In 1348 the latter made a violent assault upon the northern side of the city, and, although failing to carry the walls, did much harm to the shipping, timber-stores, and houses near the water.[[646]]
Matters assumed a more serious aspect in 1351. A powerful fleet then sailed from Genoa, under the command of Doria, to attack Constantinople in support of certain claims put forth by the colony at Galata, and on its way up the Sea of Marmora, captured the fortified town of Heraclea. The event caused the greatest consternation in the capital, and, in view of the enemy’s approach, Cantacuzene promptly set the seaward walls in order, repairing them where ruined, raising their height, and ordering all houses before them to be removed.[[647]] He also carried the towers higher, by erecting, in the manner usual on such occasions, constructions of timber on their summits. And not satisfied with these precautions, he even excavated a deep moat in front of the Harbour Walls, all the way from the Gate Xylinè, at Aivan Serai, to the Gate of Eugenius (Yali Kiosk Kapoussi), near the Seraglio Point.
Bas-Relief, On The Tower East of Djubali Kapoussi, Representing The Three Hebrew Youths Cast Into The Fiery Furnace of Babylon, as Described in the Book Of Daniel.[[648]]
A trace of these repairs is found in a slab on the tower immediately to the east of the gate Djubali Kapoussi,[[649]] bearing a lion rampant, and the name of Manuel Phakrasè Catacuzene (MANOΥΗA ΦAKRACΗ TOU KATAKOΥSΗNOΥ), who was Proto-strator under Cantacuzene, and distinguished himself by his conduct in the defence of Selivria, in 1341, and in the siege of Galata, ten years later.[[650]]
In 1434 the Harbour Walls called for some slight repair, in consequence of another Genoese attack upon them. An expedition which had been sent from Genoa to take the town of Kaffa, having failed in that object, returned to the Bosporus, and sought to compensate for defeat in the Crimea by nothing less than the capture of Constantinople itself. The bold attempt made with ships carrying 8000 troops, was repulsed, and the baffled fleet returned to Italy. But the Genoese of Galata determined to continue the struggle; and in the bombardment of the walls with cannon, destroyed several warehouses in the city, and a tower beside the Gate Basilikè. This attack, likewise, ended in failure, and the colony was compelled to pay an indemnity of a thousand pieces of gold, to make good the damage caused by the bombardment.[[651]]
Two inscriptions, preserved by Dr. A. D. Mordtmann[[652]] in his work on the last siege of the city,[[653]] are noteworthy as records of repairs made on the fortifications beside the Sea of Marmora, when Constantinople trembled before the Ottoman power. They are also interesting on account of the personages whom they commemorate as restorers of the walls.
One stood, somewhere, on the wall between Ahour Kapoussi and Tchatlady Kapou, and read:
ΛΟΥΚ
ΝΟΤΑΡΑΣ