Lazzaro Mocenigo

Lazzaro Mocenigo (9 July 1624 - 17 July 1657) was a Venetian nobleman who distinguished himself as an admiral during the Cretan War against the Ottoman Empire.

Biography Born in Venice (San Stae), he was the second of four sons of Giovanni di Antonio and Elena di Antonmaria Bernardo, widow of Giorgio Contarini.

The outbreak of the war against the Turks, in 1645, allowed him to make a career for himself. By 1650 he was galley captain , and already in 1654 he was captain of a galeass in the first Venetian expedition against the Dardanelles. He was nicknamed ("One-eyed Captain") by the Turks.

He then participated in the Fourth Battle of the Dardanelles in 1657. A cannon shot from a Turkish coastal battery caused a mast to fall which hit him, killing him.

He was one of the few Venetian naval officers to have participated, albeit to varying degrees, in all expeditions to the Dardanelles. His death proved fatal for the fate of the anti-Ottoman alliance. With his death the battle was lost, the Venetian blockade broken, causing a rift among Venice, Malta and the Papal States, while giving the Turks time to prepare a successful counter-offensive.