History of the Peloponnesian War

For those at Samos had heard from Melcs of their approach, and Charminus was watching for them about Syme, Chalce, Rhodes, and Lycia; as by this time he was aware of their being at Caunus.

Astyochus therefore sailed immediately to Syme, before he was heard of, on the chance of finding the ships some where out at sea. But the rain and the cloudy state of the atmosphere which he encountered caused the dispersion of his ships during the dark, and threw them into confusion.

In the morning, when his fleet had been separated, and the left wing was now in sight of the Athenians, while the rest of it was still dispersed around the island, Charminus and the Athenians put out against it with all speed, with fewer than their twenty ships, thinking that these were the vessels they were watching for, namely, those from Caunus.