ace during the voyage and
his post in any engagement, whereby the risk of confusion and hasty
marshalling is almost done away. On the 16th of September the signal
is given to weigh anchor. Don John is off first, in his _Reale_, a
splendid _capitana_ galley of sixty oars, with a poop carved with
allegorical designs by Vasquez of Seville. After him come two hundred
and eighty-five vessels, comprising six galleasses and two hundred and
nine galleys, carrying twenty-nine thousand men, and commanded by the
most famous names of the great families of Spain, Genoa, Venice,
Naples, Rome, Vicenza, Padua, Savoy, and Sicily.[48] Don Juan de
Cardona leads the van with seven galleys; Don John himself,
between Marcantonio Colonna and Veniero, commands the centre of
sixty-two large galleys; G. A. Doria has fifty in the right wing;
Barbarigo of Venice fifty-three in the left; Don Alvaro de Bazan
commands the reserve of thirty galleys: the galleasses are ranged
before the lines, each with five hundred arquebusiers on board. After
ten days rowing and sailing they reach Corfu, and the castle greets
them with thunders of joy-guns, for the fear of the Turk is removed.

[Illustration: ARABIC ASTROLABE.]

[Illustration: ARABIC ASTROLABE.]

'Ali Pasha, hard by in the Gulf of Lepanto, sent out scouts to
ascertain the enemy's strength. A bold Barbary Corsair pushed his bark
unseen by night among the Christian galleys, but his report was
imperfect, and till the day of conflict neither side knew the exact
strength of his opponent. The Turkish fleet numbered about two hundred
and eight galleys and sixty-six galleots, and carried twenty-five
thousand men. Constantinople furnished ninety-five galleys; twenty-one
came from Alexandria, twenty-five from Anatolia, ten from Rhodes, ten
from Mitylene, nine from Syria, twelve from Napoli di Romania,
thirteen from the Negropont, and eleven from Algiers and Tripoli. The
galleots were chiefly Barbary vessels, more useful for piracy than a
set battle.

The two fleets unexpectedly came in sight of each other at seven
o'clock on the morning of October 7th, at a point just south of the
Echinades, and between Ithaca and the Gulf of Patras or Lepanto. A
white sail or two on the horizon was descried by Don John's look-out
on the maintop; then sail after sail rose above the sea-line, and the
enemy came into full view. Don John quickly ran up a white flag, the
signal of battle, and immediately the whole fleet was b