CHAPTER XX.

UTTER COLLAPSE OF AN EXPEDITION THROUGH A TEMPEST AT SEA.

Haroudj and Khaïr-el-Dinn-Haroudj becomes king of AlgiersHe is defeated by the Marquis de Comarès-Khaïr-el-Dinn succeeds Haroudj as king of Algiers-Places his dominions under the protection of the Grand Seigneur-Khaïr-el-Dinn captures Tunis, from which he is driven out by Charles V. -Hassan Aga, ruler of Algeria in 1541-His depredations spread terror in Spain-Charles V. is entreated by his subjects to reduce Algiers-Forces collected for the enterprise The Emperor refuses to listen to the advice of Andrea Doria-The expedition exposed to a severe storm after setting sail-Unopposed landing of the army-A tempest arises two days after the disembarkation-The Spaniards attacked by Hassan Aga-Continuance of the tempest; all prospect of success lost-Charles V. hears from Doria that a portion of the fleet is safe at Cape Matifu-Hardships endured by the troops on the march thither-They reach Matifu and re-embark-The Emperor's gallant bearing in this sequence of disasters.

IN Chapter XI. we have seen what risk the British armies, in the early days of the Peninsular and Crimean wars, ran of being separated from their floating base, the fleet. Had stormy weather compelled the ships to heave anchor and get away from the coast, the supply of those armies would

have been very precarious. The full meaning of such a disaster will be appreciated by looking at the dire discomfiture of the expedition which the Emperor Charles V. led against Algiers in 1541.

Towards the middle of the fifteenth century, the Turks begun to lay the foundation of their establishment on the northern shores of Africa; and the history of Algeria is bound up in that of two of the most terrible pirates that have ever sailed on the seas.

According to tradition, Haroudj and Khaïr-elDinn were the sons of a potter of Mitylene, a town on the island of Lesbos. These brothers are known to fame as Barbarossa. The name is held to have been given them by reason of the red tinge of Haroudj's beard; others suppose, with better reason, that it came from the Arab words Baba-Haroudj, badly pronounced by Europeans. They abandoned their father's humble calling to become pirates; and having, to start with, through treachery and murder, acquired possession of a brigantine, they soon got together a fleet of twelve galleys with other small vessels. The terror of their name soon spread from the Dardanelles to the Straits of Gibraltar.

From having often conducted his prizes into the ports of Barbary, Haroudj recognized all the advantages which an establishment on that coast would give him. A check before Bougie compelled him to accept an asylum from Ben-el-Kady at Gigel; but his name was popular all over the coast

of Barbary, and not long after Eutemi, the ruler of Algiers, solicited his assistance to drive the Spaniards from the fort of Pegnon, which they had constructed to overawe the town.

Haroudj seized this favourable opportunity, armed a few ships and sailed for Algiers. There, under pretext of carrying out the siege of Pegnon, he assembled around him a host of Turks. Eutemi soon discovered that he had invited to Algiers a most dangerous auxiliary; it was, however, too late, the unscrupulous outlaw had him strangled, and caused himself to be proclaimed king in his place. Constantly at war with the neighbouring tribes and with the towns on the coast, he triumphed over the first and captured the latter, sometimes by force, sometimes by treason.

Haroudj continued to infest the coasts of Spain and Italy with his fleets, which more resembled the squadrons of a mighty monarch than the petty flotillas of a corsair. Charles V. sent don Diego Fernandez de Cordova, Governor of Oran, to attack him, and in 1518 he was besieged in the citadel of Tlemcen by the Spaniards and Arabs. The Turkish troops sent by his brother to help him were surprised and exterminated. After a stout defence, Haroudj escaped through a badly guarded breach, but was followed and overtaken near the River Ouchda, when, after a desperate resistance, he was mortally wounded by a Spanish officer, Garcia Fernandez de la Plaza, and soon killed.

Khaïr-el-Dinn succeeded his brother as king of Algiers. Seeing with what great reluctance the Moors and Arabs submitted to his rule, and fearing lest his constant acts of piracy might turn the arms of the Christian Powers against him, with singular cunning he placed his States under the protection of Sultan Suleiman II. He was able to persuade the Grand Seigneur that the capture of Pegnon would be a considerable gain for Islamism, which in a free Algiers would have a powerful offensive and defensive position against Christendom. Suleiman sent him two thousand well-disciplined Turkish soldiers, and issued a firman inviting men of good will to embark at the expense of the State, promising them in Algeria an organization similar to that of the Janizaries. After the collapse of De Moncada's expedition in 1518,* he declared Khaïr-el-Dinn's possessions a Turkish province, authorizing him at the same time to coin money.

The capture of the rich province of Tlemcen,

Charles V., informed of the success of his arms over Haroudj at Tlemcen, directed Hugo de Moncada, viceroy of Sicily, to drive the Turks from Barbary. In the month of August, 1518, a fleet carrying seven thousand soldiers cast anchor in the Bay of Algiers. General Marino de Ribera, instead of disembarking the whole of his forces, put fifteen hundred men ashore, and having taken post on the high ground to the southwest of the city, waited for the promised co-operation of the chief of Tlemcen. While so waiting, on the 24th of August, a frightful tempest arose, most of the Spanish ships were cast ashore, and four thousand men were drowned. The troops on land had the greatest difficulty in re-embarking in the few ships which had providentially resisted the fury of the storm.

and this increased renown, soon made him enemies; Khaïr-el-Dinn consequently quitted Algiers with twelve galleys, and for three years resumed the life of a pirate. These years proved of the greatest embarrassment to European commerce, and were calamitous for the populations of the Mediterranean coast. At the end of this period, aided by the pirates of the island of Gelves, Khaïr-el-Dinn took vengeance over his enemies; defeated Hamel-benel-Kady, who had taken possession of Algiers, and soon after wrested the citadel of Pegnon from the Spaniards.

Piracy became no longer a scourge for trade alone, but a military power. The most renowned of the pirates of the island of Gelves flocked to Algiers, and one Cacchi Diablo vanquished and captured the leader of the Spanish galleys, Rodrigo Portondo, with eight of his galleys. An expedition to Cadiz with sixty ships, amongst which were ten galleys, was contemplated; but it failed, for as Doria approached Shershel, Ali-Camaran, who commanded a division of the fleet, sunk his ships.

Khaïr-el-Dinn having been appointed commander of the Sultan's fleets, with very extended powers, ravaged the Italian littoral and Sicily, pillaging, burning, and carrying the inhabitants into captivity. He then made for Tunis, which he captured through cunning and violence, proclaiming the Sultan as its ruler. Christendom