148 ISLAM AT WAR
day and night. Some 70,000 rounds were fired in a month, more than
2,000 a day. Despite the intensity of the bombardment, every assault was
repulsed. On the July 18 the Turks broke into a fortification held by a
force of Spanish knights. They seized it briefly, only to lose it after a
furious counterattack.
By late July the Ottoman commanders were feeling increasing pressure
for resolution, as Suleiman did not like failure. Failure and decapitation
were frequently synonymous. Needing to provide a success, Mustapha
turned his attention to the old Maltese capital, Medina. Seeing the attack
coming, the governor of Medina ordered every man and woman in the
town to wear a uniform and man the battlements. Believing Medina to be
heavily garrisoned, the attacking force withdrew, thoroughly demoralized.
In Sicily, the Italians had organized a relief force of about 8,000 men,
and on September 6, they landed at Mellieha Bay, on the north side of
Malta. The arrival of so many fresh troops to support the garrison spelled
the end for the besiegers. The Christians went on the offensive and de-
feated the Turks in one last battle, near St. Paul’s Bay and on the night of
September 8 the remnants left for home.
Malta is one of the greatest sieges in history, and one of few in which
the defenders were victorious. It is thought that 30,000 Turks and 10,000
Maltese and Knights died in the battle. Also significant, it was one of the
first great Ottoman naval efforts to fail, and when coupled with the Battle
of Lepanto a few years later would signal the end of the Ottoman efforts
at naval supremacy in the western Mediterranean.
In May 1571, with the effort of Pope Pius V, the Holy League was again
formed of European naval powers. Its fleet, under seventy-five-year-old
Venetian Sebastiano Veniero, boasted 316 ships, including 208 galleys
and 6 galleasses. Based in Messina, Sicily, Don John of Austria, already
a veteran at the age of twenty-four, took command on August 23. His
remarkable fleet was mostly Spanish, but included mutually hostile squad-
rons from both Venice and Genoa. Under his command, the Spanish con-
tingent included 30,000 soldiers and 13,000 sailors, and the allies another
35,000 or so combined.
Ali Pasha stood with the main Ottoman fleet in the Gulf of Lepanto.
His force contained 250 Ottoman galleys with 34,000 soldiers, 13,000
sailors, and many more galley slaves. Neither side had any clear idea of
the strength of the other.
On September 28 four ships sent out by Don John returned with word
that the Ottoman fleet was in the Gulf, preparing for winter. The Holy
League commander determined to attack. On October 5, as the Christian
fleet moved toward Lepanto, word came that Famagusta, a fortress town