Meanwhile in the port of Messina Marco Antonio Colonna and Sebastian Veniero, with the Pontifical and Venetian fleets, awaited the coming of D. John of Austria. The delay made the two Generals impatient, especially Veniero, an irascible, vehement, fiery old man of seventy, who saw with anxiety the season advancing and the provisions being consumed during that useless delay. Colonna shared his fears and impatience, and a dreadful blow, moreover, came to distract him at this supreme moment. His angelic daughter Giovanna Colonna, Duchess de Mondragone, died suddenly in Rome, and this unexpected sorrow plunged him in the deepest grief. He retired to his galley, not wishing to see anyone, and ordered that all the galleys of his fleet should be painted black; the ropes and the sails were also to be stained black, and the lanterns, escutcheon and flags covered with crape. This sombre mourning fleet anchored in the port was looked on as a bad omen in Messina, and sinister rumours of fresh pillage by the Turks in Corfu, and that their fleet was hastening to fall on Sicily, caused great alarm among this superstitious and fanatic people, which neither the news that D. John had left Naples nor the sumptuous preparations for his reception sufficed to calm. On the 23rd of August, at noon, the Sicilian watchmen spied a numerous fleet, with all sails set, making for the lighthouse. Hope awoke in some, terror in others, for while all sensible people were certain that this was the expected fleet of D. John of Austria, the ignorant were frightened, and cried out that it was the dreaded Turk, and upset the town with their shouting and hurrying to and fro. The two fleets, Pontifical and Venetian, set out to meet the coming one, and on the weighing of the anchors of Colonna's mourning ships, a great clamour arose among the superstitious populace, begging that if he left he would not return, because this black fleet could only bring desolation and death to Messina. Two miles beyond the entrance of the straits the two fleets met that of D. John, and the joy and enthusiasm were equal on both sides. Marco Antonio left his captain's cabin for the first time, and boarded the royal galley to kiss D. John of Austria's hand; but he ran to meet the afflicted father, and took him in his arms, and pressed him to his heart. Marco Antonio Colonna was the picture of a great Italian noble of his day: tall, well made, and of proud bearing, an oval face, with a wide, bare forehead, and big moustaches getting grey, although he was only thirty-five. He was of great intelligence, very brave and magnanimous, and had the soul of a poet.