Kemal Reis - Operations in The West Mediterranean and The Atlantic Ocean

Operations in The West Mediterranean and The Atlantic Ocean

In July 1501 Kemal Reis, accompanied by his nephew Piri Reis, set sail from the port of Modon with a force of 3 galleys and 16 fustas and went to the Tyrrhenian Sea, where he took advantage of the war between Jacopo d'Appiano, ruler of Piombino, and the Papal forces under the command of Cesare Borgia. The Ottoman troops landed at the Island of Pianosa and quickly captured it, taking many prisoners. From there Kemal Reis sailed to the Channel of Piombino and the Ottomans raided the coastal settlements in that area. In August 1501 Kemal Reis and his troops landed at Sardinia and captured several coastal settlements while taking around 1,050 prisoners during fights against the local forces. He engaged several Genoese warships off the coast of Sardinia, which later escaped northwards after being damaged by cannon fire. Still in August 1501 Kemal Reis sailed to the Balearic Islands and the Ottomans landed at Majorca, where bitter fighting against the local Spanish forces took place. From there Kemal Reis sailed to Spain and captured 7 Spanish ships off the coast of Valencia. Aboard these ships he found a strange feather headdress and an unfamiliar black stone. He was told by one of his prisoners that both came from newly discovered lands to the west, beyond the Atlantic Ocean. The prisoner claimed to have visited these lands three times, under the command of a man named Colombo, and that he had in his possession a chart, drawn by this Colombo himself, which showed the newly discovered lands beyond the Sea of Darkness. This map was to become one of the main source charts of the famous Piri Reis map of 1513 which was drawn by the Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis who was the nephew of Kemal Reis.

After leaving Valencia, still in August 1501, Kemal Reis headed south and bombarded the coastal defenses of Andalucia before landing his troops, where the Ottomans raided several ports and towns. Kemal Reis later sailed westwards and passed the Strait of Gibraltar and entered the Atlantic Ocean, where he and his men raided the Atlantic coasts of the Iberian peninsula. From there Kemal Reis sailed southwest and landed on several of the Canary Islands, where the Ottomans faced moderate opposition from the Spanish forces. Piri Reis used the occasion, as in other voyages with his uncle, to draw his famous portolan charts which were later to become a part of the renowned Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation). Kemal Reis later turned eastwards, where he followed the Atlantic coastline of Morocco and re-entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar, landing on several ports of Morocco and Algeria on the way. From there Kemal Reis headed further east and captured several Genoese ships off the coast of Tripoli in Libya. He also intercepted several Venetian galleys in the area before sailing back to Constantinople.