Everything about The Fusta totally explained
The
fusta or
fuste (also called
foist or
galliot) was a narrow, light and fast ship with shallow draft, powered by both
oars and sail -– in essence a small
galley. It typically had 12 to 18 two-man rowing benches on each side, a single mast with a
lateen (triangular) sail, and usually carried two or three guns. The sail was used to cruise and save the rowers’ energy, while the oars propelled the ship in and out of harbor and during combat.
The fusta was the favorite ship of the North African
corsairs of
Salé and the
Barbary Coast. Its speed, mobility, capability to move without wind, and its ability to operate in shallow water -- crucial for hiding in coastal waters before pouncing on a passing ship -- made it ideal for war and piracy. It was mainly with fustas that the Barbarossa brothers,
Baba Aruj and
Khair ad Din carried out the Turkish conquest of North Africa and the rescue of
Mudéjars and
Moriscos from Spain after the fall of
Granada and that they and the other North African corsairs wrought terror upon Christian shipping and the islands and coastal areas of the Mediterranean in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Literature
- Bicheno, Hugh, Crescent and Cross: The Battle of Lepanto 1571, Phoenix Paperback, London, 2004, ISBN 1-84212-753-5
- Svat Soucek, "The Ottomans and Their Rivals, Galleys and Galleons, Portolan Charts and Isolarii," in his Piri Reis & Turkish Mapmaking After Columbus: The Khalili Portolan Atlas, Nour Foundation, 1995 (pp. 10-33).
Further Information
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