Attalids. The Seleucids attempted to intercept the Roman fleet before this could be achieved. In September 191 BC, the Roman fleet defeated the Seleucids in the Battle of Corycus, enabling it to take control of several cities including Dardanus and Sestos on the Hellespont. Following the Battle of Corycus, the Roman–Pergamene fleet at Canae was made up of 77 Roman and 50 Pergamene ships, half of the latter being (merchant galleys capable of fighting). The main Seleucid fleet under Admiral Polyxenidas consisted of 23 large ships, 47 triremes and approximately 100 and was stationed at Ephesus. Hannibal had amassed a second fleet of 37 large ships in Cilicia. Separating the two Seleucid fleets was the Rhodian navy which numbered 75 large ships, mainly quadriremes. In spring 190 BC, the Rhodians dispatched 36 ships under Pausistratos to reinforce the Romans. The Rhodians were blockaded by Polyxenidas at Parormos harbor, Samos. Polyxenidas destroyed the Rhodian fleet through perfidy. A Rhodian exile himself, he convinced Pausistratos that he intended to surrender the Seleucid fleet to the Rhodians. Polyxenidas killed the Rhodian admiral, his erstwhile political opponent, while also capturing 20 ships and sinking 9. The Roman fleet nevertheless managed to rendezvous with 20 Rhodian ships off Samos, where Roman Admiral Lucius Aemilius Regillus took overall command. In August 190 BC, a Rhodian fleet under Admiral Eudamus clashed with Hannibal's fleet at the Battle of the Eurymedon. The more experienced Rhodians managed to outmaneuver Hannibal's ships, destroying half of his fleet. Polyxenidas now found himself outnumbered and isolated, as many independent Asia Minor states had sided with the Romans. In September 190 BC, Aemilius dispatched a part of his fleet to the Hellespont in order to assist the Roman army in its invasion of Asia Minor, Polyxenidas seized the opportunity to attack the Romans at sea. Battle The Roman–Rhodian fleet under Aemilius numbered 58 Roman and 22 Rhodian warships. The Seleucid fleet commanded by Polyxenidas consisted of 89 warships, but while numerically superior its crews were less experienced than those of their adversaries. The allied fleet sailed from its base at Samos to Chios in order to obtain grain, a secondary objective being to relieve the allied city of Notion which had been besieged by Antiochus. While Notion was strategically unimportant, Antiochus anticipated the siege would provoke the Roman navy to intervene. Upon approaching Chios, the Romans took notice of 15 light ships raiding