The right wing was commanded by John
Andrea Doria, the left wing by the Provediteur Barbarigo, the centre, or
"battle," as it was called, by Don John in person, who had on the one side
of him Mark Antony Colonna, the General of the Galleys of the Pope, and on
the other that fiery veteran Sebastian Veniero, the commander of the
Venetians. Here also were stationed the Prince of Parma, nephew to Don
John, Admiral of Savoy; Duke Urbino, Admiral of Genoa; the Admiral of
Naples, and the Commandeur of Castile. The reserve, under the command of
the Marquis of Santa Cruz, consisted of thirty-five galleys. Immediately in
rear of the _Real_, or royal galley of Don John, was that of the Grand
Commander Requesens. The number of seamen, soldiers, officers, and
galley-slaves in the fleet amounted to over eighty thousand persons;
twenty-nine thousand infantry had been embarked, of which number nineteen
thousand were Spaniards. Opposed to the Christians on this day was a
Turkish fleet which had on board no less than one hundred and twenty
thousand men embarked in two hundred and fifty galleys, without counting an
innumerable host of smaller vessels.
[Illustration: SEBASTIAN VENIERO. Inset, portraits of Don John and Pope
Pius V. Heroic statue of Don John dominating Christian and Turkish Fleets.
The breath of the Almighty destroying the Turkish fleet at Lepanto.]
The authorities on whose accounts of the battle this description is based
are Prescott, the famous historian; P.
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