ido and
Malamocco were completely closed up with sunken vessels, palisades, and
chains; and they sailed away to seek another entry through which they
could strike at Venice.

Had the same precautions, that had proved so effective at the Lido and
Malamocco passages, been taken at all the other channels; Venice could
have defied all the efforts of Doria's fleet.

The city is situated on a group of small islands, rising in the midst
of a shallow basin twenty-five miles long and five wide, and separated
from the sea by a long sandbank, formed by the sediment brought down by
the rivers Piave and Adige. Through this sandbank the sea had pierced
several channels. Treporti, the northern of these channels, contained
water only for the smallest craft. The next opening was known as the
port of Lido, and separated the island of San Nicolo from Malamocco.
Five miles farther on is the passage of Malamocco, between that island
and Pelestrina. Southwest of Pelestrina lay Brondolo, behind which
stood Chioggia, twenty miles distant from Venice. The southern point of
Brondolo was only separated by a small channel--called the Canal of
Lombardy--from the mainland.

Unfortunately, at Brondolo the channel had not been closed. All
preparations had been made for doing so, but the work had been
postponed until the last moment, in order that trading vessels might
enter and leave the harbour, the Chioggians believing that there was
sure to be sufficient warning, of the approach of an enemy, to enable
them to close the entrance in time. The sudden appearance of Doria's
fleet before Brondolo upset all these calculations, and the Genoese
easily carried the position. Little Chioggia, the portion of the town
separated from the rest by the Canal of Santa Caterina, was captured
without difficulty; but the bridge across the canal was strongly
defended by bastions and redoubts, and here Pietro Emo made a brave
stand, with his garrison of three thousand five hundred men.

The enemy at once erected his batteries, and, on the 12th of August,
the Genoese opened fire. The Venetians replied stoutly, and for three
days a heavy cannonade was kept up on both sides. Reinforcements had
reached the garrison from Venice, and, hour by hour, swift boats
brought the news to the city of the progress of the fight.

So far, all seemed going on well. The Genoese had suffered heavily, and
made no impression upon the batteries at the head of the bridge. The
days passed in