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Contro ogni previsione: uno scontro navale nel Mediterraneo moderno... 545

B. Lavery, The Colonial Merchantman Susan Constant 1605,
Conway Maritime Press, London, 1989, p. 43.

Fig. 5 – An English Ship Model (ca. 1630)

In opposition to Katip Celebi's advice for sailors to the effect that
«the admiral must hold back from the fight and not galvanise into ac-
tion against the enemy», Cafer Pasha engaged the English vessels with
his own ship . In more detail, the admiral’s bastarda boarded the
79
Hector, but not laterally; rather, the admiral approached the English
bertone from the stern. One of the possible reasons could have been
employing the petard on the Hector’s stern in order to explode the
transom, as mentioned above . Nonetheless, no account refers to any
80
explosion, at all; and it is a fact that Cafer Pasha directly employed the
spur, the striking force of the galley, against the enemy stern .
81
However, instead of piercing through any random spot there, the

79 Kâtip Çelebi, Tuhfetu’l-Kibar, p. 240.
80 B. De Groot, Dutch Navies of the 80 Years’ War, p. 34.
81 De Groot suggests that attacking at the stern to damage the rudder was a
tactic used by galleys against sailing ships, B. De Groot, Dutch Navies, p. 26.

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