The Battle of Lepanto

Melvin E. Kriesel

 

Colonel Melvin (Buzz) Kriesel is retired from the U.S. Army. This essay is from the book Lepanto recently published by Ignatis Press. The order number to purchase the book (which is about the battle) is 800-651-1531.

The mighty armada formed by the Holy League had been lying at anchor since October 5, 1571. Foul winds and heavy fog had forced the fleet to stay in the harbor at Viscanto off the coast of Greece. It was the largest Christian force ever assembled with 208 war galleys and 76 smaller craft manned by Venetian, Spanish, Genoese, Portuguese, and Papal crews. More than 30,000 soldiers packed the galley decks—another 50,000 men were crammed below decks manning oars.

Its improbable Admiral, the 24-year-old Don John of Austria, led the Christian fleet. He was the bastard son of Emperor Charles V and half brother of Philip II, the reigning King of Spain. Pope Pius V personally selected the youthful prince to lead the often fractious, always squabbling Holy League. Pius V had immediately sensed that Don John was “someone who in council would rise above pettiness and envy, who in battle would lead without flinching.” The Holy Father blessed the young admiral and told him, “Charles V gave you life. I will give you honor and greatness.”

Pius V ordered the Holy League to advance south into the Gulf of Patras to seek out the Ottoman fleet reported to be lying at anchor in the fortified harbor of Lepanto. The Ottoman fleet was fresh from its recent victory at Cyprus. Sultan Selim II was now assembling the men and ships necessary to sack Rome. In their advance throughout the Mediterranean, the Turks called Rome “the Red Apple.” It was ripe, bright, and full of plunder. Pius V was certain the attack would take place the following year. He was convinced that the only chance to repel such an attack was to assemble as large a fleet as possible and engage the Turks at sea, rather than sit and wait for them to advance on Rome. He also knew that if Rome fell, all of Europe would fall after it. His strategy was two-fold. He had both a physical and a spiritual plan of attack. He was counting on the Turkish fleet accepting the Holy League’s challenge:

I take it for certain that the Turks, swollen by their victories, will wish to take on our fleet, and God—I have the pious presentiment—will give us victory.

And most importantly, he knew that he was fighting a holy war, and that a holy war required holy men: “I am taking up arms against the Turks, but the only thing that can help me is the prayers of priests of pure life.” In Don John, the Pope had a commander who shared perfectly his faith and philosophy. According to the Historian, Jack Beeching (in The Galleys at Lepanto, Scribners’ Sons):

Don John was clear in his own mind as to the terms on which Islamic aggression must be fought. . . . He had been given the task of fighting a total war against another system of ideas—historically, the hardest of all wars to win. . . . It followed that in the ships of the Holy League blasphemy or any other kind of religious doubt, openly expressed, had to be treated as sedition. The impending battle could be won only by men who were unanimous.

The Pope might not have been so confident had he known the actual size of the Ottoman fleet anchored at Lepanto. There were over 100,000 men, many of them Janissaries, the most formidable infantrymen of their age, poised for an attack on Christendom. An Ottoman fleet of over 300 major war galleys and 80 assorted gun ships ensured that the coming battle would be the largest galley fight in naval history. Ironically, it would prove that the age of the oared ship was already past.

On Sunday, October 7, 1571, Don John ordered the Christian fleet to weigh anchor and move south to seek out the Turkish fleet. However, no galley sailed until the Catholic priests serving as chaplains on each galley finished celebrating a predawn mass. The priests represented the major religious orders of the faith: Capuchins, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Theatines. They granted each man in the fleet the general absolution declared by the Pope to all who served and died on this fateful day.

The day did not begin well for the Christian fleet as it moved through the early morning fog and mist. The rowers manning the banks of heavy oars had to struggle to keep the galleys in motion against stiff headwinds blowing up the coast of Greece. Bosons with whips paced the catwalks, ready to lash any man not thought to be pulling his weight. With great difficulty, the fleet worked its way South and rounded into the narrows of the Gulf of Patras.

As the Christian advance guard entered the Gulf, it saw a gigantic force of Ottoman war galleys bearing from the east in full battle array. The Ottoman fleet commanded by Muezzinzade (Admiral) Ali Pasha had left its fortified harbor at Lepanto and was now anchored at the mouth of the Gulf awaiting news of the advancing Christians. Ali Pasha ordered his fleet to take up battle stations as soon as lookouts posted high on the peaks guarding the Northern shore signaled that the Christian fleet was entering the Gulf. Less than 15 miles of open water now separated the forces of Christendom from an Islamic multitude that stretched, shore to shore, across the Gulf.

Ali Pasha’s war galleys were deployed in a gigantic crescent. In the center, the Christians could see Ali Pasha’s green and gold battle pennant streaming high on the mast of his flagship, the Sultana. The Islamic pennant was covered with verses from the Koran and emblazoned with the name of Allah embroidered 28,900 times in gold calligraphy. It was the banner of the Sultan and one of the Islamic treasures of Mecca. The Prophet himself had carried the sacred symbol—it had never been captured in battle.

Don John signaled that he intended to engage. He ordered that the battle pennant of the Holy League be run up the mast of his command ship, the Real. The great banner, blessed and given to the Holy League by Pius V, unfurled to display a gigantic cross. The consecrated banner was heralded by a great shout from the soldiers of the Holy League who until this time had been ominously quiet. By contrast, the Muslim fleet was advancing in a cacophony of sound—ululating war cries and prayers, random shots, clashing gongs and banging cymbals, and bugles blaring, all meant to attack the enemy’s courage and shatter his nerve.

The war galleys of the Holy League continued to struggle with a head wind while the galley slaves of the Ottoman fleet rested at their oars. Priests on the Christian galleys moved about the decks with raised crucifixes, blessing the men and hearing final confessions. Every man on board, whether slave or free, held a Rosary and implored the Blessed Virgin for victory in the coming battle. Their prayers joined those of countless Christians throughout Europe who were also praying the Rosary as requested by the Pope.

Don John climbed into a small galliot and rowed across the line of his advancing armada calling out to his men,

You have come to fight the battle of the Cross—to conquer or to die. But whether you die or conquer, do your duty this day, and you will secure a glorious immortality.

Then, he went back to the Real and knelt at the bow, eyes raised to heaven, humbly praying that the Almighty bless his people with victory. Across the fleet, officers and men followed his example by dropping to their knees. With eyes fixed on the consecrated banner streaming from the mast of the Real, they petitioned the Lord of Hosts for help in the coming struggle.

Then, a miracle occurred. The wind opposing the Christian fleet switched allegiance; it came completely around and began to blow against the Muslim fleet. Across the galleys of the Holy League, lateen sails were quickly raised just as Ottoman sails were hastily dropped. The sails of the Christian fleet filled as if from a “mighty and confident breath.” The Ottoman galley slaves were roused from under their benches and whipped into action.

Throughout the Christian fleet, slaves and convicts who had been chained to their benches were unshackled and handed swords or half-pikes. None doubted that a mighty providence had intervened on their behalf. They had all been promised freedom in the event of a victory. Favorable winds freed up thousands of Christians for the coming battle. In contrast, each galley slave in the Muslim fleet remained chained to his bench. If his galley went down, he perished with it.

The Christian fleet maintained an extended front of about three miles as it closed on its adversary. On the far right was a squadron of 64 galleys commanded by Gian Andrea Doria of Genoa. The center or main battle commanded by Don John had 63 galleys. The ships of his Vice Admirals were on either side of the Real—on the right the Commander of the Papal fleet, Antonio Colonna, and on the left, Sebastian Veniero, the fiery captain-general of the Venetians who at 76, was the oldest man fighting at Lepanto.

The left wing of the Christian line had another 63 galleys and was commanded by the Venetian, Agostino Barbarigo. A reserve squadron of 35 galleys under the exceptionally brave and competent Marquis of Santa Cruz was centered to the rear of the main battle. The reserve under Santa Cruz would play a critical role in the outcome of the looming engagement.

Ali Pasha was in direct command of the 96 warships comprising the Ottoman main battle opposite Don John. He had deployed on his right, his best commander, Muhammad Sirocco with 56 galleys of low draft—their mission was to turn the flank of the Venetian left wing by sailing as close to the shore line as possible; a place where Venetian galleys with their deeper draft couldn’t sail.

On his left, Ali Pasha placed the Algerian, Uluch Ali and 93 galleys—their mission was to extend the Christian right and try to detach it from the main battle. It was a good plan and might have succeeded were it not for the surprises the Christians had in store for Ali Pasha and his men.

The first surprise was the six heavily armed war galleys (galleasses) placed a mile in advance of the Christian line. When Ali Pasha’s galleys passed these ungainly but deadly vessels, they came under fire from 400 harquebusiers who fired massed volleys into the Janissaries packed on the decks of the Muslim galleys. Then, the 54 cannon mounted beneath the high decks of each galleass, fired broadsides into the Turkish galleys as they attempted to pass the great ships. A single volley destroyed some Ottoman war galleys. A large segment of the advancing crescent was disrupted before it even met the extended battle line of the Christian fleet. It was the very first time that the high walled galleasses with their banks of cannon were ever used in battle. Lepanto signaled the end of oared galleys. Future battles would be decided by broadside cannon and sail and not by infantry assaulting from the decks of oared galleys.

The second surprise in store for Ali Pasha and his fleet was the strange appearance of the Christian war galleys. Don John, on the advice of the Genoese admiral, Andrea Doria, had ordered the removal of the iron rams mounted on the bows of their galleys. Andrea Doria was a seasoned veteran of galley warfare. He had observed that the ram would not allow the main cannon in the bow to depress at close range—most shots were sent high and harmlessly into the enemies sails and rigging. Without their iron rams, the Christians were able to deliver devastating cannon fire aimed at the water line of the attacking galleys, often sinking them with a single volley.

As the fleets closed for battle, Don John ordered his helmsmen to steer for the enemy’s flagship. So, too, did Ali Pasha. Both leaders ignored the convention of galley warfare that flagships did not engage one another. The two flagships collided in a staggering crash, the prow of the larger, heavier Sultana smashing its way into the fourth bench of rowers on the Real. Grappling lines quickly locked the two ships into a deadly duel.

The third surprise occurred when Ali Pasha and his Janissaries attempted to board the Christian galleys. When the fanatically brave Janissaries began to climb the sides of the Real, they reached an unfamiliar, deadly obstacle: All of Don John’s galleys had boarding nets stretched from stem to stern. Unable to board, the Janissaries hung in the nets absorbing the withering fire of the Spanish infantry massed on board the Real. Their bravery approached insanity as they tried to grapple their way up the sides of the Real only to be shredded by musketry. More than eight hundred men were now packed shoulder to shoulder on the decks of the two ships, raining arrows and musket balls point blank into one another. The carnage was terrible. Scores of dead and dying men soon littered both decks.

Then, it was the turn of the Spanish infantry to mount their assault on the Sultana. Miguel Cervantes who fought with distinction at Lepanto, losing the use of his left hand, wrote a passage in Don Quixote that describes the great bravery displayed by those who gave their lives boarding an enemy galley:

. . . the soldier . . . urged on by the honor that nerves him, he makes himself a target for all that musketry, and struggles to cross that narrow path to the enemy’s ship. And what is still more marvelous, no sooner has one gone down into the depths he will never rise from till the end of the world, than another takes his place; and if he too falls into the sea that waits for him like an enemy, another and another will succeed him without a moment’s pause between their deaths; courage and daring the greatest that all the chances of war can show. —Don Quixote, Part I, Chapter 38

Don John’s Spanish infantry was forced to muster three times before they gained a foothold on the blood-smeared decks of the Sultana. The harquebuses (muskets) of the West slowly overcame the traditional composite, recurve bows of the East. Even though the Turkish bowmen might get off as many as thirty arrows before the harquebusier could reload for another shot, the Turkish arrows could not penetrate the armor of the Spanish infantry. The musket balls of the harquebusiers devastated the unarmored Turks, blowing wide swaths through their massed ranks.

Don John was wounded in the final assault on the Sultana. Ali Pasha went down with a musket ball to the forehead. An armed convict, one of those freed and armed by Don John, quickly severed Ali’s head and hoisted it on a pike. He carried the grisly symbol of victory to the quarterdeck of the Real. With their commander visibly dead, the men of the Sultana were finally overrun and subdued. Simultaneously, the sacred banner of the Prophet was swept from the masthead and the Papal banner raised in its place. A blare of trumpets and cries of “Victory” all down the Christian line signaled Don John’s capture of the Muslim flagship.

On the left side of the Christian line, the galleys of the Venetian Admiral, Agostino Barbarigo remained locked in a desperate struggle. Barbarigo had barely managed to avoid having his line turned by Muhammad Sirocco. The battle was fearsome. In some instances every man on board a galley was slain or wounded—“Christian and Muslim lying promiscuously together in the embrace of death.” Capuchin priests were seen at the front of many boarding parties, leading the assault with uplifted Crucifix. On some Turkish galleys, Christian slaves managed to break their chains and join the battle against their masters.

Slowly, sword in hand, the Christians began to defeat one enemy vessel after another. Admiral Barbarigo was mortally wounded in the struggle, taking an arrow to the eye. Lingering below decks in agony, his officers brought him news that Muhammad Sirocco had fallen and the enemy was defeated. Giving up his last breath, he exclaimed, “I die contented.”

On the right of the Christian line, the superior tactics of Uluch Ali had tricked Andrea Doria. Doria had allowed his fleet to be drawn off the line of battle, opening a gap that allowed the Algerian corsairs to dart through. They immediately began to attack the rear of the Christian main battle. Their initial assault destroyed or captured the galleys of the Maltese fleet.

Uluch Ali might have turned the battle had not the reserve force under Santa Cruz reacted in time to save the day. Yet, it was still a close thing. The reserve galleys descended on the corsairs just as they were boarding the defeated Maltese Knights, all of whom had died defending their galleys at overwhelming odds. In the ensuing struggle, entire galleys had every officer and soldier aboard either killed or dying of their wounds.

Uluch Ali was slowly beaten back by the relentless attack of the reserve galleys led by Santa Cruz. Seeing that the day was lost, he signaled for his remaining 13 galleys to disengage. They were the only Ottoman forces not killed or captured at Lepanto, and all that remained of the Sultan’s once formidable battle fleet.

The Battle of Lepanto lasted until four in the afternoon. As the smoke from the cannon and burning galleys cleared, it became obvious that the Christians had won an astounding victory. Fifteen thousand Christian galley slaves climbed from the filthy benches of the captured Ottoman war galleys, now free men. The Holy League is estimated to have lost only 7,000 men in the battle. Only 12 war galleys were destroyed; a number were badly damaged and had to be sunk. By contrast, the Christian fleet destroyed or captured more than 200 Ottoman war galleys and nearly 100 smaller craft.

It was a staggering defeat for the Ottomans—over 30,000 were slain that afternoon. Untold numbers would later die from their wounds. It is reported that only 3,500 Turkish prisoners were captured out of the 100,000 enemy present at the battle. This low number of captives suggests that the Christians gave no quarter to those who attempted to surrender. Thousands were executed when their galleys were captured; thousands more were left to perish in the waves as they attempted to swim to the Aetolian shore. Muslim losses at Lepanto were also staggering in terms of experienced admirals, seamen, and archers. The 34 admirals and 120 galley captains who perished, as well as the thousands of trained archers and Janissaries killed in battle, would take years to replace.

It can be argued that Sultan Selim II would have been adding minarets to the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome had the Holy League not prevailed at Lepanto. The Christian fleet supported by the Rosary and under the remarkable leadership of Don John, delivered Christendom from an Ottoman menace that was certainly poised to sack Rome, with the likelihood of overrunning all of Europe.

The physical and psychological defeat suffered by the Ottomans at Lepanto marked the beginning of the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The Christian victory on that fateful Sunday in October 1571 halted the long advance of Islam against Christendom.     *

“There is no ‘slippery slope’ toward loss of liberty, only a long staircase where each step down must first be tolerated by the American people and their leaders.”  --Alan K. Simpson