_ 44 _ other galleys captured. The remainder of the naval arsenal was put to flight. The Christian disembarkation troops, who were already occupied in the construction of the fortress in Jerba, surrendered to the Turks. Piali entered Constantinople in triumph with his plunder but especially his prisoners, amongst whom was included the Spanish general The reverse suffered in Malta was serious. In April 1565, Piali sailed with 180 ships and on 20 May disembarked 20,000 men with siege artillery. Right away on the first day of battle, Piali lost his vice-admiral, the celebrated Dragut, who had nursed personal ambitions concerning the Moroccan Atlantic seaboard and especially about Larache. Fear of these aspirations helped the Moroccan party in the Court of Lisbon, which had taken D. Sebastião to Alcácer-Quibir, to greatly increase. The fort of St. Elmo fell a month later at the cost of innumerable lives on the part of the besiegers. To intimidate the garrison, the serasker (General-in-Chief) Mustafa Pasha, gave orders for the prisoners to be quartered. The Grand Master La Valete replied by loading his cannon with the heads of the Turkish prisoners. Piali set sail in September 1565 after losing 20,000 men.
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