Page 90 - 1

540 Mahmut Halef Cevrioğlu

Having received intelligence about the English ships loading grain,
Grand Admiral Cafer Pasha led the Ottoman navy to the proximity of
Kassandra (Tr. Kesendire) at Chalkidiki where the smugglers were re-
portedly operating. The admiral was advancing westwards with at least
twenty pieces of galleys at that time. And even though it is impossible
to deliberate the total size of troops accompanying him, Ottoman fiscal
evidence points to 1090 janissaries serving in the Mediterranean fleet
in 1633 . And these troops were alongside thousands of rowers and
56
Ottoman provincial soldiers who served in the navy, whose numbers are
unfortunately impossible to determine. At Kassandra, this tremendous
force approached two English trade ships from London, one of which
was named the Hector, and the other William and Ralph, both 400
tons . A crew member aboard one of the ships later on expressed the
57
total number of sailors on the two vessels to be about ninety .
58

H.H.A. Hötte, Atlas of Southeast Europe. Geopolitics and History, vol. 1: 1521-1699,
Brill, Leiden-Boston, 2015, p. 27.

Fig. 3 – Partial Map of the Aegean Sea

56 Boa, KK.d, 1826, p. 17.
57 H. Robinson, Libertas,: or Reliefe to the English captives in Algier, John Sweet-
ing, London, 1642, p. 7. The ships received their letters of marque in 1627 and
1628, see Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of Charles I, 1628-
1629, John Bruce (edited by), Longman-Brown-Green-Longmans-Roberts, Lon-
don, 1859, pp. 302, 306.
58 Tna, Sp, 97/15. Negroponte, 1 July (English Style) 1633, f. 204r.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XX - Dicembre 2023
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)