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This island lies in Illyricum <ref>Illyricum was a Roman province that existed between 167 BC and 10 AD, named after conquered Illyria, stretching from the Drin river (in modern north Albania) to Istria (Istra, Croatia) in the west and to the Sava river (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in the North. Salona (near modern Split in Croatia) functioned as its capital. The province was then divided into Pannonia in the North and Dalmatia in the South. (ref from Wikipedia)</ref> opposite the coast of Monte Gargano,<ref>Gargano is a historical and geographical Italian sub-region situated in Apulia, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming the backbone of the Gargano Promontory projecting into the Adriatic Sea. (ref from Wikipedia)</ref>100,000 steps in distance across the sea. To the East there is island of Meleda (modern: Mljet), South is Lagosta (modern: Lastovo) with surrounding small islands. To the West some sixty stadia  is''' Lissa''' (modern:Vis), North of us is '''Lesina''' (modern: Hvar) at distance of 30,000 steps, at the closest point. To the North is also bay of Neretva and along it an extended peninsula of Pelisac (modern Croatian: Pelješac), which Ptolomey called Eneys mountains. Reaching the delta of river Neretva extending over '''Ragusan's''' islands (modern: Dubrovnik), to the right and all the way up to Hvar (Lesina) to the left. At the junction with the mainland it makes connection only four stadia wide, where the ancient town of Stagno (modern: Ston) was established. From that point you can see city of Dubrovnik (Ragusa) as well as Hvar (Lesina) and Brazza (modern: Brač) to the West. Island of Korčula by it’s positioning creates two sea-channels; first to the East with  Mljet (Meleda) and Lastovo (Lagosta), which extends for the entire length of the island, some 160 stadia wide, The other channel is created between it and peninsula of Pelisac, which is about 76 stadias wide. This varies in length , but that one does not go more than 18 thousand reaches, and this one a little over 12. Korčula extends for this length until it is even with Hvar (Lesina) on the opposite shore. Mljet (Meleda) channel is without any islands, but Korčula on both ends has many small islands close to its shore, with many shallow rocky reefs, where it is dangerous for navigation. The city was built some 50 stadias distanced from the entrance to either channel, it points to the highest peak on the opposite mountainous peninsula of Pelisac, the city was erected on a relatively steep hill surrounded with fortified walls in circular shape, with seashore almost all around, except for the portion of South side where it is connected to the main island with and arched bridge, and a ditch under it. Buildings in the city are constructed of good quality white stone. The Cathedral with the bell tower is located in the centre of the city. Because of the slope in the terrain, the Cathedral extends in height above other buildings, giving those who approach the city a beautiful scene. In front of the Cathedral, in the middle of the city, there is a nicely tiled stone square. All of the city streets radiate from this square, in even order. This reminds as of the verses of a complimenting poet;'' “A circle with centre surrounded all over with tight order of streets; this is picture of Korčula.”''. Korčula gives Dalmatia not a small glory, when it is attacked the Venetian fathers carefully are guarding it. Exactly at this time, the city was well supplied with ammunition and other armament for defence, this was provided by Republic of Venice, by its great Rector Peter Bragadin. He sent to Venice a delegation of ten, led by '''Rafael Gabrielis''', who brought in many guns, spears, bow and arrows, six canons that could shoot balls of 20 pounds. When the war started, again Filip Rosanovic was sent and he brought back more explosives and other ammunition. From before, in the city we had armament of steel, and especially so called popes cannon, which was capable of firing balls of 30 pounds. In the armoury, there was also a large stock of other assorted armaments. Fortified walls as they were already old and aged, needed to be renovated. Our biggest fear was a small number of defenders. But, enough of all of this. Let us return to our story.

This island lies in Illyricum <ref>Illyricum was a Roman province that existed between 167 BC and 10 AD, named after conquered Illyria, stretching from the Drin river (in modern north Albania) to Istria (Istra, Croatia) in the west and to the Sava river (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in the North. Salona (near modern Split in Croatia) functioned as its capital. The province was then divided into Pannonia in the North and Dalmatia in the South. (ref from Wikipedia)</ref> opposite the coast of Monte Gargano,<ref>Gargano is a historical and geographical Italian sub-region situated in Apulia, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming the backbone of the Gargano Promontory projecting into the Adriatic Sea. (ref from Wikipedia)</ref>100,000 steps in distance across the sea. To the East there is island of Meleda (modern: Mljet), South is Lagosta (modern: Lastovo) with surrounding small islands. To the West some sixty stadia  is''' Lissa''' (modern:Vis), North of us is '''Lesina''' (modern: Hvar) at distance of 30,000 steps, at the closest point. To the North is also bay of Neretva and along it an extended peninsula of Pelisac (modern Croatian: Pelješac), which Ptolomey called Eneys mountains. Reaching the delta of river Neretva extending over '''Ragusan's''' islands (modern: Dubrovnik), to the right and all the way up to Hvar (Lesina) to the left. At the junction with the mainland it makes connection only four stadia wide, where the ancient town of Stagno (modern: Ston) was established. From that point you can see city of Dubrovnik (Ragusa) as well as Hvar (Lesina) and Brazza (modern: Brač) to the West. Island of Korčula by it’s positioning creates two sea-channels; first to the East with  Mljet (Meleda) and Lastovo (Lagosta), which extends for the entire length of the island, some 160 stadia wide, The other channel is created between it and peninsula of Pelisac, which is about 76 stadias wide. This varies in length , but that one does not go more than 18 thousand reaches, and this one a little over 12. Korčula extends for this length until it is even with Hvar (Lesina) on the opposite shore. Mljet (Meleda) channel is without any islands, but Korčula on both ends has many small islands close to its shore, with many shallow rocky reefs, where it is dangerous for navigation. The city was built some 50 stadias distanced from the entrance to either channel, it points to the highest peak on the opposite mountainous peninsula of Pelisac, the city was erected on a relatively steep hill surrounded with fortified walls in circular shape, with seashore almost all around, except for the portion of South side where it is connected to the main island with and arched bridge, and a ditch under it. Buildings in the city are constructed of good quality white stone. The Cathedral with the bell tower is located in the centre of the city. Because of the slope in the terrain, the Cathedral extends in height above other buildings, giving those who approach the city a beautiful scene. In front of the Cathedral, in the middle of the city, there is a nicely tiled stone square. All of the city streets radiate from this square, in even order. This reminds as of the verses of a complimenting poet;'' “A circle with centre surrounded all over with tight order of streets; this is picture of Korčula.”''. Korčula gives Dalmatia not a small glory, when it is attacked the Venetian fathers carefully are guarding it. Exactly at this time, the city was well supplied with ammunition and other armament for defence, this was provided by Republic of Venice, by its great Rector Peter Bragadin. He sent to Venice a delegation of ten, led by '''Rafael Gabrielis''', who brought in many guns, spears, bow and arrows, six canons that could shoot balls of 20 pounds. When the war started, again Filip Rosanovic was sent and he brought back more explosives and other ammunition. From before, in the city we had armament of steel, and especially so called popes cannon, which was capable of firing balls of 30 pounds. In the armoury, there was also a large stock of other assorted armaments. Fortified walls as they were already old and aged, needed to be renovated. Our biggest fear was a small number of defenders. But, enough of all of this. Let us return to our story.

==Early Dawn of August the 15th ==

==Early Dawn of 15th of August==

In early dawn of August 15 and on the feast of ascension of our Lady Mother of God the Virgin Mary, bellmen climbed to their position at the top of bell-towers, where they by hand beat the bells as is customary on this feast day. With the only two or three times of beating the bells, they from the heights, noticed something to the East and started screaming;  

In early dawn of August 15 and on the feast of ascension of our Lady Mother of God the Virgin Mary, bellmen climbed to their position at the top of bell-towers, where they by hand beat the bells as is customary on this feast day. With the only two or three times of beating the bells, they from the heights, noticed something to the East and started screaming;  

The scream spread throughout the city. On all sides people are saying that they should run into the forests, the city gates should be opened, so everyone can look for saving themselves best that they know how. Many, especially women cried and you can hear them saying; “ look what they brought us to, these decisions of our philosophers . Let the gates be opened.” Archdeacon happened to meet his sister a widow , with two of her twin boys, and her older daughter, where she began to beg him, asking him to kill her first and then to kill her children before they fall into the hands of the enemy. He gave her a terse answer, telling her to pray to God for her and her children’s safety, and also to be ready to assist the defenders. After this, he stopped and dropped down on his knees in front of closed doors of the Cathedral, followed by a short prayer. He understood from those that he sent to top of the bell towers, that there is some 20 galleys already in vicinity of the city, the others that they thought were ships were actually clouds. He then started running all around the city asking everyone to take their positions. In this he was not completely successful, some said they wanted to shoot him, others called him a traitor. Some were jumping down the walls, others crawled out through canon holes in the walls and some who were younger and faster first ones jumped down from the walls. Some with words, and demands attacked '''Jerko Gabrielis''', to whom 80 year old Ivan Batista Rosanovic, while going home to get some night rest, handed over the keys to the city’s gate, like to a friend, to open the gates; but to that he did not agree. They parted without any additional arguments. While Archdeacon like this moved around the city, like if he lost his mind, begging individuals to go to their battle positions, his brother Vicko ran toward him, he was arguing with many not to run away, and saying; what are we to do, everyone is running away. Archdeacon answers; ''“This is where we are going to die.”'' Then, both of them together not any more with words, but with arms threatened those trying to escape, through that hole in wall next to Rectors palace, which was patched up last night, and now these escapees have opened it up again. They chased away all of them and again patched this hole. Then needed orders were given to the cannon handlers to take their positions. Anyway there was more of those who wanted to run away, great fear has overtaken them. Vicko Rosanovic really angry, looking at that, climbs on the tall fortress looking down on the section of town outside the walls called Varos, and started throwing stones down on those who were running over the defensive ditch, trying to stop them. Seeing that this did not do much good, he comes up with an idea to try to fool them, then he starts with as strong voice as he could holler. He said that from the top of the fortress he can see where the enemy soldiers on the land are stopping and capturing all of those that come out of the city. When they heard this, nobody was thinking of running away any more. In fact’ some of those who were already past the walls, scared with Vicko’s hollering, climbed ropes back up the wall and into the city. In all that confusion they could not find the keys to the explosive storage building, Archdeacon had to break the door with a sledge hammer. Some of the canon handlers were looking also how to escape, but Vicko, by threatening others by convincing words, he asked them to return back. In the meantime enemy’s ships, being helped with the force of the wind, as well as with the force of the rowers, in no time arrived within the reach of our cannons.  

The scream spread throughout the city. On all sides people are saying that they should run into the forests, the city gates should be opened, so everyone can look for saving themselves best that they know how. Many, especially women cried and you can hear them saying; “ look what they brought us to, these decisions of our philosophers . Let the gates be opened.” Archdeacon happened to meet his sister a widow , with two of her twin boys, and her older daughter, where she began to beg him, asking him to kill her first and then to kill her children before they fall into the hands of the enemy. He gave her a terse answer, telling her to pray to God for her and her children’s safety, and also to be ready to assist the defenders. After this, he stopped and dropped down on his knees in front of closed doors of the Cathedral, followed by a short prayer. He understood from those that he sent to top of the bell towers, that there is some 20 galleys already in vicinity of the city, the others that they thought were ships were actually clouds. He then started running all around the city asking everyone to take their positions. In this he was not completely successful, some said they wanted to shoot him, others called him a traitor. Some were jumping down the walls, others crawled out through canon holes in the walls and some who were younger and faster first ones jumped down from the walls. Some with words, and demands attacked '''Jerko Gabrielis''', to whom 80 year old Ivan Batista Rosanovic, while going home to get some night rest, handed over the keys to the city’s gate, like to a friend, to open the gates; but to that he did not agree. They parted without any additional arguments. While Archdeacon like this moved around the city, like if he lost his mind, begging individuals to go to their battle positions, his brother Vicko ran toward him, he was arguing with many not to run away, and saying; what are we to do, everyone is running away. Archdeacon answers; ''“This is where we are going to die.”'' Then, both of them together not any more with words, but with arms threatened those trying to escape, through that hole in wall next to Rectors palace, which was patched up last night, and now these escapees have opened it up again. They chased away all of them and again patched this hole. Then needed orders were given to the cannon handlers to take their positions. Anyway there was more of those who wanted to run away, great fear has overtaken them. Vicko Rosanovic really angry, looking at that, climbs on the tall fortress looking down on the section of town outside the walls called Varos, and started throwing stones down on those who were running over the defensive ditch, trying to stop them. Seeing that this did not do much good, he comes up with an idea to try to fool them, then he starts with as strong voice as he could holler. He said that from the top of the fortress he can see where the enemy soldiers on the land are stopping and capturing all of those that come out of the city. When they heard this, nobody was thinking of running away any more. In fact’ some of those who were already past the walls, scared with Vicko’s hollering, climbed ropes back up the wall and into the city. In all that confusion they could not find the keys to the explosive storage building, Archdeacon had to break the door with a sledge hammer. Some of the canon handlers were looking also how to escape, but Vicko, by threatening others by convincing words, he asked them to return back. In the meantime enemy’s ships, being helped with the force of the wind, as well as with the force of the rowers, in no time arrived within the reach of our cannons.  

[[File:Curzola of old.jpg|thumb|right|350px| Town of Korula (Curzola-1708)]]

[[File:Curzola of old.jpg|thumb|right|350px| Town of Korčula (Curzola-1708)]]