the rescue, so as to save at least the crew. Don Estevan made for the Irish coast near Limerick, and succeeded in transferring his men from the doomed galleon to the _pataches_ under a heavy fire. He then burnt his ship, to prevent her falling into the hands of the English, and sailed away to Santander, which he reached without the loss of a single man.[486] Afterwards he joined Count Peter at Cape Finisterre with a new galleon, which he had fitted out at his own expense, so as to complete the “Twelve Apostles.” When Count Peter died he left the fleet as an inheritance to the King of Spain. But the vessels foundered soon after, and Don Estevan was sent to Terceira with another squadron. This, too, came to a similar end, and sank with all hands in a sudden Atlantic storm.