The defeat at Agrigentum apparently does not bar Gisco from continuing leadership.

In the following year, 260 BCE, Gisco returns as the admiral in charge of the Carthaginian fleet in the Straits of Messina.

The Romans are about to launch their first-ever navy, and Carthage had determined that this innovation should be thwarted.

Gisco defeats and captures the Roman consul Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina in the Battle of the Lipari Islands, which earns Scipio the nickname Asina ("Donkey").

However, this victory is robbed of practical meaning with the bulk of the Roman fleet continuing to maneuver in the surrounding waters.

Later in 260 BCE, Gisco is to engage this fleet and to be the first Punic general to encounter the Roman corvus boarding device with its deadly effect.

The Roman military is a land-based army while Carthage is primarily a naval power.

In order to compensate for the lack of experience, and to make use of standard land military tactics on sea, the Romans equip their new ships with this special boarding device.

This boarding-bridge allows the Roman navy to circumvent some of Carthage's naval skills by using their marines to board Carthaginian ships and fight in hand to hand combat.

Instead of maneuvering to ram, which is the standard naval tactic at this time, corvus-equipped ships can maneuver alongside the enemy vessel, deploy the bridge which attach to the enemy ship through spikes on the end of the bridge, and send legionaries across as boarding parties.

Gaius Duilius, a novus homo, meaning not belonging to a traditional family of Roman aristocrats, has managed, nevertheless, to be elected consul for the year of 260 BCE, at the outbreak of the Punic war.

As junior partner of the patrician Scipio Duilius had been given the command of the rear fleet, not expected to see much action.

However, the naivety of Scipio, which led to his capture in the Lipari encounter, has left Duilius as senior commander.

Duilius meets Hannibal Gisco off northern Mylae in 260.

Confident in Carthage's superiority at sea, Gisco deploys his ships for the Battle of Mylae in the traditional long line arrangement.

Polybius states that the Carthaginians had one hundred and thirty ships, but does not give an exact figure for the Romans.

The loss of seventeen ships at the Lipari Islands from a starting total of one hundred and twenty ships suggests that Rome had one hundred and three remaining.

However, it is possible that this number was larger than one hundred and three, thanks to captured ships and the assistance of Roman allies.

The Carthaginians anticipate victory, especially because of their superior experience at sea.

The corvus tactics are very successful, and help the Romans seize the first thirty Carthaginian ships that get close enough.

In order to avoid the corvus, the Carthaginians are forced to navigate around them and approach the Romans from behind, or from the side.

The corvus is usually still able to pivot and grapple most oncoming ships.

Once an additional twenty of the Carthaginian ships have been hooked and lost to the Romans, Hannibal retreats with his surviving ships, leaving Duilius with a clear victory.

The new weapon, having proved its worth in the Battle of Mylae, the first Roman naval victory, will continue to do so in the following years, especially in the huge Battle of Cape Ecnomus.

The addition of the corvus forces Carthage to review its military tactics, and since the city has difficulty in doing so, Rome has the naval advantage, mainly due to the innovative use of land tactics in naval warfare.

Instead of following the remaining Carthaginians at sea, …

…Duilius sails to Sicily to retrieve control of the troops.

Here he saves the city of Segesta, which has been under siege from the Carthaginian infantry commander Hamilcar.

Modern historians have wondered at Duilius’ decision not to immediately follow up with another naval attack, but Hannibal’s remaining eighty ships are probably still too strong for Rome to conquer.