By the year 1540 Dragut had distinctly "arrived"; that is to say, he had
succeeded in making himself so dreaded that Charles V. ordered Andrea Doria
to seek him out and destroy him at any cost. The Christian admiral was "to
endeavour by all possible means to purge the sea of so insufferable a
nuisance."
Andrea got ready a fleet, which he entrusted, together with the care and
management of this affair, to his nephew Jannetin Doria. This was the
nephew who, in the disastrous attack by Charles on Hassan Aga at Algiers in
the following year, was so nearly lost in the storm which destroyed the
fleet of the emperor; and of whom Andrea Doria is reported to have said,
"It was decreed that Jannetin should be reduced to such an extremity
purposely to convince the world that it was not impossible for Andrea Doria
to shed a tear." Certainly from what we know of the celebrated Genoese
admiral it is hard to imagine him in a tearful mood. Jannetin Doria put to
sea, and, after a long hunt, found the object of his quest at Andior on the
coast of Corsica; Dragut was at anchor in the road of Goialatta, under a
castle situated between Cabri and Liazzo. The corsair knew nothing of his
enemies being at sea, and was in consequence keeping no particular
look-out. Although we are not told the composition of the fleet of Jannetin
Doria, it must have been a large one, as Dragut had under his orders
thirteen galleys, and was unable to withstand the attack to which he was
subject.
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