text:  While the war thus languished in Crete the events of the maritime contest continued to justify the proverbial saying of the Turks that "Allah had given the land to the true believers; but the sea to the infidels!" Not only was the blockade of the Dardanelles so strictly kept up that it was only in winter when the Venetian fleet was unable to remain on its station that the Turks could convey reinforcements to their brethren who were waging the _holy war_ in Crete but repeated and disastrous defeats were sustained by the Ottoman navy whenever it attempted to dispute the sovereignty of the sea with the Lion of St Mark