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 Mersin Gulf of Mersin Gulf of Mersin () is one of the widest gulfs in Turkey. It is in the northeast of the Levantine Sea between the gulfs of İskenderun and Antalya. ( The Levantine Sea is the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea.) The gulf of Mersin is between Taşucu in the west and Karataş in the east. The total distance between these two points is approximately 115 km. ( ≈ 71 mi or 62 nmi). The city of Mersin is roughly at the center of the coastline. The total water surface is about 2 300 km ( ≈ 888