36,230 men.
======
It was late autumn when the expedition at last set sail, and the imperious
temper of Charles was such that he refused to be governed by the advice of
the seasoned mariners, such as Andrea and Antony Doria, and others who
dreaded the effect of the gales which the armada was likely to encounter on
the coast of Africa. The Emperor was not to be gainsaid, and the fleet set
sail. They arrived, says Sandoval, "en el dia de San Hieronymo," Saint
Bartholomew's day; and there then arose such a storm as the Mediterranean
seldom sees. Some of the army had landed, some were still afloat, the
corsairs accounted for the luckless soldiers ashore, the elements destroyed
many left in the ships: 26 ships and 4,000 men were lost.
Bitterly mortified, Charles, who had personally displayed valour and
conduct of unusual distinction in this disastrous expedition, returned to
Europe to turn his attention to his everlasting quarrels with the King of
France. Meanwhile Don Hugo de Moncada had escaped with a remnant of his
forces to Iviza, in the Balearics, where he wintered, and where his men
mutinied because he was unable to pay them.
As there was depression almost amounting to despair in the camps of
Christendom, so was there concurrently the widest rejoicing in the tents
and on board of the galleys which flew the Moslem flag. What mattered it
that it was the elements which had saved Kheyr-ed-Din from annihilation?
was it not a cause the more for jubilation, as had not the Prophet of God
himself come to the assistance of those who were upholding his holy
standard? Were not his favours made manifest in that he had sent, to lead
his votaries to victory, such an one as Kbeyr-ed-Din Barbarossa?
Pope and Emperor, King, Duke, and Viceroy had tried conclusions with the
pirates, and their fleet and army had melted away as the mists melt in the
hot sunshine on the Mediterranean; truly were the descendants of the
dispossessed Moors of Codoba and Granada taking a terrible revenge on
those by whom they had been expropriated.
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