Embark on a thrilling journey through the life of Lord Cochrane, a legendary Napoleonic-era sea captain. This volume brings to life his daring exploits as he aids the Chilean navy in defeating Spain and takes command of Brazils fleet. Cochranes extraordinary journey doesnt end there - he sails to Greece, joining the fight for their liberation from the Ottoman Empire. This is not just a biography, its an unfinished autobiography completed by his son and a renowned naval historian.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter sixteen of the Life of Thomas Lord Cochrane, tenth
Earl of Dundonald, Volume one by Henry Richard fox Bourne.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
Timothy Ferguson eighteen twenty six to eighteen twenty seven. During
the one and twenty weary months that elapsed between Lord
(00:21):
Cochrane's acceptance of service in the Greek War of Independence
and his actual participation in the work, the revolution passed
through a new and disastrous stage in the summer of
eighteen twenty five, when the invitation was sent to him.
The disorganization of the Greeks and the superior strength of
the Turks and yet more of their Egyptian and Arabian
(00:42):
allies under Ibrahim Pasha were threatening to undo all that
had been achieved in the previous years. One bold stand
had begun to be made, in which, throughout nearly a
whole year the Greeks fought with unsurpassed heroism, and then
the whole struggle for liberty fell into the lawless and
disordid condition which had already prevailed in many districts, and
(01:04):
which was then to become universal and to offer obscules
too great even for Lord Cochrane's genius to overcome in
his efforts to revive genuine patriotism and to render thoroughly
successful the cause that he had espoused. The last great
stand was at Massolonghi, built on the edge of a
marshy plain, bounded on the north by the high hills
(01:24):
of Zygos, and protected on the south by the shallow
lagoons at the mouth of the Gulf of Lepanto, and
chiefly tenanted by a harley fisherman. This town had been
the first in Western Greece to take part in the revolution.
Here in eighteen twenty one, nearly all the Muslim residents
had been slaughtered, the wealthiest and most serviceable only being
spared to become the slaves of their Christian masters. In
(01:48):
the two months of eighteen twenty two, the Ottomans had
made a desperate attempt to win back the stronghold, but
its inhabitants, led by Mavro Cordatos, who had lately come
to join in the work of regeneration, had resolutely beaten
off the invaders and taken revenge upon the few Turks
still resident among them. Quote the wife of one of
the Turkish inhabitants of Miss Loongee, said an English visitor
(02:10):
in eighteen twenty four, imploring my pity, begged me to
allow her to remain under my roof in order to
shelter her from the brutality and cruelty of the Greeks.
They had murdered all her relations. A little girl nine
years old, remained to be the only companion of her misery.
Miss Solongee continued to be one of the chief strongholds
(02:30):
of independence in continental Greece, and the revolutionists being forced
into it by the Turks, who scoured the districts north
and east of it in eighteen twenty four and eighty
twenty five. It became, in the latter year the main
object of attack and the scene of most desperate resistance.
Here were concentrated the chief energies of the Greek warriors
and of their Maslin antagonists, and here was exhibited the
(02:52):
last and most heroic effort of the patriots, unaided by
foreign champions of note, in their long and hard fought
battle for freedom. Rishid Pasha, the ablest of the Turkish generals,
having advanced into the neighborhood of Messalongi, toward the end
of April began to besiege it in good earnest at
the head of an army of some seven or eight
thousand picked followers. On the seventh of May, while he
(03:16):
was forming his entrenchments and erecting his batteries, the townsmen,
augmented by a number of fierce suliots and others, were
strengthening their defenses. They increased their ramparts and organized a
garrison of four thousand soldiers and armed peasants, with a
thousand citizens and boatmen as auxiliaries. At first, the tide
(03:36):
of fortune was with them. The Turks had to defend
themselves as best they could from numerous sorties well planned
and well executed. In May and June, and fresh courage
came to the Greeks with the intelligence that Admiral Mealis
was on his way to the port with as powerful
a fleet as he could muster. While he was being expected, However,
on the tenth of July, the Turkish captain Pasha of
(03:57):
Greece arrived with fifty five vescls. Mialis with forty Greek
sail made his appearance on the second of August. Thus,
the naval and military forces of both sides were brought
into formidable opposition. At first, the Greeks triumphed on the sea.
In the night of the third of August. Mealis, finding
that Misslongi was being greatly troubled by the blockade established
(04:19):
by the Turks, cleverly placed himself to windward of the
enemy's line, and at daybreak on the fourth he dispersed
the squadron nearest the shore. At noon, the whole Turkish
force came against him. He met them bravely, but being
able to do no more than hold his own by
the ordinary method of warfare, he sent three fire ships
against them in the afternoon. The Turks did not wait
(04:41):
to be injured by them. They fled at once, going
all the way to Alexandria in search of safety. Mealus
then lost no time in seconding his first exploit by another.
A detachment of the Army of Eastern Greece under the
brave generals Karasaks and Zevalas, having been sent to harass
Rashid Pashe's operations. The admiral assisted them in a successful
piece of strategy. The Turks were on the sixth of
(05:04):
August attacked simultaneously by the ships and by the outlying
battalions of Greeks, while fifteen hundred of the garrison rushed
out upon the invaders. Four Turkish batteries were seized, and
a great number of their defenders were killed and captured.
The remainder after tough fighting during three hours and a half,
being driven so far back that much of the besieging
work had to be done over again. Mealis then went
(05:26):
in search of the Ottoman fleet, leaving the townsmen, who
were enabled by the raising of the blockade to receive
fresh supplies of food, ammunition and men, to continue their
defense with a good heart. Rashid Pasha vigorously restored his
siege operations, but attempting to force his way into the
town on the twenty first of September, was again seriously repulsed.
The Turks were allowed and even tempted to advance to
(05:48):
a point which had been skillfully undermined by the besieged.
The mine was fired and a great number of Muslims
were blown into the air, while their comrades, fleeing in disorder,
were further injured by a storm of shot from the ramparts.
A similar device was resorted to with like success on
the thirteenth of October, Rashid had to retire to a
safe distance, and there built winter quarters for his diminished
(06:10):
and starving army. Caraskakez and Zavellis entered Missolongi without hindrance
there to concert measures which, had they been promptly adopted,
might have utterly destroyed the besieging force. They delayed their
plans too long. The captain Pasha, having in August fled
in a cowardly way to Alexandria. There effected a junction
(06:30):
with the Egyptians and returned to the neighborhood of Missolongi
in the middle of November with a huge fleet of
one hundred and thirty five vessels, well supplied with troops
and provisions. These he landed at Patras on the eighteenth,
just in time to be free from any annoyance that
might have been occasioned by Mellis, who returned to Missolonghi
on the twenty eighth with a fleet of only thirty
(06:50):
three sail He had vainly attacked part of the Moslem
force on its way, and now, after learning some stores
at Masslongi, made several vain attempts to overcome a force
four times as strong as his own. He soon retired,
intending to return as promptly as he could collect a
large fleet and bring with him for the supplies of
the provisions of which the Missolongites were beginning to be
(07:11):
in need. The need was greater even than he had imagined.
Not only had the Captain Pasha brought temporary assistance in
men and food to the besieging force, yet greater assistance
soon came in the shape of an Egyptian army led
by Ibrahim Pasha himself. An overwhelming power was thus organised
during the last weeks of eighteen twenty five, and the
(07:32):
defenders of Missolonghi were left to succumb to it almost unaided.
Their previous successors had induced the Greeks of other districts
to believe that they could continue their defense alone, and
almost the only relief obtained by them was from the Zantiots,
who had all along been zealous in the dispatch of
money and provisions, and from Mielaous and the small fleet
(07:52):
and equipment that he was able to collect from the
islands of the archipelago. Meous returned in January eighteen twenty
six and did much injury to the Turkish and Egyptian vessels,
but he could offer no hindrance to the actions of
the Turks and Egyptians upon land. The rainy months of
December and January, in which no important attack could be
entered upon, were spent by Ibrahim with his companions in
(08:14):
preparation for future work. The invaders were now well provided
with every requisite. The besieged were in want of nearly everything.
Invested for ten months, sir As the contemporary historian, frequently
on the verge of starvation, thinned by fatigue, watching and wounds.
They had already buried fifteen hundred soldiers. The town was
(08:36):
in ruins, and they lived amongst the mire and the
water of their ditches, exposed to the inclemency of a
rigorous season, without shoes in their tattered clothing. As far
as their visions stretched over the waves, they beheld only
Turkish flags. The plain was studded with Mussulman tents and standards,
and the gradual appearance of new batteries and were skillfully disposed.
(08:57):
The field days of the Arabs, and the noise of
saws and hammers gave fearful warning. Yet these valiant Acananians,
Italians and Epriats never flinched for an instant. On the
thirteenth of January, Ibram Pasha sent to say that he
was willing to treat with them for an honorable surrender
and if they would convey their terms by deputies who
(09:18):
could speak Albanian, Turkish and French. Quote. We are illiterate
and do not understand so many languages, was their blunt reply. Pashas,
we do not recognize, but we know how to handle
the sword and the gun. Sword and gun were handled
with desperate prowess during February and March and the early
part of April. In April, offers of capitulation were renewed
(09:41):
by Ibrahim and more disinterested attempts to avert the worst
calamity were made by Sir Frederick Adam, the Lord High
Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. Both proposals were stoutly rejected.
The Missolongites declared that they would defend their town to
the last and trust only in God and their own
strong arms. But on the first of April, the last
(10:02):
scanty distribution of public rations was exhausted. For three weeks,
the inhabitants subsisted upon nothing but cats, rats, hides, sea weed,
and whatever other refuse and vermin they could collect at length.
On the twenty second of April, finding it impossible to
hold out for a day longer, they resolved to evacuate
the town in a body, and cutting their way through
(10:22):
the enemy to try and join Karaskaki's and his small force,
who hiding among the mountain fastnesses, were vainly seeking for
some way of assisting them, and to whom they now
despatched a message asking them to advance and help clear
a passage for their flight. After sunset, four bridges of
planks were secretly laid over the outer ditch of Misselonghi,
(10:44):
and the inhabitants were ordered to prepare to leave in
two hours. Many, about two thousand, lost hard at last,
some betaking themselves to the powder stores there when all
help was over, to end their lives by easier death
than the enemy might allow them, Others crutching out in
the corners of their homesteads, deeming it better to be
motored there than in the open country. The rest obeyed
(11:05):
the orders of their generals. All the women dressed themselves
as men with swords, daggers at their waists. Every child
who could hold a weapon had one placed in his hand.
There was bitter leave taking, and desperate words of encouragement
passed from one to another as the patriots were marshaled
in the order of their departure, three thousand fighting men
to open a passage, and four thousand women and children
to follow, the whole being divided into three separate parties.
(11:29):
At length all was ready, and the first parties silently
passed out of the town and advanced to the bridges.
To their amazement, they no sooner appeared than they were
met by volley after volley of Turkish fire. Traitor had
revealed their plan, and every measure had been taken for
their destruction. Some rushed on in, despite others hurried back
to fall into confusion, which it was hard, indeed to overcome.
(11:51):
They felt, however, that this deadly chance was their only
chance of life, and they pressed on through the fire
and the swords of their foes, and by the sheer
heroism of despair, forced a passage to the mountains. Keiskaki's aid,
apparently through no fault of his, was only obtained when
the worst dangers had been surmounted. Or succumbed to. Of
the nine thousand persons who were in Messalongi on the
(12:12):
day of the evacuation, four thousand were killed in the
town or on the way out of it. Only thirteen
hundred men and two hundred women and children lived to
reach Salona after more than a week of wandering and
hiding among the mountains. The long siege of Missolonghi illustrates
all the best and some of the worst features of
the Greek Revolution. In it, there was patriotism, worthy in
its bursts of splendor of the nation that claimed descent
(12:34):
from the heroes of Plataea and Thermopylae. But the patriotism
was often fitful in its working and often wholly wanting.
The Greeks could not shake off the pernicious influences that
sprang almost necessarily from their long centuries of thraldom. Heroism
was closely linked with treachery and meanness. The worthiest and
most disinterested energy was intimately associated with ignorance as to
(12:58):
the right methods of action, and with wilful action in
wrong ways. The elements of weakness that had been apparent
from the first were more and more developed as the
painful struggle reached its termination. It seems as if, in
spite of Rashid Pashah and Ibrahim and their fierce armies,
it would have been easy for Misslongi and its brave
defenders to have been saved. But rival ambitions and petty
(13:19):
jealousies divided the leaders of the revolution. They were quarreling,
while the power that each one coveted for himself was
step by step being wrested from them all. And when
they tried to do well, their want of discipline often
rendered their efforts of small avail. No adequate attempt was
made to relieve Messolonghi by land, and the brave conduct
of Mealis on the sea was almost neutralized by the
(13:41):
disorganization of his crews and the selfish policy of the
islanders who sent him out. With respect to the Greek army,
wrote General Ponsonby to the Duke of Wellington from Corfu
on the fifteenth of June, it is generally speaking a
mob and a chief can only calculate upon keeping it
together as long as he has provisions to give it,
or the prospect of plunder without danger. There is nothing
(14:03):
to oppose the Egyptian army, but a mob kept together
by the small sums sent by the different committees in
foreign countries. The Greeks have a great horror of the bayonet, which, however,
they had never seen near except at Missalongi. The Suliets,
who chiefly formed the garrison of that place, are fine men,
and certainly fought with great courage. Much has been said
of naval actions, but there is no truth in any
(14:24):
of the accounts. The Greeks are better sailors than the Turks,
but no action has been fought since the beginning of
the war. If it is understood by action that there
is risk and loss on both sides. The Greeks, however,
have done wonders with their fleet. They have destroyed many
large ships, and in the month of February last with
twenty three brigs, they outmaneuverd the Turkish fleet of sixty
(14:44):
sail and threw provisions into Messalonghi. This, though done by
seamanship and not fighting, was called a great battle and
a great victory. I was within two miles of the fleets,
and the cannonade for six hours was tremendous. But when
I spoke to Mealus the following morning, he told me
he had not lost a man in his fleet. During
the summer and winter following the full of Missalonghi, a
(15:05):
series of small disasters, the aggregate of which was by
no means small, befell the Greeks. It was the opinion
of all parties, and even admitted by jealous rivals, that
the tottering cause of independence was only sustained by the
constant and eager expectation of the arrival of the powerful
fleet which was supposed to be on its way to
the archipelago under the able leadership of Lord Cochrane, the
world famous champion of Chilean and Brazilian freedom. His approach
(15:29):
was hardly more a cause of hope to the Greeks
than a subject of fear to the Turks. No sooner
was it publicly known that he had espoused the cause
of the insurgents, than angry complaints were made by the
Turkish government to the British Ministry, and Mister Canning, than
Foreign Secretary had more than once to avow that the
authorities of England knew nothing of his movements and had
done all that the law rendered possible to restrain him.
(15:52):
He had also to promise that everything legal should be
done to keep him in check on his arrival in
Greek waters. We have heard he wrote in August to
his cousin, mister Stratford Canning. Afterwards, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe,
the ambassador to Constantinople, that Lord Cochrane is gone to
the Mediterranean. Whether it be really so, we know not.
(16:14):
He then proceeded to define the bearing of English and
international law in the existing circumstances. Quote, Lord Cochrane may
enter the Greek service and continue therein. He may, even
as a Greek commander, institute, as he did in Brazil,
blockades which British officers will respect and exercise the belligerent
rights of search on British merchant ships, without exposing himself
(16:35):
to any other penalty than that which the law will
inflict upon him. If ever, hereafter he shall again bring
himself within its reach and be duly convicted of the
offense for the punishment of which that law was enacted.
If indeed, he should do any such things without a commission,
he would become a pirate and liable to the summary justice,
to which, without reference to the municipal laws of his country,
(16:57):
he would, as an enemy of the human race, be
live and liable just as much from the offices of
any other country as his own. While that correspondence was
going on, Lord Cochrane, as we have seen, was battling
with a long series of delays as irksome to himself
as they were to the unfortunate Greeks. It was not
until the fourteenth of September, about eight months after the
(17:17):
time fixed for the arrival of his whole fleet, that
the first installment of it, the Perseverance, which had been
sent on as soon as it was completed with Captain
Abney Hastings as its commander, entered the harbor of Nauplia.
On the twenty sixth of October. Captain Hastings wrote a
letter giving curious evidence of the estimate formed by him
of the Greek character. It was left at Nauplia and
(17:38):
addressed to quote the commander of the first American or
English vessel that arrives in Greece to join the Greeks.
An apprenticeship in Greece tolerably long, he wrote, has taught
me the risks to which anybody newly arrived and possessed
of some place and power is exposed. They know me,
and they also know that I know them, yet they
(17:59):
have not ceased. I never will cease intriguing to get
this vessel out of my hands and into their own,
which would be tantamount to ruining her. Knowing all this,
I take the liberty of leaving this letter to be
delivered to the first officer that arrives in Greece in
the command of a vessel, to caution him not to
receive on board his vessel any Greek captain. They will endeavor,
under various pretenses, to introduce themselves on board, and once
(18:21):
they have got a footing, they will gradually encroach until
they feel themselves strong enough to turn out the original commander.
The presence of such men can only be attended with inconvenience,
For if you are obliged to take a certain number
of Greek sailors, these captains will render subordination among them
impossible by their own irregularity and bad example, if you
want seamen, take some from Hydra, Spetzas, Krenidi or Poros.
(18:43):
The sirens may be trusted in very small numbers. Take
a few men from one a few from another island,
and thus you will be best enabled to establish some
kind of discipline. Take a good number of marines. Choose
them from the peasantry and foreign Greeks, and you may
make something of them. He must see, sir, that in
this my advice to the first officer arriving in command
(19:05):
of a vessel, I can have no interest any further
than inasmuch as I wish well to the Greek cause,
and therefore do not wish to see a force that
can be of great service rendered ineffective by falling into
the hands of people totally incapable and unwilling to adopt
a single right procedure. In Greece there cannot be any
military operations except such as are carried out by foreigners
(19:26):
in their service. That letter was written after Captain Hastings
had endured a month's annoyance from the trouble brought upon
him by the Hydrid officers and seaman who tried to
oust him from the command of his fine vessel, whose
name was now changed from the Perseverance to the Caterina. Unfortunately,
his letter left at Nauplia, did not reach the captain
of the next reinforcement, the American frigate, which arrived at
(19:48):
Aegina on the eighth of December. Quote she was one
of the finest chips in the world, we are told,
carrying sixty four long guns long thirty two pounders on
the main and forty two pound carronades on the upper deck,
and filled with flower ammunition, medicines, and marine stores for
eighteen months consumption. The Griggs contemplated her with delight, but
upon the departure of the American officers and seamen who
(20:08):
navigated her out, they discovered that she would be more
embarrassing than useful to them. To manage vessels of such
size was beyond the capacity, and the mutual jealousy of
the islanders suggested to the government the absurd notion of
putting the frigate into commission Hydra Spetzas, and the sarm
community being desired to send quotas of men. This plan
was now found to be impracticable. Repeated fights occurred on board,
(20:31):
the ship was twice in danger of being wrecked at
Aegina and at Poros she actually drifted ashore, luckily on
soft mud. She was finally given up to Mealis with
a hydriot crew of his own selection. This frigate, christened
the Hellas, came too late to be of much service
to Admiral Mealis. Before the arrival of Lord Cochrane in
the previous summer and autumn, however, he had been harassing
(20:53):
and keeping it by the Turkish and Egyptian fleet's work,
in which Hastings was in time to assist him. Andreas Mealis,
one of the least obtrusive, was almost the worthiest of
all the Greek patriots. During five years, he had never
ceased to do the best that it was possible for
him to do with the bad materials at his disposal.
When the Greek Revolution was at its height, he had
(21:14):
contributed largely to its success, and in the ensuing years
of disaster upon land, he had maintained its dignity on
the sea by offering bold resistance to the great naval
power of the combined Turkish and Egyptian fleets. No better
proof of his patriotism could be given than the zeal
in which he surrendered to Lord Cochran the leadership of
the fleet, which had devolved upon him for so long
(21:36):
and been so ably conducted by him. I received four
days ago, he wrote from Porus, on the twenty thirty
February eighteen twenty seven, Your amiable letter of the nineteenth
of last month, and my great satisfaction at the announcement
of your approaching arrival in Greece is joined with a
special pleasure at the honor you do me and associating
me with your important operations. I shall be happy, my Admiral,
(21:59):
if in serving you I can do my duty. I
await you with impatience in quote. Just a month before that,
on the twenty third of January, a like letter of
congratulation was addressed to Lord Cochrane from Agina by the
Governing Commission of Greece. Quote. The intelligence of your speedy
coming to Greece, they said, has awakened the liveliest joy
and satisfaction, and has already begun to rekindle in the
(22:20):
hearts of the Greeks the enthusiasm, which is the most
powerful weapon and the surest support of a nation that
has devoted itself to the recovery of its most sacred rites.
The Government of Greece is waiting with the utmost impatience
for the most zealous defender of the nation's liberty. It
hopes to see you in its midst as soon as
possible after your arrival at Hydra, and then to make
(22:41):
you acquainted with the actual state of Greece, and to
furnish you with all means in its power for the
achievement of the grand results proposed by your lordship in quote.
The letter was signed by Andreas James as President of
the Commission, and by seven of its members, among whom
were Mavra, Micheles or Petro Bay, who, with Zayne and
to others represented the Maria Spuridian, Trikoupes, the Deputy from Rumelia,
(23:05):
Zamados from Hydra, Monarchides from Sarah, and Trometricopolis from the
islands of the Aegean Sea. By the same body, was
issued on the twenty first of February, a preliminary commission
intended to protect him in case of any opposition being
raised to his progress by the authorities of other nations.
The Governing Commission of Greece, it was written, makes known
(23:25):
that admiralrd Cochrane is recognized as being in the service
of Greece, and accordingly as the permission of the government
to hoist the Greek flag on all the vessels that
are under his command. He has power also to fight
the enemies of Greece to the utmost of his power. Therefore,
the officers of neutral powers, being informed of this, are
implored not only to offer no opposition to his movements,
(23:46):
but also, if necessary, to supply him with any assistance
he may require, seeing that it is our custom to
do the same to all friendly nations. Armed with this
document and provided with the necessary means by the Philhellenes
of the Ingasland, France and Switzerland, Lord Cochrane proceeded from
Marseilles to Greece end of Chapter sixteen. Recording by Timothy ferguson,
(24:07):
Gold Coast, Australia,
Chapter sixteen of the Life of Thomas Lord Cochrane, tenth
Earl of Dundonald, Volume one by Henry Richard fox Bourne.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
Timothy Ferguson eighteen twenty six to eighteen twenty seven. During
the one and twenty weary months that elapsed between Lord
(00:21):
Cochrane's acceptance of service in the Greek War of Independence
and his actual participation in the work, the revolution passed
through a new and disastrous stage in the summer of
eighteen twenty five, when the invitation was sent to him.
The disorganization of the Greeks and the superior strength of
the Turks and yet more of their Egyptian and Arabian
(00:42):
allies under Ibrahim Pasha were threatening to undo all that
had been achieved in the previous years. One bold stand
had begun to be made, in which, throughout nearly a
whole year the Greeks fought with unsurpassed heroism, and then
the whole struggle for liberty fell into the lawless and
disordid condition which had already prevailed in many districts, and
(01:04):
which was then to become universal and to offer obscules
too great even for Lord Cochrane's genius to overcome in
his efforts to revive genuine patriotism and to render thoroughly
successful the cause that he had espoused. The last great
stand was at Massolonghi, built on the edge of a
marshy plain, bounded on the north by the high hills
(01:24):
of Zygos, and protected on the south by the shallow
lagoons at the mouth of the Gulf of Lepanto, and
chiefly tenanted by a harley fisherman. This town had been
the first in Western Greece to take part in the revolution.
Here in eighteen twenty one, nearly all the Muslim residents
had been slaughtered, the wealthiest and most serviceable only being
spared to become the slaves of their Christian masters. In
(01:48):
the two months of eighteen twenty two, the Ottomans had
made a desperate attempt to win back the stronghold, but
its inhabitants, led by Mavro Cordatos, who had lately come
to join in the work of regeneration, had resolutely beaten
off the invaders and taken revenge upon the few Turks
still resident among them. Quote the wife of one of
the Turkish inhabitants of Miss Loongee, said an English visitor
(02:10):
in eighteen twenty four, imploring my pity, begged me to
allow her to remain under my roof in order to
shelter her from the brutality and cruelty of the Greeks.
They had murdered all her relations. A little girl nine
years old, remained to be the only companion of her misery.
Miss Solongee continued to be one of the chief strongholds
(02:30):
of independence in continental Greece, and the revolutionists being forced
into it by the Turks, who scoured the districts north
and east of it in eighteen twenty four and eighty
twenty five. It became, in the latter year the main
object of attack and the scene of most desperate resistance.
Here were concentrated the chief energies of the Greek warriors
and of their Maslin antagonists, and here was exhibited the
(02:52):
last and most heroic effort of the patriots, unaided by
foreign champions of note, in their long and hard fought
battle for freedom. Rishid Pasha, the ablest of the Turkish generals,
having advanced into the neighborhood of Messalongi, toward the end
of April began to besiege it in good earnest at
the head of an army of some seven or eight
thousand picked followers. On the seventh of May, while he
(03:16):
was forming his entrenchments and erecting his batteries, the townsmen,
augmented by a number of fierce suliots and others, were
strengthening their defenses. They increased their ramparts and organized a
garrison of four thousand soldiers and armed peasants, with a
thousand citizens and boatmen as auxiliaries. At first, the tide
(03:36):
of fortune was with them. The Turks had to defend
themselves as best they could from numerous sorties well planned
and well executed. In May and June, and fresh courage
came to the Greeks with the intelligence that Admiral Mealis
was on his way to the port with as powerful
a fleet as he could muster. While he was being expected, However,
on the tenth of July, the Turkish captain Pasha of
(03:57):
Greece arrived with fifty five vescls. Mialis with forty Greek
sail made his appearance on the second of August. Thus,
the naval and military forces of both sides were brought
into formidable opposition. At first, the Greeks triumphed on the sea.
In the night of the third of August. Mealis, finding
that Misslongi was being greatly troubled by the blockade established
(04:19):
by the Turks, cleverly placed himself to windward of the
enemy's line, and at daybreak on the fourth he dispersed
the squadron nearest the shore. At noon, the whole Turkish
force came against him. He met them bravely, but being
able to do no more than hold his own by
the ordinary method of warfare, he sent three fire ships
against them in the afternoon. The Turks did not wait
(04:41):
to be injured by them. They fled at once, going
all the way to Alexandria in search of safety. Mealus
then lost no time in seconding his first exploit by another.
A detachment of the Army of Eastern Greece under the
brave generals Karasaks and Zevalas, having been sent to harass
Rashid Pashe's operations. The admiral assisted them in a successful
piece of strategy. The Turks were on the sixth of
(05:04):
August attacked simultaneously by the ships and by the outlying
battalions of Greeks, while fifteen hundred of the garrison rushed
out upon the invaders. Four Turkish batteries were seized, and
a great number of their defenders were killed and captured.
The remainder after tough fighting during three hours and a half,
being driven so far back that much of the besieging
work had to be done over again. Mealis then went
(05:26):
in search of the Ottoman fleet, leaving the townsmen, who
were enabled by the raising of the blockade to receive
fresh supplies of food, ammunition and men, to continue their
defense with a good heart. Rashid Pasha vigorously restored his
siege operations, but attempting to force his way into the
town on the twenty first of September, was again seriously repulsed.
The Turks were allowed and even tempted to advance to
(05:48):
a point which had been skillfully undermined by the besieged.
The mine was fired and a great number of Muslims
were blown into the air, while their comrades, fleeing in disorder,
were further injured by a storm of shot from the ramparts.
A similar device was resorted to with like success on
the thirteenth of October, Rashid had to retire to a
safe distance, and there built winter quarters for his diminished
(06:10):
and starving army. Caraskakez and Zavellis entered Missolongi without hindrance
there to concert measures which, had they been promptly adopted,
might have utterly destroyed the besieging force. They delayed their
plans too long. The captain Pasha, having in August fled
in a cowardly way to Alexandria. There effected a junction
(06:30):
with the Egyptians and returned to the neighborhood of Missolongi
in the middle of November with a huge fleet of
one hundred and thirty five vessels, well supplied with troops
and provisions. These he landed at Patras on the eighteenth,
just in time to be free from any annoyance that
might have been occasioned by Mellis, who returned to Missolonghi
on the twenty eighth with a fleet of only thirty
(06:50):
three sail He had vainly attacked part of the Moslem
force on its way, and now, after learning some stores
at Masslongi, made several vain attempts to overcome a force
four times as strong as his own. He soon retired,
intending to return as promptly as he could collect a
large fleet and bring with him for the supplies of
the provisions of which the Missolongites were beginning to be
(07:11):
in need. The need was greater even than he had imagined.
Not only had the Captain Pasha brought temporary assistance in
men and food to the besieging force, yet greater assistance
soon came in the shape of an Egyptian army led
by Ibrahim Pasha himself. An overwhelming power was thus organised
during the last weeks of eighteen twenty five, and the
(07:32):
defenders of Missolonghi were left to succumb to it almost unaided.
Their previous successors had induced the Greeks of other districts
to believe that they could continue their defense alone, and
almost the only relief obtained by them was from the Zantiots,
who had all along been zealous in the dispatch of
money and provisions, and from Mielaous and the small fleet
(07:52):
and equipment that he was able to collect from the
islands of the archipelago. Meous returned in January eighteen twenty
six and did much injury to the Turkish and Egyptian vessels,
but he could offer no hindrance to the actions of
the Turks and Egyptians upon land. The rainy months of
December and January, in which no important attack could be
entered upon, were spent by Ibrahim with his companions in
(08:14):
preparation for future work. The invaders were now well provided
with every requisite. The besieged were in want of nearly everything.
Invested for ten months, sir As the contemporary historian, frequently
on the verge of starvation, thinned by fatigue, watching and wounds.
They had already buried fifteen hundred soldiers. The town was
(08:36):
in ruins, and they lived amongst the mire and the
water of their ditches, exposed to the inclemency of a
rigorous season, without shoes in their tattered clothing. As far
as their visions stretched over the waves, they beheld only
Turkish flags. The plain was studded with Mussulman tents and standards,
and the gradual appearance of new batteries and were skillfully disposed.
(08:57):
The field days of the Arabs, and the noise of
saws and hammers gave fearful warning. Yet these valiant Acananians,
Italians and Epriats never flinched for an instant. On the
thirteenth of January, Ibram Pasha sent to say that he
was willing to treat with them for an honorable surrender
and if they would convey their terms by deputies who
(09:18):
could speak Albanian, Turkish and French. Quote. We are illiterate
and do not understand so many languages, was their blunt reply. Pashas,
we do not recognize, but we know how to handle
the sword and the gun. Sword and gun were handled
with desperate prowess during February and March and the early
part of April. In April, offers of capitulation were renewed
(09:41):
by Ibrahim and more disinterested attempts to avert the worst
calamity were made by Sir Frederick Adam, the Lord High
Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. Both proposals were stoutly rejected.
The Missolongites declared that they would defend their town to
the last and trust only in God and their own
strong arms. But on the first of April, the last
(10:02):
scanty distribution of public rations was exhausted. For three weeks,
the inhabitants subsisted upon nothing but cats, rats, hides, sea weed,
and whatever other refuse and vermin they could collect at length.
On the twenty second of April, finding it impossible to
hold out for a day longer, they resolved to evacuate
the town in a body, and cutting their way through
(10:22):
the enemy to try and join Karaskaki's and his small force,
who hiding among the mountain fastnesses, were vainly seeking for
some way of assisting them, and to whom they now
despatched a message asking them to advance and help clear
a passage for their flight. After sunset, four bridges of
planks were secretly laid over the outer ditch of Misselonghi,
(10:44):
and the inhabitants were ordered to prepare to leave in
two hours. Many, about two thousand, lost hard at last,
some betaking themselves to the powder stores there when all
help was over, to end their lives by easier death
than the enemy might allow them, Others crutching out in
the corners of their homesteads, deeming it better to be
motored there than in the open country. The rest obeyed
(11:05):
the orders of their generals. All the women dressed themselves
as men with swords, daggers at their waists. Every child
who could hold a weapon had one placed in his hand.
There was bitter leave taking, and desperate words of encouragement
passed from one to another as the patriots were marshaled
in the order of their departure, three thousand fighting men
to open a passage, and four thousand women and children
to follow, the whole being divided into three separate parties.
(11:29):
At length all was ready, and the first parties silently
passed out of the town and advanced to the bridges.
To their amazement, they no sooner appeared than they were
met by volley after volley of Turkish fire. Traitor had
revealed their plan, and every measure had been taken for
their destruction. Some rushed on in, despite others hurried back
to fall into confusion, which it was hard, indeed to overcome.
(11:51):
They felt, however, that this deadly chance was their only
chance of life, and they pressed on through the fire
and the swords of their foes, and by the sheer
heroism of despair, forced a passage to the mountains. Keiskaki's aid,
apparently through no fault of his, was only obtained when
the worst dangers had been surmounted. Or succumbed to. Of
the nine thousand persons who were in Messalongi on the
(12:12):
day of the evacuation, four thousand were killed in the
town or on the way out of it. Only thirteen
hundred men and two hundred women and children lived to
reach Salona after more than a week of wandering and
hiding among the mountains. The long siege of Missolonghi illustrates
all the best and some of the worst features of
the Greek Revolution. In it, there was patriotism, worthy in
its bursts of splendor of the nation that claimed descent
(12:34):
from the heroes of Plataea and Thermopylae. But the patriotism
was often fitful in its working and often wholly wanting.
The Greeks could not shake off the pernicious influences that
sprang almost necessarily from their long centuries of thraldom. Heroism
was closely linked with treachery and meanness. The worthiest and
most disinterested energy was intimately associated with ignorance as to
(12:58):
the right methods of action, and with wilful action in
wrong ways. The elements of weakness that had been apparent
from the first were more and more developed as the
painful struggle reached its termination. It seems as if, in
spite of Rashid Pashah and Ibrahim and their fierce armies,
it would have been easy for Misslongi and its brave
defenders to have been saved. But rival ambitions and petty
(13:19):
jealousies divided the leaders of the revolution. They were quarreling,
while the power that each one coveted for himself was
step by step being wrested from them all. And when
they tried to do well, their want of discipline often
rendered their efforts of small avail. No adequate attempt was
made to relieve Messolonghi by land, and the brave conduct
of Mealis on the sea was almost neutralized by the
(13:41):
disorganization of his crews and the selfish policy of the
islanders who sent him out. With respect to the Greek army,
wrote General Ponsonby to the Duke of Wellington from Corfu
on the fifteenth of June, it is generally speaking a
mob and a chief can only calculate upon keeping it
together as long as he has provisions to give it,
or the prospect of plunder without danger. There is nothing
(14:03):
to oppose the Egyptian army, but a mob kept together
by the small sums sent by the different committees in
foreign countries. The Greeks have a great horror of the bayonet, which, however,
they had never seen near except at Missalongi. The Suliets,
who chiefly formed the garrison of that place, are fine men,
and certainly fought with great courage. Much has been said
of naval actions, but there is no truth in any
(14:24):
of the accounts. The Greeks are better sailors than the Turks,
but no action has been fought since the beginning of
the war. If it is understood by action that there
is risk and loss on both sides. The Greeks, however,
have done wonders with their fleet. They have destroyed many
large ships, and in the month of February last with
twenty three brigs, they outmaneuverd the Turkish fleet of sixty
(14:44):
sail and threw provisions into Messalonghi. This, though done by
seamanship and not fighting, was called a great battle and
a great victory. I was within two miles of the fleets,
and the cannonade for six hours was tremendous. But when
I spoke to Mealus the following morning, he told me
he had not lost a man in his fleet. During
the summer and winter following the full of Missalonghi, a
(15:05):
series of small disasters, the aggregate of which was by
no means small, befell the Greeks. It was the opinion
of all parties, and even admitted by jealous rivals, that
the tottering cause of independence was only sustained by the
constant and eager expectation of the arrival of the powerful
fleet which was supposed to be on its way to
the archipelago under the able leadership of Lord Cochrane, the
world famous champion of Chilean and Brazilian freedom. His approach
(15:29):
was hardly more a cause of hope to the Greeks
than a subject of fear to the Turks. No sooner
was it publicly known that he had espoused the cause
of the insurgents, than angry complaints were made by the
Turkish government to the British Ministry, and Mister Canning, than
Foreign Secretary had more than once to avow that the
authorities of England knew nothing of his movements and had
done all that the law rendered possible to restrain him.
(15:52):
He had also to promise that everything legal should be
done to keep him in check on his arrival in
Greek waters. We have heard he wrote in August to
his cousin, mister Stratford Canning. Afterwards, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe,
the ambassador to Constantinople, that Lord Cochrane is gone to
the Mediterranean. Whether it be really so, we know not.
(16:14):
He then proceeded to define the bearing of English and
international law in the existing circumstances. Quote, Lord Cochrane may
enter the Greek service and continue therein. He may, even
as a Greek commander, institute, as he did in Brazil,
blockades which British officers will respect and exercise the belligerent
rights of search on British merchant ships, without exposing himself
(16:35):
to any other penalty than that which the law will
inflict upon him. If ever, hereafter he shall again bring
himself within its reach and be duly convicted of the
offense for the punishment of which that law was enacted.
If indeed, he should do any such things without a commission,
he would become a pirate and liable to the summary justice,
to which, without reference to the municipal laws of his country,
(16:57):
he would, as an enemy of the human race, be
live and liable just as much from the offices of
any other country as his own. While that correspondence was
going on, Lord Cochrane, as we have seen, was battling
with a long series of delays as irksome to himself
as they were to the unfortunate Greeks. It was not
until the fourteenth of September, about eight months after the
(17:17):
time fixed for the arrival of his whole fleet, that
the first installment of it, the Perseverance, which had been
sent on as soon as it was completed with Captain
Abney Hastings as its commander, entered the harbor of Nauplia.
On the twenty sixth of October. Captain Hastings wrote a
letter giving curious evidence of the estimate formed by him
of the Greek character. It was left at Nauplia and
(17:38):
addressed to quote the commander of the first American or
English vessel that arrives in Greece to join the Greeks.
An apprenticeship in Greece tolerably long, he wrote, has taught
me the risks to which anybody newly arrived and possessed
of some place and power is exposed. They know me,
and they also know that I know them, yet they
(17:59):
have not ceased. I never will cease intriguing to get
this vessel out of my hands and into their own,
which would be tantamount to ruining her. Knowing all this,
I take the liberty of leaving this letter to be
delivered to the first officer that arrives in Greece in
the command of a vessel, to caution him not to
receive on board his vessel any Greek captain. They will endeavor,
under various pretenses, to introduce themselves on board, and once
(18:21):
they have got a footing, they will gradually encroach until
they feel themselves strong enough to turn out the original commander.
The presence of such men can only be attended with inconvenience,
For if you are obliged to take a certain number
of Greek sailors, these captains will render subordination among them
impossible by their own irregularity and bad example, if you
want seamen, take some from Hydra, Spetzas, Krenidi or Poros.
(18:43):
The sirens may be trusted in very small numbers. Take
a few men from one a few from another island,
and thus you will be best enabled to establish some
kind of discipline. Take a good number of marines. Choose
them from the peasantry and foreign Greeks, and you may
make something of them. He must see, sir, that in
this my advice to the first officer arriving in command
(19:05):
of a vessel, I can have no interest any further
than inasmuch as I wish well to the Greek cause,
and therefore do not wish to see a force that
can be of great service rendered ineffective by falling into
the hands of people totally incapable and unwilling to adopt
a single right procedure. In Greece there cannot be any
military operations except such as are carried out by foreigners
(19:26):
in their service. That letter was written after Captain Hastings
had endured a month's annoyance from the trouble brought upon
him by the Hydrid officers and seaman who tried to
oust him from the command of his fine vessel, whose
name was now changed from the Perseverance to the Caterina. Unfortunately,
his letter left at Nauplia, did not reach the captain
of the next reinforcement, the American frigate, which arrived at
(19:48):
Aegina on the eighth of December. Quote she was one
of the finest chips in the world, we are told,
carrying sixty four long guns long thirty two pounders on
the main and forty two pound carronades on the upper deck,
and filled with flower ammunition, medicines, and marine stores for
eighteen months consumption. The Griggs contemplated her with delight, but
upon the departure of the American officers and seamen who
(20:08):
navigated her out, they discovered that she would be more
embarrassing than useful to them. To manage vessels of such
size was beyond the capacity, and the mutual jealousy of
the islanders suggested to the government the absurd notion of
putting the frigate into commission Hydra Spetzas, and the sarm
community being desired to send quotas of men. This plan
was now found to be impracticable. Repeated fights occurred on board,
(20:31):
the ship was twice in danger of being wrecked at
Aegina and at Poros she actually drifted ashore, luckily on
soft mud. She was finally given up to Mealis with
a hydriot crew of his own selection. This frigate, christened
the Hellas, came too late to be of much service
to Admiral Mealis. Before the arrival of Lord Cochrane in
the previous summer and autumn, however, he had been harassing
(20:53):
and keeping it by the Turkish and Egyptian fleet's work,
in which Hastings was in time to assist him. Andreas Mealis,
one of the least obtrusive, was almost the worthiest of
all the Greek patriots. During five years, he had never
ceased to do the best that it was possible for
him to do with the bad materials at his disposal.
When the Greek Revolution was at its height, he had
(21:14):
contributed largely to its success, and in the ensuing years
of disaster upon land, he had maintained its dignity on
the sea by offering bold resistance to the great naval
power of the combined Turkish and Egyptian fleets. No better
proof of his patriotism could be given than the zeal
in which he surrendered to Lord Cochran the leadership of
the fleet, which had devolved upon him for so long
(21:36):
and been so ably conducted by him. I received four
days ago, he wrote from Porus, on the twenty thirty
February eighteen twenty seven, Your amiable letter of the nineteenth
of last month, and my great satisfaction at the announcement
of your approaching arrival in Greece is joined with a
special pleasure at the honor you do me and associating
me with your important operations. I shall be happy, my Admiral,
(21:59):
if in serving you I can do my duty. I
await you with impatience in quote. Just a month before that,
on the twenty third of January, a like letter of
congratulation was addressed to Lord Cochrane from Agina by the
Governing Commission of Greece. Quote. The intelligence of your speedy
coming to Greece, they said, has awakened the liveliest joy
and satisfaction, and has already begun to rekindle in the
(22:20):
hearts of the Greeks the enthusiasm, which is the most
powerful weapon and the surest support of a nation that
has devoted itself to the recovery of its most sacred rites.
The Government of Greece is waiting with the utmost impatience
for the most zealous defender of the nation's liberty. It
hopes to see you in its midst as soon as
possible after your arrival at Hydra, and then to make
(22:41):
you acquainted with the actual state of Greece, and to
furnish you with all means in its power for the
achievement of the grand results proposed by your lordship in quote.
The letter was signed by Andreas James as President of
the Commission, and by seven of its members, among whom
were Mavra, Micheles or Petro Bay, who, with Zayne and
to others represented the Maria Spuridian, Trikoupes, the Deputy from Rumelia,
(23:05):
Zamados from Hydra, Monarchides from Sarah, and Trometricopolis from the
islands of the Aegean Sea. By the same body, was
issued on the twenty first of February, a preliminary commission
intended to protect him in case of any opposition being
raised to his progress by the authorities of other nations.
The Governing Commission of Greece, it was written, makes known
(23:25):
that admiralrd Cochrane is recognized as being in the service
of Greece, and accordingly as the permission of the government
to hoist the Greek flag on all the vessels that
are under his command. He has power also to fight
the enemies of Greece to the utmost of his power. Therefore,
the officers of neutral powers, being informed of this, are
implored not only to offer no opposition to his movements,
(23:46):
but also, if necessary, to supply him with any assistance
he may require, seeing that it is our custom to
do the same to all friendly nations. Armed with this
document and provided with the necessary means by the Philhellenes
of the Ingasland, France and Switzerland, Lord Cochrane proceeded from
Marseilles to Greece end of Chapter sixteen. Recording by Timothy ferguson,
(24:07):
Gold Coast, Australia,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.