The Turk has come to stay

by Ray Agius

Original - Sold

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Not Specified

Dimensions

24.000 x 18.000 inches

Title

The Turk has come to stay

Artist

Ray Agius

Medium

Painting - Pencilon Cold-pressed 300 Gsm Watercolour Paper

Description

The Turks Had Come to Stay

On Saturday, May 19, the day after the Ottoman fleet first appeared off the Maltese coast, a reconnaissance force of thirty galleys landed three thousand troops at Marsaxlokk Bay, about six miles from the Order's enclave in the Grand Harbour. The men assessed the area and established a safe perimeter around the bay so that the rest of the fleet could disembark.

The following day they began to bring ashore the bulk of the troops, equipment and supplies. The armada was the biggest Ottoman naval effort ever assembled to date: 130 galleys, 30 galeots, 9 barges, 10 large ships, and some 200 smaller ships, mostly transports. On board were some 30,000 men, 4,000,000 kilos of gunpowder, more than 100,000 rounds of shot, dozens of cannons, including four reinforced guns and four huge basilisks, carriages and wheels for the guns, and hundreds of tons of equipment and supplies necessary to sustain months of siege.

The transportation of the heavy siege guns was a difficult and challenging task at the best of times. Over the uneven rocky terrain of the Maltese island it would have been hard going indeed. Hundreds of labourers and many beasts of burden (found abandoned in the farmsteads and fields) began hauling the heavy siege artillery on wheeled carriages.

The Knights watched apprehensively as pieces of the massive siege train and huge basilisks were being unloaded off the Turkish barges. It soon became clear that this was not going to be a swift razzia or raid. This time, the Turks had come prepared to stay.

Uploaded

April 30th, 2015

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