After the Christmas festivities were over, the King ordered the fleet to make sail in the worst possible weather. The ships were scarcely clear of the land when a furious gale sprang up and scattered the fleet. Alfonso arrived at Port Mahon with only twenty galleys, and occupied one of the rocky islands in the harbour, waiting for the rest of his forces.
The Moors were ready to receive him. They had a large army, composed partly of the auxiliaries sent from Africa and partly of natives of the island. Seeing them drawn up in battle array, the impetuous young King resolved to attack them without waiting for reinforcements. He had a few companies of _almogavares_ and four hundred horse. A very desperate and well-contested battle was the result. Alfonso was in the thick of the fight, giving many proofs of valour and dexterity as a swordsman. In spite of the great inferiority in numbers, the Catalans were victorious, the Moors retreating in confusion to a hill which, owing to the great slaughter, received the name of ‘El Degollador.’ The battlefield was situated on a plain a little to the westward of the present castle of San Felipe.
A day or two afterwards there was another fight, owing to the conduct of a young knight named Berenguer de Tornamira, who, to show his own valour, attacked the Moors without orders with a small force. If succour had not been promptly despatched he would certainly have been overwhelmed. As it was, the Moors were driven back. The Almojarife then took refuge, with the remnant of his forces, in the castle on Mount Santa Agueda. Alfonso, always hasty and violent, ordered Tornamira’s head to be cut off; but he afterwards yielded to the prayers and remonstrances of his nobles and consented to spare the young knight’s life. The losses in these two battles were very heavy, especially on the side of the Moors. By this time the rest of the fleet, with troops on board, had arrived at Port Mahon.
Alfonso then advanced to the castle of Santa Agueda, and made preparations for a siege; but the Almojarife saw that all hope was gone, and sent four of his principal ministers to ask for the acceptance of the terms he offered. They were that he would surrender the castle and the whole island if he and his people were provided with shipping to proceed to Barbary, paying 7-1/2 _doblas_ a head for every Moorish man or woman that embarked. The Almojarife also asked to be allowed to take his books, clothes, and fifty swords. The ship was to take him to Ceuta or some other port in Africa. The King consented to the terms, and his favourite, Blasco Jimenes de Ayerba, was instructed to make the necessary arrangement. There was a Genoese vessel at Port Mahon, which was hired and supplied with provisions, and the unfortunate chief, with his family and about a hundred other people who were able to pay the ransom, embarked. Whether the ship went down in a gale of wind, or whether there was foul play, no one will ever know. It is certain that she never was heard of again. The story of Carbonell that the unfortunate fugitives were thrown overboard by order of the King, after paying their ransoms, need not be believed.