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542 Mahmut Halef Cevrioğlu

three became prisoners), and tried thereafter to save their imprisoned
friends for a few days, although, in vain. Then, the English merchants
continued to Zitouni (İzdin) only to realise that no one was willing to sell
them grain. They managed to load only seven hundred kilograms of pro-
visions over a period of ten days. Deeming their cargo insufficient, they
moved to the Thermaic Gulf (Gulf of Saloniki) to try their chances, where
they succeeded in arranging a deal with local people for six tons of load.
Lastly, Kassandra offered them six tons more per ship before they got
word of the approaching Ottoman galleys. Fearing retribution from the
imperial fleet, they chose to keep anchored and hide for a while. On 19
June, however, the Ottoman vessels appeared from afar .
65
Depictions of the actual moment of the first contact do not overlap.
For the eighteenth-century Ottoman historian Naima, English mer-
chants immediately cut off their anchors to flee . This is confirmed by
66
Cafer Pasha’s explanatory note to the grand vizier, which pointed to
the brisk anchor-weighing of the English ships in an attempt to flee .
67
According to Calafat, given that the English merchants did not salute
the grand admiral and abstained from sending him the accustomed
presents, their attitude was interpreted as one of animosity by the Ot-
tomans . Nevertheless, as the only eye-witness from the English
68
party, Thomas Spaight argued to the contrary and claimed that the
English had actually prepared a present for the grand admiral and did
salute him. Grand Admiral Cafer Pasha, Spaight continued, com-
pletely disregarded these tokens of friendship and launched his attack
on the English vessels without any warning .
69
Hard as it may be to decide who was telling the better part of the
truth, neither the Ottomans nor the English were in doubt about the
illegality of smuggling. In that case, it is more convincing that the Eng-
lish merchants felt red-handed when the Ottoman fleet approached,
and they duly tried to escape. But since Hector and William and Ralph
were sailing ships requiring favourable winds to navigate as opposed to
the Ottoman galleys that were propelled by oars, the English merchants
saw their fates sealed from the start: as Cafer Pasha explained, no wind
blew to fill the English sails at the time . And as far as the technicality
70
of these different types is concerned, the crowded rowing crew of a galley

65 Tna, Sp, 97/15. Negroponte, 1 July (English Style) 1633, f. 204r.
66 Naima Mustafa Efendi, Tarih-i Naima, c. 3, edited by Mehmet Ipsirli, TTK,
Ankara, 2007, pp. 782-783.
67 The summary of the note found its way into the ambassador’s report: Tna,
Sp, 97/15. Therapia (Constantinople), 10 August (English Style) 1633, f. 206r-v.
68 Calafat, Une mer jalousée, p. 263.
69 Tna, Sp, 97/15. Negroponte, 1 July (English Style) 1633, f. 204r.
70 Tna, Sp, 97/15. Therapia (Constantinople), 10 August (English Style) 1633,
f. 206r-v.

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