Concerning the Naval Affairs of This Year
The lord high-admiral, Alí Páshá, with the view of distressing the infidel coasts, sailed for the Mediterranean with the Turkish fleet. He foolishly neglected, before going to sea, to condemn such of his ships as were not sea-worthy; and, as if he had been educated for the naval service, he set sail of his own accord. On the evening of the 20th of Shabán, as he reached the wide and extended ocean, a tremendous hurricane arose which soon forced the vessels of the fleet to separate from each other. On the following morning, the hurricane still continuing, he perceived this to have been the case: four ships, containing ammunition and arms, two galleys having janissaries on board, besides five other vessels, were wrecked, and every soul on board of them perished. Two large vessels and one galley were driven by the winds to the coasts of Tripoli West, but were not injured. The galley which had a company of troops on board, for seven days and as many nights was driven at the mercy of the tempest. Soídán Oghlí, who at this time was beg of Tripoli, supplied these vessels with every thing that they required, and sent them back. After a period of twenty-days the remaining part of the scattered fleet collected round the kapúdán, at Corone, when it was discovered that eleven vessels had perished. The time for sailing being now over, the fleet returned to the port of Constantinople in the month of Dhu’l Kaddah.