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Battle of the Gulf of Tunis
Part of Ottoman–Habsburg wars
Date July 4, 1624 Location Gulf of Tunis, Ottoman Tunisia Result Spanish–Maltese victory
Belligerents
Spanish Empire Order of Malta	Eyalet of Tunis
Commanders and leaders
Álvaro de Bazán y Benavides	Ali Arraez Rabazin
Strength
16 galleys	3 galleons
Casualties and losses
Minor	All vessels captured 212 prisoners Many dead

The Battle of the Gulf of Tunis was a naval battle between a Spanish and Maltese galley fleet, commanded by Álvaro de Bazán y Benavides, Marquis of Santa Cruz, and a Barbary corsair flotilla captained by Ali Arraez Rabaiz.

Background

In 1624, Viceroy of Sicily, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, called Álvaro de Bazán y Benavides to hunt down the Barbary corsair Ali Arraez Rabazin, known by the war name of Samson, a Ferrarese renegade converted to Islam who harassed the coasts of Sicily, Naples and Spain. Rabazin had been a galley slave in Bazán's own ship, and now sailed in the service of Yusuf Dey of Tunis. He was not the same as the Tunisian corsair Suleyman Sanson, beaten by Francisco de Rivera in 1624, nor the English renegade Sanson, whom captain Francisco Zapata defeated in a naval battle in March 1621.

In May, Emmanuel Philiber's spies found out that a Tunisian fleet had sailed off from Bizerte and joined another fleet from the Regency of Algiers, gathering 13 galleys which hounded around the North African coast. On 21, Bazán came out from Palermo in their search with 16 galleys, four of them from the Order of Malta. However, after reaching Cape Bon in Tunis, he found a Dutch galleon, which he captured and brought to Sicily before resuming his mission. On June 22, he headed for Tunis again, and after leaving behind Cape Bon, he sent two spies to La Goulette and Cape Farina, at the other sides of the gulf of Tunis, to learn about local privateering activity.

Battle

On July 4, Bazán sighted a galleon sport Tunisian flag, and two other galleons joined it, turning out to be Rabazin's ships. The corsair accepted battle despite his large disadvantage in numbers, trusting the size and artillery of his three galleons, composed by a 40-gun Danish ship, a 28-gun French one and a 18-gun Flemish one. Bazán knew his own artillery pieces were fewer, but superior in quality, caliber and range, therefore he opened fire on the Tunisians while keeping distance so they would be rendered unable to hit him back.

Increasingly punished, Rabazin advanced against the encircling Bazán on the hope of ramming his way out of the gulf, but the Christian galleys surrounded him and overwhelmed his flagship with artillery fire, killing 100 of his 300-men crew. After six hours of battles, the Tunisians disengaged and fled towards the coast, where they ran aground their ships and started evacuating them. Bazán followed them and boarded the immobile ships. During the boarding, his own flagship's captain, Serafín Salort, was killed by a cannonball, but the rest of his crews easily overcome and captured many of the escapees on the beaches. The wounded Rabazin was captured along with his ships.

Bazán ordered his captain Simón Costa to repair the galleons to take them back to Sicily, and distributed the corsair ships' booty among his crews as a prize for the victory, numbering in 100,000 escudos. They freed 200 Christian hostages and made 212 prisoners, among them Rabazin, who was chained again, while the rest of his men either drowned or died in battle. Bazán returned on June 9 to Palermo.

Aftermath

The victory was celebrated with a parade in Palermo due to Rabazin's past infamy among the locals. Captain and chronicler Diego Duque de Estrada participated in the battle and wrote a commemorative poem the following year. Meanwhile, Bazán chased the Tunisian fleet from Bizerta to the Adriatic, failing to hunt it down, but finding and capturing a separate fleet of Barbary brigantines in his way back.

References

1. ^ Fernández Duro (1885), p. 184.
2. ^ Gómez (2019).
3. Fernández Duro (1885), p. 372.
4. Fernández Duro (1885), p. 392.
5. ^ Fernández Duro (1885), p. 185.

• Fernández Duro, Cesáreo (1885). El gran duque de Osuna y su marina: jornadas contra turcos y venecianos (1602-1624). Sucesores de Rivadeneyra.
• Gómez, Antonio (2019). Con balas de plata VI. 1621-30. Difundia. ISBN 9788417799991.
• de la Guardia, Ricardo (1914). Notas para un Cronicón de la Marina Militar de España. Anales de trece siglos de historia de la marina. El Correo Gallego.

• Conflicts in 1624
• Naval battles involving Ottoman Tunisia
• Naval battles involving Spain
• 1624 in the Ottoman Empire
• 17th century in Tunisia