was cut off by the troops of
Padua; and the King of Hungary had mastered almost all the Venetian
towns in Istria and along the Dalmatian coast. The doge Contarini,
taking the chief command, appeared at length with his fleet near
Chioggia, before the Genoese were aware. They were still less aware of
his secret design. He pushed one of the large round vessels, then called
_cocche_, into the narrow passage of Chioggia which connects the Lagoon
with the sea, and, mooring her athwart the channel, interrupted that
communication. Attacked with fury by the enemy, this vessel went down on
the spot, and the Doge improved his advantage by sinking loads of stones
until the passage became absolutely unnavigable.

It was still possible for the Genoese fleet to follow the principal
canal of the Lagoon toward Venice and the northern passages, or to sail
out of it by the harbor of Brondolo; but, whether from confusion or from
miscalculating the dangers of their position, they suffered the
Venetians to close the canal upon them by the same means they had used
at Chioggia, and even to place their fleet in the entrance of Brondolo
so near to the Lagoon that the Genoese could not form their ships in
line of battle. The circumstances of the two combatants were thus
entirely changed. But the Genoese fleet, though besieged in Chioggia,
was impregnable, and their command of the land secured them from famine.

Venice, notwithstanding her unexpected success, was still very far from
secure; it was difficult for the Doge to keep his position through the
winter; and if the enemy could appear in open sea, the risks of combat
were extremely hazardous. It is said that the senate deliberated upon
transporting the seat of their liberty to Candia, and that the Doge had
announced his intention to raise the siege of Chioggia, if expected
succors did not arrive by January 1, 1380. On that very day Carlo Zeno,
an admiral who, ignorant of the dangers of his country, had been
supporting the honor of her flag in the Levant and on the coast of
Liguria, appeared with a reenforcement of eighteen galleys and a store
of provisions.

From that moment the confidence of Venice revived. The fleet, now
superior in strength to the enemy, began to attack them with vivacity.
After several months of obstinate resistance, the Genoese--whom their
republic had ineffectually attempted to relieve by a fresh
armament--blocked up in the town of Chioggia, and pressed by hunger,
we