"
Whether or no this denunciation of Dragut had any influence on the Sultan
it is impossible to say; he was in the habit of employing the corsairs, and
apparently cared nothing about their piratical reputation, so long as their
depredations were confined to Christian vessels. Shortly after the receipt
of the answer of Charles, however, the Sultan conferred upon Dragut the
title of Sandjak or governor of the island of Santa Maura, thus
constituting him a Turkish official.
Once again was Andrea Doria ordered to put to sea to fight against neither
small nor great save Dragut alone; he was to take him dead or alive, but
alive for choice, in order that he might be made to answer at the bar of
Christian justice for all the atrocities committed by him both by land and
sea. The corsair had returned in the meanwhile to Jerbah, an island on the
east coast of Tunis much affected by the sea-wolves, and which in
contemporary histories is known as Jerbah, as Los Gelues (by the Spanish
writers), as Gelves, and various other names which greatly confuse its
identity.
Doria put to sea with twenty-two royal galleys before Dragut was aware of
the fact. The Genoese admiral heard that his prey was at Jerbah; he
repaired thither without losing a moment, found that he had been correctly
informed, and anchored at the mouth of the harbour, at a place known as La
Bocca de Cantara. Dragut was completely hemmed in, Doria was in such
strength that he could not, reckless as he was, attempt to force the
passage.
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