| Raid on La Goulette (1609) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofSpanish–Ottoman wars | |||||||
 Tunis and La Goulette in the 17th century. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Spanish Empire Kingdom of France | .svg) Eyalet of Tunis | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Luis Fajardo Juan Fajardo Philippe de Beaulieu-Persac | Uthman DeyJack WardFrancis Verney Richard Bishop | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 8 galleons 2 carracks 1 caravel 1 frigate Unknown number of pataches | 22 armed ships 1 galiot 20,000 land soldiers | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 3 dead 40 wounded | 21 vessels destroyed 2 vessels captured Over 780 dead | ||||||
Theraid on La Goulette of 1609 was a naval attack by Spanish captainLuis Fajardo, at the head of a Spanish fleet and a French ship, onLa Goulette, the main port ofOttoman Tunisia. The attack was done in response to previous acts ofBarbary pirates based offTunis and led to the destruction of the local fleet in port, which includedEnglish renegades likeJack Ward andFrancis Verney.[1]
The raid was probably the first early modern naval operation executed in the Mediterranean exclusively withsailing ships, likegalleons andcaravels, without the support ofgalleys, which were increasingly seen in Spain as an unnecessary expense to maintain in great numbers after theBattle of Lepanto.[2]
In January 1609, after several victories against theDutch in theAtlantic, Fajardo was promoted to the royal council of war. Some months later, during theExpulsion of the Moriscos, Fajardo was ordered to take command of the fleets ofAndalusia andPortugal and disrupt the movements ofBarbary pirates in North Africa, while leavingAntonio de Oquendo the rest of the effectives to watch the southern Spanish coast.[3] Clearing the North African coasts to dissuade pirates was essential during the Expulsion, as the crown had reports of Barbary sympathizers and agents hiding among theMorisco population, who often encouraged and assisted them in attacking the coasts of Spain in order to fuel the lucrativeBarbary slave trade.[4]
The same year it was fount thatZymen Danseker, a Dutch privateer allied to the Muslims, hounded aroundCape St. Vincent with a 18-ship fleet and had already taken several Spanish merchants. Marking him as the first target to capture, Fajardo stepped up to hunt him down. He proposed to gather a fleet of sailing ships, intending not only to counter Danseker's usage of western galleons, but also rehabilitate the reputation of Spain's Atlantic fleet, mostly composed by these vessels, after thedefeat of Gibraltar in 1607.[2] The council considered to have galleys escort the fleet in case they had to tow the ships in absence of wind, but it was ultimately decided against. After gathering twelve galleons, caravels andcarracks,[2] Fajardo sailed offCádiz in June, with his son Juan Fajardo de Tenza as his lieutenant.[5]
Upon leaving Cádiz, Fajardo ordered the flee to divide in three sections: one captained by his son Juan to patrol the coast of Africa, a second one to gather reinforcements inMálaga andAlmería, and the last captained by himself between both in order to assist wherever it was necessary. Once reunited again, the fleet arrived inOran, stopping atMers El Kébir on day 28.[3]
Warned by the governor of Oran, Felipe Ramírez de Arellano, Count of Aguilar, that a suspicious vessel had been sighted in the mouth of river Tafna inTlemcen, Fajardo sent Juan with seven localpataches and 200 men stationed in Oran.[6] Juan found and captured the ship near theisland of Limacos,[5] finding out it belonged to Danseker's fleet[3] and was carrying a cargo of weapons, with a crew ofEnglish andJews.[6][7] Resuming the journey, the Spanish explorers sighted then eight sailing ships and four galleys refuged inAlgiers, but the harbor was too well defended and Fajardo opted to continue towards Tunis.[5]
On day 21 they captured two ships, one of which belonged again to Danseker, and the following day they found a flotilla of threeFrench vessels captained by Philippe de Beaulieu-Persac, severely damaged by a recent defeat against the Barbary ships. Beaulieu warned them about the presence of at least 23 enemy ships being supplied in Tunis.[8] Due to thePeace of Vervins, which had ensured a truce between Spain and France, Beaulieu joined Fajardo's ship with his only ship in condition to fight, a galleon.[6] On day 30, Fajardo arrived in Tunis and ordered to attack.
Spain (Fajardo)
San Francisco
Santa María Magdalena
Nuestra Señora de los Remedios
San Fulgencio
Nuestra Señora del Rosario
San Augustín
Nuestra Señora de Regla
Santa Margarita
Santa Ana (frigate)
Nuestra Señora de Buen Viaje (caravel)
San Juan Bautista ("canoa")
France (Beaulieu)
Lune/Maan 50
Some of the Tunisian ships names were given asMadaleyne 24,Perle (French),Comte Maurice 50,Faulcon (Portuguese), as well as 1 700-ton ship and 1 500-ton ship of 31 guns. The 16 real fighting ships and the galley had 435 guns total.
Fajardo ordered a raid with small boats,[3] employing seven pataches and twochalupas, with father and son leading theSpanish marine infantry. They invaded the port ofLa Goulette while the rest of the fleet covered them and attracted the attention of the local artillery, exchanging fire with them.[3] The Spanish soldiers usedincendiary devices to set fire to the 23 ships, which turned out to belong to Danseker and pirates and privateers of multiple nationalities.[3] They inflicted many casualties among the locals due to the surprise.[3]
Seeing that the artillery of La Goulette failed to interrupt the raid, the commander of Tunis,Uthman Dey, mobilized 20,000 soldiers of infantry and cavalry and rushed to the lake. However, Fajardo had summoned several of his ships, which bombarded the Tunisian reinforcements when they arrived, causing over 500 dead and stopping their advance.[3] By this point, Fajardo was effectively in control of the field.[6] The English privateersJack Ward,Francis Verney and Richard Bishop were present during the battle and managed to escape among the confusion.[9]
Next morning, a new African ship arrived to La Goulette ignoring the recent events. Warned about the Christians by the fortress' artillery,[6] its crew ran it aground and attempted to escape by land. Fajardo captured several of them and took the ship, in which the found much booty and 40 French prisoners.[3] Another pirate ship was abandoned and scuttled in the channel when its crew realized the situation, with the Spanish seizing its cargo again.[6] Not wanting to risk himself to a turnaround of the situation, Fajardo sent an embassy to negotiate with Tunis the ransom of the prisoners, for which he obtained 2,000 goldsequins. On August 4, the Spanish fleet finally left Tunis.[3]
Fajardo arrived loaded with booty in Cádiz,[3] where he was ordered to heas forCartagena to assist the transport of Moriscos to Africa.[10] His success would not be the last of the Spanish navy in North Africa, greatly increasing its reputation, although it failed to extinguish the local outbreaks of Barbary piracy.[4] Ward and Bishop took refuge inLa Mámora and relocated their base there,[11] although shortly after the Spanish reached them and burned their ships again, forcing them out to the Atlantic temporarily (La Mámora would be alsoconquered by Fajardo in 1614).[12] The captains of Spanish galleys inNaples andSicily, the CastilianÁlvaro de Bazán y Benavides and the ItalianOttavio d'Aragona respectively, continued hunting down pirates after Fajardo's departure.[12]