Smith is reputed to have defeated, killed and beheaded Turkish commanders in 3 duels. He was knighted by the Transylvanian Prince and was given a horse and coat of arms showing 3 Turks' heads. In 1602 he was wounded in a skirmish, captured and sold as a slave. Smith wrote that his Turkish master sent him as a gift to his Greek mistress in Constantinople, who fell in love with Smith. He then escaped from the Ottoman lands and returned to England in 1604.