Cover photo: an excellent table with detailed historical account of the naval battle of Samos by the creative contemporary painter Vasilis Bottas

After the destruction of Psara (21/22 June 1824)¹, the Ottoman fleet under Hosref Pasha had withdrawn to the nearby island of Lesvos, in Mytilene, and notified the Greek revolutionary forces of Samians to declare submission. The Samians, in their assembly, rejected Hosref’s proposal, thus initiating preparations as they knew their turn was coming.

On July 24, 15 warlike Spetsiot² ships and a fire ship sailed under Kolandroutsos, soon increasing to 28, while on July 27, the first division of Sahtouris with 27 Hydraean warships and fire ships set sail.³

After 3 days, on July 30, they encountered outside Ikaria 40 small boats (20 of which were “sakoleves” (sprit sails), a type of sailing ship) with 2,000 sailors destined for landing at Karlobasi. The Greek division of Shahtouris sank 2 sakoleves and captured another 2, whose crews were, of course, given no choice and were slaughtered. The destruction of Psara was too newly for anything else. The squadron pursued the rest, which retreated disorderly, some hitting reefs and others landing elsewhere. The Greeks suffered only 5 dead and 9 wounded.

However, they later saw on the shores all the troops and boats preparing to land on Samos. 18 Turkish ships of the first series moved towards the Greeks. Sahtouris ordered the Greek boats to anchor and initiated an exchange of fire without any decisive result. As soon as 2 Greek fire ships, of admirals Rompotsis and Tsapelis, moved towards the Turkish fleet, it immediately withdrew. The same repeated the next day: exchange of fire, and upon the sight of the fire ships, the Turks retreated quickly. On August 4, the numerous Turkish fleet went out for the third time to face the Greek warships, but the land troops once again witnessed pursuit and retreat, especially with the arrival of Greek reinforcements from the bold Greek admiral Konstantinos Kanaris⁴ with 17 ships and his fire ship.

On August 5, the Ottomans attempted once again to drive away the Greek fleet. The Greek fire ships eagerly moved against them. First, Tsapelis charged towards a large frigate, but the crew’s hesitation bordering on cowardice at the last moment, abandoning their captain, almost resulted in the capture of their vessel. However, Tsapelis managed to set it on fire despite serious burns to his hand and face. What the unfortunate admiral failed to achieve, Kanaris succeeded. Despite continuous fire from both the frigate’s sailors and the land troops, resulting in 2 casualties on the fire ship, it stuck to the Turkish frigate. Flames spread, and the powder magazine exploded, while cannons, masts, wood, and iron flew into the air. The survivors of the frigate were captured and slaughtered on the spot.

Despite repeated failures, the Ottomans returned. However, the Spetsiot ships under Lembesis resisted firmly. In the afternoon, the star of Vatikiotis shone as his fire ship collided with a Tunisian frigate of 20 cannons and burned it entirely. Greek fire ships Rafalias and Matrozis rammed with their own vessels, destroying another enemy frigate.

The triumph of the Greek fleet and the remarkable successes of the fire ships were evident. Over 1,000 Turks were killed, and 100 cannons were lost, while Greek losses were minimal in terms of dead (including 3 fire ship crews) and wounded. The victory had clear strategic consequences with the thwarting of the landing on Samos, the scattering of the troops, and the Ottoman retreat to Kos, where they awaited the Egyptians.

Footnotes

1. The 12,000 Ottomans, with 176-235 warships and cargo vessels, encountered strong resistance from the 3,000 Greeks (including 300 Psarians, 700 locals from other Greek islands, 1,000 Macedonians and Thessalians ect) and had 2,000 dead after their successful landing on June 21. This was followed by an indescribable massacre. Out of the 25,000 Greeks who had sought refuge (the locals were 7,500), it is estimated that at least 17,000 were killed or captured, with other estimates putting the number at over 20,000. ↩︎
2. When Greece rebelled against the rule of the Ottoman Empire in 1821, the Attic island of Spetses was the first Greek island to hoist the revolutionary flag. Its fleet, consisting of merchant ships, played a key role in the struggle. ↩︎
3. Kolandroutsos and Sahtouris were Greek fighters of “War of Independence”. ↩︎
4. Konstantinos Kanaris was a Greek admiral and a hero of the Greek War of Independence with many succesful attacks against the Ottoman fleet, including the famous one at Chios, on the moonless night of 6–7 June 1822, when forces under his command destroyed the flagship of Nasuhzade Ali Pasha (2.000 killed), Kapudan Pasha (Grand Admiral) of the Ottoman fleet, in revenge for the Chios massacre and at Tenedos (28 October 1822) when he destroyed the rear flagship (800 killed). ↩︎