Battle of Ponza (1300)
The naval Battle of Ponza took place on 14 June 1300 near the islands of Ponza and Zannone, in the Gulf of Gaeta (north-west of Naples), when a galley fleet commanded by Roger of Lauria defeated an Aragonese-Sicilian galley fleet commanded by Conrad d'Oria.
| Battle of Ponza | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of War of the Sicilian Vespers | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Angevin Empire | Sicily | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Roger of Lauria | Conrad d'Oria | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 59 galleys | 32 galleys | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | 26 galleys captured | ||||||
Lauria's 40 Angevin galleys were at Naples when 32 Sicilian galleys under d'Oria arrived and challenged him to come out. For the first time he refused, probably because of a lack of confidence in his Angevin crews, and d'Oria ravaged some offshore islands. This allowed 12 Apulian galleys to arrive from the south and seven Genoese galleys to arrive also, and join Lauria's fleet, making 59 galleys. Now Lauria emerged and found the Sicilians near Zannone Island to the west. After d'Oria dismissed a suggestion to retreat, he tried a quick attack on Lauria's flag-galley and the banner-carrying galleys, his own galley running alongside Lauria's, "head to toe", and Lauria's crew suffered even though his galley couldn't be boarded. One Sicilian galley fled after capturing one of Lauria's galleys, and it was followed by six more. Five Genoese Ghibelline galleys held back, awaiting fortune, and 18-29 (two sources give 28, but this adds up to too many) Sicilian galleys were captured, d'Oria's being the last to surrender (when Lauria threatened to burn it).
Ships involved
Aragonese and Angevin
- 40 Angevin (Regicolae) galleys
- 12 Apulian galleys
- 7 Genoese (Grimaldi) galleys
Sicilian
- 32 galleys - about 26 captured