At the height of the power of the Ottoman Empire, a Turkish fleet besieged the Christian bastion on the island of Malta, in a bid to control the entire Mediterranean. From May until September, a few thousand Knights of St. John and their retainers stood off 40,000 Turks. The battles featured conflicts between armed galleys, hand-to-hand combats, siege weapons and artillery duels, cavalry charges and even a fight in the Grand Harbor between bands of armed swimmers. When the Turks withdrew in defeat, Europe had been spared from a major threat.