From Croatian Shores, Under the Venetian Flag:
The Forgotten Croatian Contribution at Lepanto
On Sunday, 7 October 1571, the waters at the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth witnessed one of the most extraordinary naval battles in Christian history.
At Lepanto, the fleet of the Holy League met the Ottoman fleet in a confrontation that would become legendary. The Christian victory shattered the long-standing image of Ottoman naval invincibility and became, throughout Catholic Europe, a symbol of the triumph of Christian arms under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The battle is usually remembered through the names of Pope St Pius V, Don John of Austria, Philip II of Spain, the Republic of Venice, Genoa and the great commanders of the Holy League. And rightly so.
But there is another story beneath that great story. It is the story of the sailors who came from the eastern shores of the Adriatic.
Men from Cres, Krk, Rab, Hvar, Šibenik and Trogir went to Lepanto aboard galleys equipped …