the flagship, with 200 Turkish and 36 or 50 guns. The two remaining large ships were merchant prizes, one of them weighing 400 to 500 tons, both being armed by the corsairs. The two pataches had a crew of 50 men. The squadron commander was Azan Calafate, a renowned Turkish sailor from Algiers. At eight in the morning, Pimentel's galley squadron had the Algerian ships within firing range. The tartane, abandoned by the rest of the Algiers squadron, was captured with a Turkish on board, who gave information to the Christians about the opposing squadron. The battle began, and after four hours of fought, the Christians captured one of the large ships after it was disabled and abandoned by the crew, who moved to the flagship. Soon another of the large ships was also captured, but Algiers' flagship held up fierce resistance, causing extensive damage to the approaching galleys. Pimentel ordered all the galleys to direct their shots at him. Due to the short distance between the opponents, Pimentel was seriously wounded in the stomach by a musket shot from that ship. On the other hand, the pataches began to flee, so Pimentel ordered Francisco Manrique to pursue them with eight galleys. Manrique managed to capture the pataches. Meanwhile, the Algerian flagship was disabled and overwhelmed by the attack of the other galleys. The corsairs set fire to the gunpowder, causing a large explosion that destroyed the flagship after eight hours of fighting. Aftermath In the battle more than 100 corsairs killed and there were 150 prisoners, among them Calafate. There were also almost 200 slaves, freeing 100 Christians. The two large ships and the two pataches were escorted by the galleys to Cagliari, their salvage bringing a good quantity of ducats. The tartane that had been initially captured was lost during the fight. On this occasion the Spaniards did not carry out the demonstrations that they usually carried out for victory, due to the death of Pimentel from his wound, the next day. See also Barbary slave trade References Bibliography Conflicts in 1624 1624 in Italy Naval battles involving Spain Naval battles involving the Kingdom of Naples Naval battles involving Tuscany Naval battles involving the Papal States Naval battles involving Ottoman Algeria San Pietro Island