| Raid on the Kerkennah Islands (1611) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofSpanish–Ottoman wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Spanish Empire Republic of Genoa.svg) Order of St. John | .svg) Eyalet of Tunis | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Álvaro de Bazán y BenavidesOttavio d'Aragona | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 35 galleys | 1,200 soldiers | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Minor | 680 dead 500 prisoners | ||||||
Theraid on the Kerkennah Islands of 1611 was a naval attack by Spanish commanderÁlvaro de Bazán y Benavides against theKerkennah Islands, inOttoman Tunisia. It resulted in a victory of the Spanish and its Italian allies over the local Ottomans andBarbary corsairs.[1]
The raid was conceived by the court as a way to weaken the local Ottoman grip and capturegalley slaves for the Mediterranean galley squads.[2] On September 12, Bazán sailed off fromSicily at the head himself of 12 galleys from Naples, 7 of Sicily underOttavio d'Aragona, 11 fromGenoa and 5 from theOrder of St. John. It was planned in cooperation with the Great Master of St. John,Alof de Wignacourt.[3] The fleet carried land troops from the Order of St. John, thetercios of Sicily andLombardy, along withSpanish Marine Infantry from Naples.[4] The expedition found constant bad weather, being forced to stop atLampedusa before reaching Tunis.[3]
Bazán hid the fleet near the Kerkennah Islands and order captain Diego Pimentel, the son ofJuan Alonso Pimentel de Herrera, to block the pass between the islands and the coast with six galleys. Pimental first and the rest of the fleet afterwards had to the scout the location given that they had no reliable knowledge of it.[5] On 27, the fleet faced the island ofChergui and performed anamphibious assault against the towers and fortifications built by the Tunisians, employing the artillery to cover the landing. The infantry divided itself in three squads, captained bymaestre de campo Sancho de Luna and Luis de Córdoba, and took over the island, burning down all the buildings and sacking the local cattle.[6]
Shortly after they assaulted the bulwark in the island ofGharbi, with the help of a local whom they freed in exchange for showing them the way. Bazán ordered the infantry to wade towards Gharbi on low tide and secure the place for the cavalry led by Antonio de Mendoza, but the plan collapsed when several noblemen in the cavalry, among them Giovanni d'Ávalos, descendant ofFernando d'Ávalos, attacked before their time. The allied cavalry became swamped and suffered casualties while the infantry tried to assist them, until finally discipline returned and they managed to reform again.[7] The allies finally overcame the local resistance, killing 380 defenders and forcing the rest to abandon the bulwark, killing 300 more and capturing 500 before the rest escaped in boats to mainland. Not finding any more enemies, Bazán gave the order to return to the galleys and return to Sicily.[8]
Despite its relative success,[1] the raid was criticized by the viceroy of Sicily,Pedro Téllez-Girón, Duke of Osuna, who warned the court that combined operations like these were badly planned and costed more money and resources than what they obtained in exchange. Osuna initiated a plan to reform the Sicilian squads, paid out of his own money, in order to increase efficiency.[2] The measure soon brought a notable success in his ownraid on Tunis the following year, in which a corsair fleet was destroyed in the port of La Goulette, after which his forces fortuitously joined these of Bazán to perform a similar raid on Bizerte.[9]