History of the Republic of Venice to command such a galley. By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people. With the outbreak of another war with the Ottomans in 1570, Venice, Spain and the Pope formed the Holy League, which was able to assemble a grand fleet of 208 galleys, 110 of which were Venetian, under the command of John of Austria, half-brother of Philip II of Spain. The Venetians were commanded by Sebastiano Venier. The Turkish fleet, equal in number to the allied one, had sailed up the Adriatic as far as Lesina, and then returned to Lepanto in the Gulf
Gulf of Sirte Gulf of Sirte Gulf of Sirte (, "Khalij Surt"), or Gulf of Sidra (, "Khalij as-Sidra") after the port of Sidra, is a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea on the northern coast of Libya. Historically it has been also known as the Great Sirte or Greater Syrtis (Latin: "Syrtis Major", Greek: , contrasting with "Syrtis Minor" in Tunisia). The Gulf of Sirte has been a major centre for tuna fishing in the Mediterranean for centuries. It gives its name to the city of Sirte situated on its western side. The gulf measures from the promontory of Boreum (now