In the spring of 1188 William II of Sicily sent his ammiratus ammiratorum, or Grand Admiral Margaritus, with a fleet of sixty ships and 200 knights to control the sea lanes to and from the Holy Land and to protect the coastal cities against Saladin’s depredations. The Sicilians sided with Guy de Lusignan. On 6 April 1189 Archbishop Ubaldo Lanfranchi of Pisa – a great maritime power – arrived with a fleet of fifty-two ships. Being no friends of the Holy Roman Empire, in whose territory lay Conrad’s home territory of Montferrat, this contingent also sided with King Guy. This gave Guy the confidence to demand that Conrad cease his pretension to the throne of Jerusalem. The reply was again a resounding Non!Guy again marched south, with the Sicilian and Pisan fleets sailing a parallel course just off the coast, to besiege Muslim-occupied Acre after setting up camp a mile from the walls on 28 August 1189, near the water supply of the River Belus, which flowed into the sea just south of Acre.
