Shipwreck and storm

Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans primary

Pyrrhus sends Cineas to Tarentum, gathers a major invasion force with elephants and cavalry, and after a violent north wind scatters much of his fleet, he survives a shipwreck by jumping overboard and reaches shore with only a remnant.

rather troubled Pyrrhus with the thought of the happiness he was quitting, than any way altered his purpose, being unable to abandon the hopes of what he so much desired. And first, he sent away Cineas to the Tarentines with three thousand men; presently after, many vessels for transport of horse, and galleys, and flat-bottomed boats of all sorts arriving from Tarentum, he shipped upon them twenty elephants, three t…