Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/332

302 rapidly down upon the scene of strife. With this reinforcement the victory was speedily accomplished, and the remaining five ships carried in triumph into port. The crews, including those who had already landed in the island, were sold into slavery.

This advantage was followed shortly afterwards by another, involving the capture of a carrack which trafficked annually between the ports of Egypt and the north coast of Africa. This vessel, which was called the Jlograbine, or “Queen of the Seas,” was of so great a size that it was said six men could scarcely embrace her mainmast. She had no less than seven decks, and carried 100 guns, with a crew of 1,000 men. Gastineau, commander of Limoges, undertook to attempt the capture of this leviathan, freighted as she was with an enormous quantity of costly merchandise. Having succeeded in running his galley close alongside of the carrack under cover of a parley, he suddenly opened a murderous discharge upon her crowded decks. The effect was tremendous, the captain of the carrack being amongst the killed. Whilst the Turks were in a state of panic at this unlooked-for assault, and without a leader, Gastineau, followed by his crew, dashed on board and secured the prize, which he carried safely into Rhodes. The proceeds of this capture were very large. Not only did the rich merchandise afford an ample plunder, but the ransoms which the sultan of Egypt was compelled to pay for the release of the captured merchants brought a most welcome addition to the funds of the treasury.

Three years later a still more important advantage attested the naval superiority of the knights of Rhodes. The sultan of Egypt had, with the sanction of the Ottoman emperor, despatched into the gulf of Ajaccio a colony of shipbuilders under the protection of a fleet of twenty-five vessels, commissioned to construct ships to be employed against the galleys of Rhodes. The Grand-Master at once fitted out an expedition against this colony. The conduct of the enterprise was confided to a Portuguese knight called Andrew d’Amaral, whose name subsequently attained a melancholy notoriety during the second siege of Rhodes. Associated in the command with him was another knight named Villiers do L’Isle Adam, who was destined to achieve a very different