The action of 3 October 1624 was a naval engagement that took place near San Pietro Island, Sardinia, during the war against the Barbary corsairs. A squadron of galleys from the Spain (Kingdom of Naples), Grand Duchy of Tuscany and Papal States under Diego Pimentel engaged a squadron of six Algerian ships under Azan Calafate. The Algerians were defeated, their flagship was destroyed, and four ships were captured. Also, the Christian slaves they owned were freed. Events Background To deal with the constant threat of Barbary corsairs in the Mediterranean Sea, the Christian states in the area combined their galley squadrons to defend their coasts and carry out incursions into Barbary bases. Emanuel Filibert of Savoy, who in 1622 was appointed by Philip IV of Spain as Captain General of the Sea and Viceroy of Sicily, mobilized squadrons from Sicily, Naples, Malta, and occasionally from the Republic of Genoa and Tuscany in combined operations. In 1624, there were several engagements at sea between these combined squadrons and the Barbary corsairs, where the former made several captures of corsairs. Action On 8 September, Diego Pimentel, commander of the Naples galley squadron, set sail from Naples with his squadron to make an incursion along the western coast of the Italian Peninsula in search of Barbary corsairs. At that time, Barbary ships were known to loot the coasts of Corsica and Sardinia. Pimentel's forces consisted of a combined squadron of fifteen Christian galleys; eight Neapolitan galleys under Pimentel, four Tuscan galleys under Montauto and three Papal galleys under Filicaja. The Tuscan galleys were the last to join the squadron, near the island of Elba. Pimentel, with the combined squadron, passed along the coast of Corsica to the Strait of Bonifacio, without encountering adversaries. Then he passed across the strait to Sardinia and arrived in Cagliari on 26 September 1624. In Cagliari, Pimentel consulted with Juan Vives de Canyamás, viceroy of Sardinia, if he had information about the Barbary corsairs, but he knew nothing. That same day he left the place for the island of San Pietro, a place frequented by corsairs. On September 28 he arrived at the island, remaining in place. At dawn on 3 October, he sighted a squadron of six corsairs ships of Barbary. It was a squadron of the Regency of Algiers; made up of three large ships, two pataches and a tartane. One of the large ships was