life was one unending trail of blood and fire, moistened by the tears of
his countless victims, followed by the curses of those whom he despoiled.
Yet, in spite of this, it is impossible not to admire the man who, by his
own superhuman energy, ever swept all obstacles from his path, and caused
the whole of the civilised world to quail at the name of Barbarossa.

He died peacefully in his bed at Constantinople in July, 1546, to the grief
of the world of Islam and the inexpressible joy of Christendom. "The king
of the sea is dead," expressed in three Arabic words, gives the numerical
value 953, the year of the Hegira in which he died.

For many years after his death no Turkish ship ever left the Golden Horn
without her crew repeating a prayer and firing a salute over the tomb of
Beshiktsah, where lie the bones of the first and greatest of Turkish
admirals, the corsair who was at one and the same time admiral, pirate, and
king.

CHAPTER XIV

THE NAVY OF OARS. THE GALLEY, THE GALEASSE, AND THE NEF

In the sixteenth century the vessel of war in the Mediterranean was
essentially that oar-propelled craft known to us as the galley. As time
went on she was gradually superseded by the sailing man-of-war which was
able to carry that heavy ordnance which the light scantling of the galley
did not permit of her mounting; but for the use of the corsairs who lived
by means of raids and surprise attacks, whose business it was to lie perdu
on the trade routes, the mobility of the galley was of prime importance,
and they could not afford to trust to the wind alone as a motive power. The
galley was analogous to the steam vessel in that it was independent of the
wind to a large extent: human bone and muscle supplied the part of engines,
and those who fought upon the sea caused themselves to be moved over the
face of the waters by the exertions of their enemies. It is true that upon
one occasion, as we have seen, Kheyred-Din Barbarossa did possess a fleet
of galleys the rowers of which were all Moslems, which crew upon battle
being joined dropped their oars, seized their weapons and assisted in the
conquest of the foe. But this was an isolated instance, as it was almost
impossible at any time and in any circumstances to procure free men ready
to undertake a life of such intolerable suffering as that of a rower on
board a galley; in consequence these men were almost invariably slaves, or
else in later times condemned felons whose