The Story of the Barbary CorsairsLane-Poole, Stanley
History
The Story of the Barbary Corsairs
Lane-Poole, Stanley
Africa, North -- History -- 1517-1882; Pirates
Six thousand Turks disembarked, forty cannons were landed, Sinān
himself directed every movement, and arranged his batteries and
earthworks. A heavy cannonade produced no effect on the walls, and the
Turkish admiral thought of the recent repulse at Malta, and of the
stern face of his master; and his head sat uneasily upon his neck. The
siege appeared to make no progress. Perhaps this venture, too, would
have failed, but for the treachery of a French renegade, who escaped
into the trenches and pointed out the weak places in the walls. His
counsel was taken; the walls fell down; the garrison, in weariness and
despair, had lain down to sleep off their troubles, and no reproaches
and blows could rouse them. On August 15th Gaspard de Villiers was
forced to surrender, on terms, as he believed, identical with those
which Suleymān granted to the Knights of Rhodes.[41] But Sinān
was no Suleymān; moreover, he was in a furious rage with the whole
Order. He put the garrison--all save a few--in chains, and carried
them off to grace his triumph at Stambol.
Thus did Tripoli fall once more into the hands of the Moslems,
forty-one years after its conquest by the Count Don Pedro Navarro.[42]
The misfortunes of the Christians did not end here. Year after year
the Ottoman fleet appeared in Italian waters, marshalled now by
Sinān, and when he died by Piāli Pasha the Croat, but always
with Dragut in the van; year by year the coasts of Apulia and Calabria
yielded up more and more of their treasure, their youth, and their
beauty, to the Moslem ravishers; yet worse was in store. Unable as
they felt themselves to cope with the Turks at sea, the Powers of
Southern Europe resolved to strike one more blow on land, and recover
Tripoli. A fleet of nearly a hundred galleys and ships, gathered from
Spain, Genoa, "the Religion," the Pope, from all quarters, with the
Duke de Medina-Celi at the head, assembled at Messina. Doria was too
old to command, but his kinsman, Giovanni Andrea, son of his loved and
lost Giannettino, led the Genoese galleys. The Fates seemed adverse
from the outset. Five times the expedition put to sea; five times was
it driven back by contrary winds.[43] At last, on February 10, 1560,
it was fairly away for the African coast. Here fresh troubles awaited
it. Long delays in crowded vessels had produced their disastrous
effects: fevers and scurvy and dysentery were working their terrible
ravages among the crews, and two thousand corpses were flung into the
sea. It was impossible to lay siege to Tripoli with a diseased army,
and when actually in sight of their object the admirals gave orders to
return to Jerba.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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