The voyage of the Jesús María y Joseph

A shipment of gunpowder loaded in Genoa and intended for Cagliari. The vessel left Genoa on 24 February 1719 with 500 barrels of gun-powder for Cagliari, but soon faced a storm with shifting rain squalls, forced the vessel to anchor first in the Pegli on the 25 February and again in Noli on 27 February. A lull on 1 March allowed the ship to leave Noli and sail south, but two nights later it faced strong west and north-west winds off the coast of Corsica, causing the crew to anchor in Ajaccio in the morning of 2 March. The ship again faced strong  west and north-west winds after departing Ajaccio the next day, leading the captain to abandon his intended passage around the west coast of Sardinia and head towards the Strait of Bonifacio. After passing through the strait the crew sighted a Moorish corsair vessel on 4 March, and paused the voyage until 7 March to watch the corsair’s moves. After a tense coast-hugging run, the ship called on 9 March at a coastal watch-tower at Torre di Bari to receive news of corsair activity, with assurances no corsairs lurked ahead. The ship encountered fair weather as it continued, but 10 March, the same corsair vessel reappeared and pursued the Genoese for three-and-a-half hours, until the crew deliberately beached the in the beach off Porto Corallo to flee onto land and avoid capture. Throughout the night of 10–11 March heavy waves pounded the vessel while the corsairs boarded five times; despite facing continuous gunfire from the crew at shore, the corsairs stripped the vessel of three lateen sails, four staysails, eight swivel-guns, twelve muskets, four compasses, two sand-glasses, two Genoese ensigns, the main hawser, a sounding lead, a bronze cabin lamp, a galley cauldron, tools, clothing and all provisions. By dawn the crew was supplemented by a local militia, causing the corsair vessel to withdraw and vanish. To lighten the load 168 barrels of gunpowder were taken ashore, the ship pumped out, and the powder restowed once the vessel refloated.  The lieutenant Ignacio Mesa from Ajaccio arrived on 15 March with six soldiers to secure the cargo, while the captain travelled overland to Cagliari to requisition sails and report the incident. Under improvised sails the vessel reached Cagliari on 18 March, and on 20 March unloaded 258 undamaged barrels of gunpower, 172 soaked barrels and made note of 70 missing barrels, along with a major loss of armament, gear and stores.