42°48′N10°00′E / 42.800°N 10.000°E /42.800; 10.000
| Battle of Pianosa | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the wars of Christian powers against theBarbary Corsairs | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Republic of Genoa | Tunisian corsairs | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Filippino Doria | Kaid Ali (POW) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
TheBattle of Pianosa was anaval engagement which took place on 25 April, 1519, when aGenoese fleet severely defeated the flotilla of theTunisia-basedBarbary corsair Kaid Ali in theTyrrhenian Sea, in view of the island ofElba. The battle broke the back of one of the rising corsair bases on theBarbary Coast,Bizerte, and establishedAndrea Doria as among the foremost captains in theMediterranean.
Raiding had long been part of life in theMediterranean. The last decades of theMiddle Ages had seen numerous famouscorsairs harassing both coastal populations and shipping activities, but the turn of the 16th century coincided with a marked surge of piracy.[1][2] Most notably, several captains established bases on theNorth African coast where strong corsair flotillas left every year for months-long cruises.[3] In the spring and summer, they raided and pillaged coastal regions and Mediterranean Europe's maritime trade.[4] Among the region's most famousBarbary corsairs at the time wereHayreddin Barbarossa andKurtoğlu Muslihiddin.[5]
Muslihiddin set up his base of operation in theTunisian town ofBizerte with support of the localHafsid Dynasty. His prowess at sea attracted theOttoman government's attention and he was offeredcommand of theTurkish fleet in 1516. After Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin left North Africa, command in Bizerte was assumed by another captain (reis), Kaid Ali (literally Ali the Boss) who soon proved as much a scourge for the Europeans as his predecessor had been.[6] The Bizertine flotilla had grown strong enough to be a threat not only for merchant ships and the coast villages but even for military vessels. In a battle in mid-September 1518, Kaid Ali defeated and captured the flagshipgalley (Capitana) of thePope and took the papal fleet's admiral,Paolo Vettori, nearMont’Argentario, on theTuscan coast.[7]
For the most part, the European Christian powers were too occupied fighting each other to pay much heed to the rather small-scale predation of the Barbary corsairs.Spain, for instance, notably diminished the resources allocated to the fight against the North African raiders in the 1510s, consideringFrenchexpansionism as a much greater threat to its security.[8] Corsairs were taken seriously only by lesser coastal powers such as Genoa and the Papal States in particular because they directly menaced important trade routes upon which their economies and grain supplies depended.[9][10]
In early spring 1519, aware of the arrival of Kaid Ali's flotilla in theTyrrhenian Sea, the Genoese Republic entrusted its coastline defense to a local captain, the noblemanAndrea Doria, who had acquired a good reputation fighting inCorsica for the Republic. Mindful of the difficulty of the task at hand, Andrea Doria demanded that the Republic's four galleys be reinforced with another two. The Genoese government granted his request but, because there were too few prisoners and captives to provide the two new boats with sufficient rowers, free oarsmen were recruited (buonavoglia) to complement the rowing crew.[11]
TheGenoese fleet left its base mid-April and headed south into theTyrrhenian Sea looking forcorsairs. On 25 April, in theTuscan archipelago, near the island ofPianosa, the Genoese ships met theKaid Ali flotilla. More numerous and with the support of a favourable strong southern wind (sirocco), theBarbary corsairs were at a clear advantage.Andrea Doria had hisgalleys turn face and flee while theBizertine began to pursue. The chase went on for about 20nautical miles and probably four hours. The strong wind put the larger and more seaworthy Genoese ships at an advantage. They reached the westernmost cape of the island ofElba ahead of their pursuers.[12]
Having reached Elba, the Genoese captain took advantage of a local wind pattern to change direction and head straight towards the Bizertines. However, the newly recruited free-rowers of the two additional ships lacked the skill and strength for these arduous maneuvers and began drifting with the wind. Andrea Doria had to send two of his older galleys to tow the less experienced ships. Two-thirds of the Genoese ships were unable to face-off and run down the adversary in time. Rather than letting the opportunity pass, Andrea Doria put his nephewFilippino Doria in charge of the four slower ships and took his main galleys, theCapitana and thePatrona, straight towards the Bizertine to pin them down before the main force arrived.[13][14]
The Genoese had more artillery than the corsairs and managed to do some damage with their cannons. However the Bizertine succeeded in grappling and boarding the Genoese ships. Hand-to-hand combat ensued. Badly outnumbered, Doria and his men managed to sustain the shock for fifteen minutes. At this point the four ships under Filippino Doria reached the thick of the fight and within half-an-hour the battle was won for the Genoese. Only threefuste ships of the corsairs managed to escape. The rest of the flotilla – possibly as many as nine vessels of various sizes – were captured or sunk. TheCapitana of the Pope had been recovered and was towed back to Genoa along with four other ships.[15]
The fight, as was often the case in the overcrowdedgalleys, had been extraordinarily violent and bloody. Italian sources mention 500 corsairs dead. This may be an overestimate, but the losses on the side of theBizertines were undoubtedly heavy. TheGenoese had also suffered important casualties. One ofAndrea Doria's nephews, Lazzarino Doria, was killed in action and his second-in-commandFilippino Doria was wounded twice.[16][17] The Genoese managed to take only a handful of prisoners among whom, however, was the Bizertine captainKaid Ali. Most of these captives were rapidly ransomed but Kaid Ali himself was not exchanged and was held as a prisoner in the fortress ofPianosa until his death in 1530.
With Kaid Ali prisoner andKurtoğlu Muslihiddin serving the Ottomans in the East, the bulk of their men dead and most of their ships captured or sunk, the strength of the Bizertine corsair base had been broken and the city receded into a very secondary raiding base, far behind the main corsair portsTripoli and, above all,Algiers.