Whilst the king of Spain was on a visit to the Pope, and was boasting that he had killed Barbarossa and taken Tunis, the account of the capture of Minorca reached him, disclosed his falsehood, and obliged him to return with shame to his own country. Andrea having also heard of the fate of Minorca, resolved on going against Barbarossa. The latter had just left Algiers, and on his way came in sight of Andrea’s fleet, but not being observed himself, he took no notice of the fleet. The pasha next touched at Jarba, and thence continued his course to the Porte. The emperor at that time had just returned from Bagdad, and Khair-ad-din having paid his respects,[37] was ordered to build two hundred vessels for an expedition against Puglia, to the completion of which he accordingly applied himself.
The warlike pasha in the month Rabia-al-akher 943 (Sept. 1536) left the royal arsenal with thirty light vessels, and sailing into the Mediterranean, directed his course to a strong fortress called Castel, which he captured after a hot engagement. Having secured the prisoners, he plundered the fortress, and the winter season having set in, returned to the Porte to repair and refit his fleet.
The cause of this expedition was this. In the time of Sultan Mohammed Khan, the conqueror, the kingdom of Puglia had been subdued, but when Keduk Ahmed Pasha succeeded to it, Spain demanded its restoration. The warlike emperor therefore determined to send a large fleet to that quarter; for the Grand Vizier Eias Pasha represented that the sanjaks of Avlona and Delvina, situated opposite to Puglia, being now subject to the Porte, the reduction of this territory ought to be considered a matter of importance to the state. Kemal Reis, however, having recommended the capture of Corfu in the first place, the Sultan resolved upon going thither in person, and on a Friday, in the middle of Zilhijé 943 (May 1537), Lutfi Pasha being then commander of the fleet, Khair-ad-din sailed for the Mediterranean with one hundred and thirty-five galleys and other vessels, amounting in all to two hundred and eighty. Never before had so large a fleet sailed. Thirty thousand sailors had been collected from all parts of the Ottoman dominions. On the 7th of Zilhijé (17th May) the illustrious emperor with his two sons left the capital, and set out on his journey, taking Smako on the way. About the end of Moharrem, 944 (A. D. 1533), they passed Albassan, and on the fifth of Seffer entered the plains of Avlona, where they had a sight of the royal fleet, which had arrived and lay off that coast.