mplete armour he stood in the bow holding up a
crucifix, and as he passed each galley he called on officers and men to
spare no effort in the holy cause for which they were about to fight. Then
he returned to his post on the poop of the "Reale," which was in the centre
of the line, with several other large galleys grouped around her. As each
ship was pulled into her fighting position, the Christian galley-slaves
were freed from the oar and given weapons with which to fight for the
common cause and their own freedom.

It was intended that the galleys of the left, centre, and right should form
one long line, with the six galleasses well out in front of them, two
before each division. These were to break the force of the Turkish onset
with their cannon. But when the long line of the enemy's galleys came
rushing to the onset, Don Juan's battle array was still incomplete.
Barbarigo's flagship was on the extreme left under the land. His division
had formed upon this mark, "dressing by the left," as a soldier would say.
The tall galleasses of two gallant brothers, the Venetians Ambrogio and
Antonio Bragadino, kinsmen of the hero of Famagusta, lay well out in front
of the left division. All the ships had their sails furled and the long
yards hauled fore and aft. Don Juan had formed up the centre division, two
more galleasses out in front, the "Reale" in the middle of the line, the
galleys of Veniero and Colonna to right and left, and two selected galleys
lying astern, covering the intervals between them and the flagship. Only a
few oars were being used to keep the ships in their stations. So far so
good, but the rest of the allied fleet was still coming up. The reserve was
only issuing from the channel behind Cape Scropha, and Doria was leading
the right division into line, with his two galleasses working up astern,
where their artillery would be useless. Thus when the battle began not much
more than half of the Christian armada was actually in line. But for the
sudden calm the position would have been even worse.

[Illustration: LEPANTO 1. ALLIES FORMING LINE OF BATTLE. TURKS
ADVANCING TO ATTACK]

It was almost noon when the battle began. The first shots were fired by the
four galleasses, as the long line of Ottoman galleys came sweeping on into
range of their guns. Heavy cannon, such as they carried, were still
something of a novelty in naval war, and the Turks had a dread of these
tall floating castles that bristled