ABSTRACT
On 1 July 1477, Pierre d’Aubusson, Master of the Order of the Hospital on the island of Rhodes, informed the European priors of the Order that it was common knowledge in Turkey that Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror had built a fleet of 200 ships in the Hellespont and intended to attack the Hospitaller holdings of St Peter (Bodrum), Kos, or Rhodes itself.1 Therefore, d’Aubusson required the priors to attend a chapter general on Rhodes to prepare for the upcoming siege. D’Aubusson’s intelligence was faulty: the Ottoman fleet did not appear off the island of Rhodes until 1480. It is worth noting, however, that d’Aubusson’s resources, experience and knowledge of galley warfare set off preparations for a land siege, not a naval battle, in response to news of a Turkish fleet.
