THE EXPEDITION TO RHODES.
Sultan Soleiman Khan, of happy memory, ascended the throne in 926 (A.D. 1519); and the violence and oppression of Capudan Jafar Beg having been discovered, he was hanged, and his office was given to Iilak Mustaffa Pasha. After the capture of Belgrade, the subjugation of Rhodes being considered most important, the emperor, in the month of Rajab 928, came to the capital and issued orders for the preparation of an immense fleet; and a great number of sailors and azabs being collected, the second vezier, Mustaffa Pasha, was appointed commander. On an auspicious day they set out, and with about seven hundred vessels of various sorts sailed for the Mediterranean. The Capudan Pasha also joined them with the ships he had prepared at Gallipoli; and in the month of Rajab 928 the illustrious emperor passed over to Skutari, whence he pursued his journey by land. The Roumeili troops, having marched by different routes, joined the royal camp in the vales of Moghala; and on the third of Rajab his majesty crossed over to a small island opposite Marmaross. Previously to this, the fleet having arrived in the vicinity of Rhodes, the commander, Kara Mahmūd Reis, sent a few vessels to an island called Herka, and reduced its fortress. After this the fleet touched opposite Jem-Baghche. The heavy vessels were stationed to guard the channel; whilst the pasha, with three hundred galleys, proceeded to the fortress of Rhodes, and entered the harbour of Cape Oghuz. Having arranged their cannon, on the fifth of Ramazan they blockaded the fortress: a week after, Bali Beg, one of the Egyptian begs, arrived, and with twenty-four galleys, which had sailed before him, brought additional ammunition and stores. They continued to have sharp battles, and to make brave assaults, till the end of Sheval; and the Arab tower being the occasion of much molestation to the troops, orders were given to attack it. In doing this, although they succeeded in passing the trench, and raised their flag on the walls and towers, yet the enemy bore down and repelled them; and Bâli Beg, the beg of Seké, and Ali Beg, the beg of Avlona, fell as martyrs. As they could not thus effect any thing, they began, with the approbation of the experienced among them to raise a mound, and after five months of continued warfare they raised it to a level with the walls. The infidels within the castle, helpless and confounded, and not being able to screen themselves from the cannons and muskets, on the fifth of Seffer 929, they surrendered the fortress. Its governor, Mighali Masturi,[20] was permitted to go out, and accordingly he went over to Malta. The islands subject to Rhodes, such as Takhtalu, Londas, Istanco, and Bodrum, being also subdued and all necessary arrangements completed, the victorious emperor, on the fourteenth of the same month, with honor and dignity proceeded to Mantesha, whence by hasty marches he returned to the capital.