_ 430 _ Having gone through the preliminaries mentioned above, and having no alternative but to fight, I ordered battle to commence, first alerting all the captains of our ships to my decision and ordering what each should do as he entered the skirmish in the battle with the enemy’s armada. Once I saw that all our men were armed and in position, I ordered our ships to fire the large canons, and this they did. The first shots sank two ships with many men, well-armed and in good order, elegantly equipped with their swords trimmed with silver and their weapons gleaming. These ships went straight to the bottom, as did the majority of the men, the rest remaining of the surface. Then, there was a great battle between the enemy’s ships and galleons and our ships, which they had surrounded, lasting from midday until night. When night fell, I signaled the ships and had myself let down aboard the king of Ghanbazi’s ship and the battle between my ship and his was so fierce that at last they could not keep it up, and the men in them all threw themselves in to the sea. The other ships’ captains of my company fought so well that day that all of our ships destroyed and sent perdition the ships and galleons which they engaged in battle.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy