HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

305

the required submission : the Venetians prepared to compel them. In a veryfew weeks, a fleet consisting of thirty-five ships, or gallies, was ready for sea,and placed under the command of Marco Rusino. He had not long been out,ere a violent storm compelled him to take shelter in the port of Cariste, wherefourteen large gallies belonging to Genoa then lay at anchor. They were sta-tioned and anchored with the utmost judgment, so that the attack of them,even by a force far superior, was not only difficult, but dangerous. The prizewas, however, so valuable, that trivial obstacles and impediments were notsuffered to avert the attempt. It was commenced and carried into executionwith so much success, that ten were either taken, sunk, or destroyed : the re-mainder attempted to make their escape under cover of the night, but were notable to effect their retreat in safety, Morosini, who commanded a second fleetstationed in the Adriatic, having fallen in with, and conducted them into Venicewithout resistance.

The triumphs of Genoa now appeared drawing to a close. The king ofArragon entered into an alliance with Venice, and engaged to send a fleetto its assistance ; a treaty is also said to have been entered into with theEmperor of the East of the same tenor and effect. Pisani, the Venetianadmiral, whether previous or subsequent to his receiving reinforcements, histo-rians are not agreed, fell in with the Genoese fleet in the Bosphorus. Theaction commenced in the evening, but the coming night parted not the com-batants. All the horrors of surrounding darkness, say those authors who haveindulged themselves in describing the dreadful contest, the crash of fallingmasts, the clang of arms, the groans of the wounded, and the shouts of thesurvivors, all contributed to render the scene not only awful, but dreadful.During the succeeding day, the contest not merely lingered, but might be said tocease. This relaxation was not, however, produced bv any decisive advantageo-ained on either side, but their mutually sustained disasters rendered it diffi-cult, and indeed almost impossible for either to display farther proofs, at thattime, of their animosity and fury. Both parties, a circumstance by no meansuncommon in all such cases, claimed the victory, and the contradictory reportsof historians very considerably encrease the difficulty of deciding to whom itproperly belonged. The .Venetians on their side declare, that they capturedtwenty-eight gallies belonging to the enemy, with the loss of no more thanfour .: while their antagonists are equally strenuous in denying this assertedpoint, but have entered into no particulars concerning the action, a eircum-

Vol. I. R r stance