6 – Battle of Aegates Islands (241 BC)
By 242 BC, Rome created a new 200 ship fleet with financial assistance from wealthy private citizens. The new fleet sailed to Sicily that summer under the command of Lutatius Catulus. He soon realized that there was no enemy fleet to contend with so he ordered his land troops to land at Drepanum intending to lay siege to the city. In the meantime, he spent the next nine months training his sailors in the art of naval warfare.
Carthage saw the threat and raised its own fleet which was ready for war in the spring of 241 BC under the command of Admiral Hanno. His main problem was the enormous amount of supplies the ships were carrying which slowed them down. Hanno planned to sail to the Aegates Islands, quickly make his way to Eryx to meet Hamilcar, unload the supplies, take Hamilcar’s experienced mercenaries with him and launch his attack on the Romans.
It was a good idea in theory, but in practice, he didn’t contend with the skill of Catulus who was determined to prevent Hanno from carrying out his plans. The nine months he spent training his sailors was time well spent as the Romans turned a potential disaster into total victory. When the two fleets met near the Aegates Islands, a west wind was blowing and heavily favored Hanno because it made it hard for the Roman ships to remain together. However, they held firm and didn’t allow bad weather to destroy them once again.
Although Hanno had around 250 ships to the 200 Roman vessels, the Carthaginian ships were heavily loaded with supplies and undermanned. The combination of greater mobility, well-trained sailors and excellent command from Catulus meant the Battle of the Aegates Islands was a devastatingly one-sided affair. 50 Carthaginian ships were destroyed, and another 70 were captured while only 30 Roman vessels were destroyed. Only a change in wind direction prevented total annihilation as it allowed the remaining Carthaginian ships to flee. You can probably guess what happened to Hanno when he returned home.
Hamilcar was given authority to negotiate peace and, perhaps mindful of what happened in 256 BC, the Romans offered reasonably generous terms. Carthage had to evacuate Sicily, both sides agreed not to make war on one another’s allies, and Carthage had to pay Rome a sum of 2,200 talents to cover the costs of the Roman fleet. These initial terms were deemed too generous back in Rome, so they added another 1,000 talent fee and Carthaginian war vessels were not allowed enter Italian waters.
Thus, the First Punic War came to an end in 241 BC, and Sicily became Rome’s first foreign province. Sardinia and Corsica quickly followed and for the next few decades, Rome more or less ignored Sicily. Meanwhile, thoughts of revenge were put to the back of Carthaginian minds as they had to deal with revolts and wars in Libya. However, Carthage would return to become a thorn in Rome’s side and deal it humiliating defeats in the Second Punic War, just 23 years later, under the leadership of the brilliant Hannibal Barca.