Battle of Formentera

The Battle of Formentara occurred on 28 October 1529 when an Ottoman fleet under Aydin Reis routed a small Spanish fleet of eight galleys off the island of Formentera near Ibiza.^[1][2]

Battle of Formentera (1529)
Barbarossa galley in France 1543.
Date 1529 Location Formentera Result Algerian victory
Belligerents
Spanish Empire	Regency of Algiers
Commanders and leaders
Rodrigo Portuondo †	Aydin Reis
Strength
8 galleys	Unknown
Casualties and losses
7 galleys captured and remaining soldiers enslaved. 1,000 Muslim galley slaves freed.	Unknown

Habsburg emperor Charles V had sent a small Spanish fleet of eight galleys under the Spanish commander of the Castilla fleet, Rodrigo Portuondo [es], to eliminate Barbary ships from Algiers under Caccia Diavolo which were raiding the coast of Valencia and ferrying Moriscos from Spain to Algeria.^[3]

Portuondo was killed in the battle, seven of his eight galleys were captured, and his soldiers were taken as slaves to the recently conquered city of Algiers,^[2] and 1000 Muslim galley slaves had been liberated.^[4]

Notes

1. Pillaging the empire: piracy in the Americas, 1500-1750 by Kris E. Lane p.15
2. Garnier, p.27
3. Garnier, p.26
4. Rogerson, Barnaby, The last crusaders: the hundred-year battle for the centre of the world, p. 285

References

• Garnier, Edith L'Alliance Impie Editions du Felin, 2008, Paris ISBN 978-2-86645-678-8 Interview

38°42′N 1°27′E