order the
better to meet any danger which might appear, and the more effectually
to protect the convoy from it.

Richard sailed at the head of his fleet in a splendid galley, which
was appropriated to his special use. The name of it was the Sea
Cutter.[E] There was a huge lantern hoisted in the stern of Richard's
galley, in order that the rest of the fleet could see and follow her
in the night.

[Footnote E: _Trenc-le-mer_, literally, _Cut the sea_.]

[Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE HISTORY OF KING RICHARD'S
CRUSADE]

The day of sailing was very fine, and the spectacle, witnessed by the
Sicilians on shore, who watched the progress of it from every
projecting point and headland as it moved majestically out of the
harbor, was extremely grand. For some time the voyage went on very
prosperously, but at length the sky gradually became overcast, and the
wind began to blow, and finally a great storm came on before the ships
had time to seek any shelter. In those days there was no mariner's
compass, and of course, in a storm, when the sun and stars were
concealed, there was nothing to be done but for the ship to grope her
way through the haze and rain for any land which might be near. The
violence of the wind and the raging of the sea was in this case so
great that the fleet was soon dispersed, and the vessels were driven
northward and eastward toward certain islands which lie in that part
of the Mediterranean, off the coasts of Asia Minor. The three
principal of these islands, as you will see by the opposite map, are
Candia, Rhodes, and Cyprus, Cyprus lying farther toward the east.

The ships came very near being wrecked on the coast of Crete, but they
escaped and were driven onward over the sea, until at length a large
portion of them found refuge at Rhodes. Others were driven on toward
Cyprus. Richard's galley was among those that found refuge at Rhodes;
but, unfortunately, the one in which Berengaria and Joanna were borne
did not succeed in making a port there, but was swept onward by the
gale, and, in company with one or two others, was driven to the mouth
of the harbor of Limesol, which is the principal port of Cyprus, and
is situated on the south side of the island. The galley in which the
queen and the princess were embarked, being probably of superior
construction to the others, and better manned, succeeded in weathering
the point and getting round into the harbor, but two or three other
galleys which were