by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XVIII
A TURKISH DEFEAT
The town of Nauplia stood on a projecting point at the head of thegulf which was in old times known as the Gulf of Argos, but was nowmore generally known as the Gulf of Nauplia, that town being the mostimportant port in Greece, carrying on a large trade in sponges, silk,oil, wax, wines, and acorns. It was the seat of government of theVenetians at the time they were masters of the Morea, and had beenvery strongly fortified by them. The Acropolis, or citadel, stood on acraggy hill where the point on which the town stood joined themainland. The Venetians had taken the greatest pain in fortifying thisrock, which was well-nigh impregnable, and was considered thestrongest position in the Morea.
The Turks had long been besieged here. Negotiations had at one timebeen carried on with a view to its surrender, and had the Greeks actedin good faith they could have gained possession of the place beforeDramali advanced to its relief. Six weeks before, the Turks, havingentirely consumed their provisions, signed the capitulation. The Turkshad little faith in the Greeks observing its conditions, but were ofopinion that it would be better to be massacred at once than to slowlydie of hunger. By the terms of capitulation the Turks were to deliverup their arms and two-thirds of their movable property, while theGreeks were to allow them to hire neutral vessels to transport them toAsia Minor; and bound themselves to supply them with provisions untilthe vessels arrived to take them away.
The Greek government at once sent some of its members to Nauplia toregister the property of the Turks. These immediately pursued theusual course of endeavouring to enrich themselves by secretlypurchasing the property of the Turks, and by selling them provisions.The Greek ministers took no steps to charter neutral vessels,professing that they were unable to raise money for the purpose, butreally delaying to enable their secretaries at Nauplia to make largergains by bargaining with the wealthy Turks there. The Turks having nowgot provisions enough to enable them to hold on, were in no greathurry to conclude the surrender, as they knew that Dramali wasadvancing. Such was the state of things when the schooner arrived inthe Gulf of Argos, and landed the party on the opposite side of thegulf.
They at once proceeded into the interior, stopping at every village.At each place they came to messengers were sent out to summon thepeasantry of the neighbourhood to come in. When they had assembled Mr.Beveridge harangued them, pointing out that now or never was the timeto win their independence; that if the Turkish invasion were rolledback now they might hope that the enemy would see that such a countrycould not be conquered when the inhabitants were determined to befree, for that if they thoroughly established their hold of it, andoccupied all the fortresses, there would be no chance of their everagain shaking off the yoke. He said that he himself, an Englishman anda stranger, had come to aid them as far as possible, and that allunprovided with arms, or lacking ammunition, would receive them ongoing down to the ship anchored in the bay.
At each place, previous to addressing the assembly, he had distributedmoney among the local leaders and priests. These seconded hisharangues, and numbers of the men went down to the coast and obtainedguns and ammunition.
While Mr. Beveridge was travelling over the country the army ofDramali was advancing unopposed. The troops which the centralgovernment had placed to defend the passes fled without firing a shot,and Dramali occupied Corinth without resistance. The Acropolis therewas impregnable, but the commander, a priest named AchillesTheodorides, in spite of his Christian name and the fact that thecitadel was amply supplied with provisions, murdered the Turkishprisoners in his hands, and fled with the garrison as soon as Dramaliapproached the place.
The ease with which the Turkish general had marched through EasternGreece and possessed himself of Corinth, raised his confidence to thehighest point. It had been arranged that the Turkish fleet should meethim at Nauplia, and he therefore determined to march with his wholearmy there, obtain possession of the stores brought by the fleet,relieve the town, and then proceed to the conquest of the Morea. Twoof his officers alone disagreed with him. Yussuf Pasha and Ali Pasha,the latter of whom was a large land-owner of Argos, and both of whomknew the country well, proposed that Corinth should be made thehead-quarters of the army, and great magazines be formed there; thatthe army should be divided into two divisions, one of which, underDramali, should march to Nauplia and then recover Tripolitza, whilethe other should march along the Gulf of Corinth to Patras, recoveringpossession of the fertile province of Achaia. Dramali, however,confident in his power to overcome any opposition that might be made,determined to carry out his own plan, and started with his own armyfor Nauplia.
Owing to the fact that Dramali had met with no opposition, and hadadvanced with much greater rapidity than was expected, thepreparations for resistance were altogether incomplete at the time hemoved forward from Corinth, though the people were firmly determinedto resist his advance from Nauplia. Accordingly, to the greatdisappointment of Mr. Beveridge, he moved without opposition throughthe narrow defile of Dervenaki, where a few hundred men could havesuccessfully opposed the advance of an army, and arrived withoutfiring a shot at Argos, almost within sight of Nauplia, sendingforward Ali Pasha with five hundred cavalry to take the command atNauplia.
Had the Turkish fleet now arrived with supplies, as had been arranged,it is probable that Dramali would have overrun the Morea, and that therevolution in Greece would have been stamped out; but instead of doingthis it passed round the Morea to Patras in order to take on boardMehemet, who had just been appointed Capitan Pasha. Dramali thereforefound himself at Argos without provisions, as, relying upon obtainingsupplies from the fleet, he had not encumbered himself with a baggagetrain.
The members of the Greek government whose head-quarters had been atArgos, had fled precipitately at the approach of Dramali. Argos hadbeen crowded with political leaders and military adventurers who hadgathered there in hopes of sharing in the plunder of Nauplia. Allthese fled in such haste that the national archives and a largequantity of plate that had just been collected from the churches andmonasteries for the public service, were abandoned. A wild panic hadseized the inhabitants, whose numbers had been vastly increased byrefugees from Smyrna, Chios, and other places, and thousands desertedtheir houses and property, and fled in frantic terror. As soon as theyhad left, the town was plundered by bands of Greek klephts, who seizedthe horses, mules, working oxen, and carts of the peasantry round andloaded them with the plunder collected in the city, and the Turks,when they entered Argos, found that it had already been sacked.
While, however, the ministers, senators, and generals of Greece wereflying in panic, the spirit of the people was rising, and a body ofvolunteers took possession of the ruined castle where the ancientAcropolis of Argos had stood, and defended the position successfullyagainst the first attack of the Turks. Of all the Greek leaders,Prince Demetrius Hypsilantes alone showed courage and presence ofmind. Hastening through the country he addressed energetic haranguesto the people, who responded enthusiastically to his impassionedwords, and took up arms without waiting for the call of their nominalleaders. The work of the little English party now bore fruit, and thepeasants, with arms in their hands, some without leaders, somecommanded by their captains and primates, flocked from all parts ofthe Morea towards the scene of action.
Having seen the work well begun, Hypsilantes hastened back to Argos,and, accompanied by several young chiefs, threw himself with someeight hundred men into the ruined castle, raising the force there to athousand men. The place was, however, badly supplied with provisionsand water, and the Turks closely invested it. The object with whichthe first volunteers had occupied the place had been gained: theadvance of the Turks had been arrested, and time had been given to thepeople of the Morea to rise. Hypsilantes and the greater portion ofthe garrison accordingly withdrew during the night; but a small bandheld it for three days longer, cutting their way out when their lastloaf was finished on the 1st of August, having occupied it on the 24thof July.
By this time the
Greeks had five thousand men assembled at Lerna, theport of Argos, where the cowardly leaders had embarked, and they helda very strong position where the ground rendered it impossible for theTurkish cavalry to act. Other large bodies of Greeks occupied all themountains surrounding the plain of Argos. Had Dramali, when he firstfound that the fleet had gone past with the supplies, returned toCorinth, he could have done so without a shot being fired; but it wasnot until the 6th of August, after wasting a fortnight, that heprepared to move. He had brought with him from Corinth ten thousandmen, of whom half were cavalry, and already much greater numbers ofGreeks were gathered round him. Kolokotronis was nominally in command,but the villagers obeyed their local leaders, and there was no orderor system among them. Had there been, they could have occupied strongpositions on the various roads leading up to the hills, and compelledthe surrender of the whole Turkish army. Instead of doing this, eachof the local chiefs took up the position that seemed to him to bebest.
The advance guard of the Turkish army consisted of a thousandAlbanians, trained and seasoned troops. These were allowed to gothrough without even a skirmish. A body of cavalry were then sentforward along the road by which they had come, and ordered to occupythe Dervenaki defile, which Dramali had left unguarded behind him.They found the Greeks intrenched there. The first Turkish divisiontherefore moved by another pass. Niketos, one of the bravest of theGreek commanders, with two thousand men barred the valley and fell ontheir left flank, while another body of Greeks, under Hypsilantes andDikaios, attacked them on the right. The Turkish cavalry chargedforward and tried to clear the valley, but a picked body of marksmen,on a low hill overlooking a ravine, shot them down and blocked theravine with the bodies of the horses and their riders.
The pressure from behind increased, and a body of well-mountedhorsemen managed to dash through and reach Corinth in safety. Behindthem the slaughter was terrible. The Turks were shot down in numbers,and fled in every direction. Many were killed, but more succeeded inescaping, for the Greeks directed their whole attention to plunderingthe great baggage-trains, consisting of mules and camels laden withthe valuables of the pashas and the rich spoil that had been gatheredin their advance. The news of the destruction of the first division ofhis army astounded Dramali; but it was impossible for him to remain atArgos, and the following day he moved forward by another road up thesteep hill known as Kleisura. Dikaios opposed them in front; Niketosand Hypsilantes fell on their left flank.
As on the previous day, the baggage-train proved the salvation of theTurkish soldiers. The Greeks directed their entire attention to it;and while they were occupied in cutting it off, a brilliant charge bya chosen band of Turkish horsemen cleared the road in front, andDramali, with the main body of his cavalry, was enabled to escape toCorinth. His military chest, and the whole of the Turkish baggage,fell into the hands of the Greeks. The troops under the immediatecommand of Kolokotronis took no part whatever in either day'sfighting, the whole of which was done by the two thousand men underthe command of Niketos, under whom Dikaios and Hypsilantes acted. AsKolokotronis, however, was the nominal commander, the credit of thedefeat of Dramali was generally ascribed to him.
The Moriots returned to their native villages, enriched by the spoilthey had gathered. The party from the schooner had been spectators ofthe fight. They had scarcely expected so good a result, for thedisorder, the want of plan, the neglect of any attempt to seize andoccupy the roads, and, above all, the utter incapacity ofKolokotronis, seemed to render success almost hopeless; and, indeed,out of the fourteen thousand Greeks assembled but two thousand fired ashot.
Fortunately the brunt of the Turkish attack fell upon the one littledivision that was ably commanded. Had the main body aided them, not asoldier of Dramali's army would have escaped. As it was, their loss inmen was comparatively small; but the total destruction of theirbaggage-train, and, still more, the disorganization and depressionwhich followed the disaster, inflicted upon them by an enemy theydespised, completely paralyzed them, and no forward move was againattempted. Dramali himself was utterly broken down by the humiliation,and died at Corinth two months later.
Mr. Beveridge was well contented with the success, which was duepartly to his efforts. He had expended upwards of five thousandpounds, and eight thousand muskets and a large quantity of ammunitionhad been distributed from the schooner to the peasants. The victoryought, he felt, to have been much more conclusive; but the spiritawakened among the Moriots, and the confidence that would beengendered throughout Greece at this victory over an army that hadexpected to overrun the whole country without difficulty, immenselyimproved the chances that Greek independence would be finallyestablished.
There was, however, one unfortunate consequence of the affair. Thesuccess of these armed peasants at Argos confirmed the Greeks in theiridea that discipline was wholly unnecessary, that regular troops werea mistake, and that all that was needed to conquer the Turks was forthe people to muster under their local leaders whenever dangerthreatened. This absurd idea was the cause of many heavy disasterswhich subsequently occurred. When the second day's fighting was overthe English party made their way back to the schooner.
"I congratulate you heartily, sir, on the success the Greeks havegained," Martyn said; for the news of the victory had already reachedhim.
"Thank you, Martyn. It might and ought to have been a great dealbetter. Still, I am very thankful that it is as good as it is. I canfeel now that, come what may, my mission out here has not beenaltogether a failure. We have done much good work in the cause ofhumanity. My work during the last three weeks has been exactly what Ipictured it would be before I left home. By my personal efforts I dida good deal to arouse the enthusiasm of the peasants. My moneyincreased my influence, and the arms we brought out contributedlargely to the success of the fight. I am pleased and gratified."
"What sort of time have you had, Miller?" Martyn asked his comrade asthey walked up and down the quarter-deck together, as Mr. Beveridgedescended to his cabin.
"It has been good enough, for we have done a lot of tramping up hilland down. The chief bought a horse the day he landed, or I am sure henever could have stood it; it was pretty hard work even for us. Youshould have seen him, day after day, haranguing crowds of villagers.Of course I could not understand a word he said; but I can tell you heworked them up into a regular frenzy; and the way they shouted andwaved their hands, and, as I imagine, swore terrible oaths that theywould kill and eat every Turk they saw, was something tremendous. Itquite electrified our fellows, who have been accustomed, I suppose, toconsider the chief as a quiet, easy-going gentleman, and they cheeredand shouted as loudly as the Greeks. Zaimes and his brother went offon expeditions, on their own account, to villages we could not sparetime to go to. We were all right as to quarters and grub. The primatesand captains, or whatever the leaders call themselves, naturally madea lot of us--and no wonder, considering how the chief scattered hismoney among them all. The mule that carried the money was prettyheavily laden when he went up, but the boxes were emptied before wereturned. The food, of course, was pretty rough, though it was thebest they had; but one has been spoiled for roughing it by our livinghere."
"I found a difference, I can tell you, Miller, since you went, and Iam heartily glad that Marco is back again. How has the doctor got on?"
"I think he has found it harder than he expected," Miller laughed. "Heconfided to me to-day that he shall not volunteer for anotherexpedition. But I was very glad he was with us; for Horace, of course,was always in the thick of it, with his father, jawing away with thevillage notables, and I should have had a dull time of it if it hadnot been for the doctor, whose remarks upon the real enthusiasm of thepeasantry and the bought enthusiasm of their leaders were veryamusing. The doctor does not say much when we are all together; but heis not at all a bad companion, and there is a lot of dry humour abouthim. And now I sha'n't be sorry when supper is ready, for we have beenon our legs since daybreak, and I have had nothing to eat but somebread we carried with us and s
ome wine with which we had all filledour water-bottles."
After this, for a time, the _Misericordia_ had a quiet time of itcruising idly about among the Ionian Islands, and then crossing toVenice, where they stayed for three weeks. Then they crossed theAdriatic again, and put in at the port of Missolonghi. Mr. Beveridgewas very anxious to hear the result of the battle that was expectedbetween the Greek army, under Mavrocordatos, and the Turks advancingsouth. He had himself strongly wished to go with the Greek army, buthad been dissuaded by Horace.
"My dear father, if we do any fighting at sea, we assuredly do ourshare without taking part in fighting on shore. When we have once seenthe Greeks make a successful stand it will surely be time enough forus to take any share in the matter. The Philhellenes will fight, thatis quite certain; but I think the odds are all against the Greeksdoing so. Besides, as you have often said, Mavrocordatos is no morefit to command an army than any old woman in the streets of Athenswould be. He knows nothing whatever of military matters, and will takeno advice from those who do. I think there would be a tremendous riskin joining the Greek army, and no advantage to be gained from it. Ofcourse, if you wish to go I will go with you, and we can take some ofthe men if you like; but I certainly think we had better keep awayfrom it altogether."
And so, instead of joining the Greek army, they had sailed to Venice.As soon as they dropped anchor off Missolonghi Horace was rowed ashoreto get the news. He returned in an hour.
"It is lucky indeed, father, that we went to Venice instead of withMavrocordatos."
"What, have the Greeks been beaten?"
"Completely smashed up, father. I have been talking to two or three ofthe Philhellenes who were lucky enough to escape. Mavrocordatos sentthe army on to Petta, and established himself some twenty miles in therear. His chief of the staff, General Normann, felt the position was avery bad one, but could not fall back when the Turks advanced, as hehad no orders. The regular troops, that is, the one regular regiment,the hundred Philhellenes, and a body of Ionian volunteers, werestationed in a position in front. The Greek irregulars, two thousandstrong, were placed some distance in the rear, and were to cover theregulars from any attack from that direction. Two leaders of theirregulars were in communication with the Turks; when these advanced,the eight hundred men in front, who had two guns with them, repulsedthem; but Reshid Pasha sent round six hundred Albanians, who advancedagainst a strong position in the rear. The whole body of the Greekirregulars bolted like rabbits, and then the Turks in front and theAlbanians from the rear attacked the front division on all sides. Theyfought gallantly. Of the hundred Philhellenes, seventy-five werekilled, the other twenty-five broke their way through the Turkishranks. The Greek regiment and the Ionians were cut up by the Turkishinfantry fire, followed by charges of their cavalry. Half of them werekilled, the others broke their way through the Turks. So out of theeight hundred men over four hundred were killed. They say that not onesurrendered. So I think, father, it is very well that we did not go upto see the fight, for you would naturally have been somewhere near thePhilhellenes."
"This is bad news indeed, Horace."
"It is, father; but how the Greeks could suppose that it was any usegetting up a regular army, consisting of one regiment of six hundredmen, to fight the Turks, is more than I can imagine. As to theirirregulars, except for fighting among the mountains, I do not see thatthey are of the slightest good.
"I am awfully sorry for the foreign officers. After coming here, asthey did, to fight for Greece, and then forming themselves into acorps to encourage the natives to fight, to be deserted and left tofight a whole army is shameful. Those I spoke to are terribly cut upat the loss of three-quarters of their comrades. The Turks areadvancing against Missolonghi. The Suliots have made terms, and are tobe transported to the Ionian Islands. The British consul at Prevesaguarantees that the terms shall be honourably kept on both sides."
Mr. Beveridge went ashore later, and returned completely disheartenedby his conversation with the leading inhabitants. He learned that, sofar from the defeat at Petta convincing the Greeks that it was only bysubmitting to discipline and forming regular regiments that they couldhope to oppose the Turks, they had determined, on the contrary, thatthere was no hope of fighting in that way, and that henceforward theymust depend entirely upon the irregulars.
"Their blindness is extraordinary," he said. "They saw that, few asthe disciplined men were, they repulsed the attack of the Turkishtroops in front, and were only crushed when totally surrounded; while,on the other hand, two thousand five hundred irregulars were unableeven to attempt to make a stand against six hundred Albanians, butdeserted their comrades and fled after scarcely firing a shot; and yetin the future they intend to trust solely to these useless bands.
"At present everyone is quarrelling with everyone else. While ReshidPasha is preparing to invade Greece the captains and primates, insteadof uniting to oppose them, are quarrelling and fighting amongthemselves for their share of the national revenues. The district ofAgrapha is being laid waste by civil broils; the province of Vlochosis being devastated by the bands of two rival leaders; Kravari ispillaged alternately by the bands of two other scoundrels; Gogos andhalf a dozen other captains have openly gone over to the Turks. Thereis only one hope I can see," he added bitterly.
"What is that, Mr. Beveridge?" Martyn asked.
"It is, that the Greeks will continue their civil broils until theymake their country a complete desert; and that the Turks, finding thatthey can obtain no food whatever, will be obliged by starvation toquit the country. One thing I am resolved upon, and that is, thatuntil the Greeks fight for themselves I will do nothing furtherwhatever in the matter. I will still try to save women and children,but I will do nothing else. I will neither interfere with Turkishcommerce nor fire a gun at a Turkish ship of war. We will lower ourlong gun and four of the others down into the hold, Captain Martyn,and we will cruise about and enjoy ourselves for a bit."
"Very well, sir. It is just a year since we arrived out here, and alittle peace and quiet and amusement will do us no harm. I don't knowhow it would be with our flag, and whether we can sail into Malta orinto the Italian ports with it, or whether we can hoist our ownagain."
"The papers are all right, I believe," Mr. Beveridge said. "You see,she was nominally sold to the agent here of a Greek firm in London,and is therefore registered as the property of a Greek subject. I havepapers signed by them selling the vessel again to me, with blanks forthe dates, which can be filled in at any time; but these, of course, Icould only fill in and use in the event of my deciding to leave Greecealtogether and return to England. So that, at present, we are simply aGreek ship, owned by natives of that country, and holding letters ofmarque from the Greek government to act as a privateer. I do not thinkthat the transaction would be recognized by any European power in thecase of two European belligerents; but this is an exceptional case,as the sympathies of all the Christian powers are with the Greeks. Asfar as the Turks are concerned, it makes no difference; whether Greekor English, they would hang us if they caught us. But I don't thinkany very close inquiries are likely to be made in any European port.Our Greek papers are all correct, and as we know that the account ofour having saved large numbers of fugitives from Chios has been in theEnglish papers, and doubtless our interference to save the Turks atAthens has also been published, I think that we should be receivedwell by the sympathizers of either party."
The next morning they sailed to Corinth, where they remained a fewdays. John Iskos, Mr. Beveridge's agent at Athens, came across to seehim. He informed him that he had sold but a very small portion of thegoods consigned to him in the prizes, but had shipped the great bulkin neutral vessels and consigned them to the firm in London; thevessels themselves he had disposed of to Hydriot merchants. Herecommended Mr. Beveridge to hand over to him the store of silks andother valuables that had been retained on board the schooner, and hewould put them at once on board an Italian ship at present in theport, and consign them to a Greek house in
Genoa, as he certainlywould not obtain anything like fair prices for them in Greece.
The operation occupied two days, but all the most valuable goods wereretained, as the prizes might have been recaptured by Turks on theirway to Athens. The prizes had been brought in by Miller and Tarletonalternately, Marco or Zaimes accompanying them to interpret, the crewsbeing taken back in native boats to Naxos, to which island theschooner had made several trips to pick them up.
For the next two months the schooner cruised in Italian waters, fromVenice round to Genoa, putting in to many ports, making a circuit ofSicily, and paying a short visit to Malta; then learning that theTurks were about to besiege Missolonghi, and that the town was goingto resist until the last, they crossed over there in the second weekin November. They found that the port was blockaded by some Turkishships from Patras, but that some Hydriot vessels were expected toarrive shortly. Mavrocordatos was himself in the town organizing thedefence, and taking really vigorous measures for holding out to thelast.
A week later seven Hydriot brigs arrived; the _Misericordia_, whichhad again mounted all her guns, joined them; but as they approachedthe port the Turkish vessels got up all sail and made for Patras, andthe Greeks entered the port. Missolonghi was protected by a low mudwall, with a ditch six feet deep by sixteen feet wide. It containedbut a foot of water, but at the bottom was a deep clay, rendering itquite impassable. There were eight guns mounted on the ramparts, andMr. Beveridge landed at once six more of those still lying in thehold, with a supply of ammunition for the whole.
As soon as the port was open a thousand men crossed over from theMorea under the command of partisan chiefs, and from time to timeothers came in, until the garrison, originally but six hundred strong,was increased to two thousand five hundred. For some weeks nothing wasdone; but on the eve of the 6th of January, which was the GreekChristmas-day, a Greek fisherman brought in news that the Turks werepreparing to assault the next morning at daylight, when they believedthe Christians would generally be in their churches. Forty men werelanded from the schooner to take part in the defence. At daybreak thedefenders were all in their places, hidden behind the rampart orconcealed in the houses near.
The storming party was led by eight hundred Albanian volunteers. Onedivision was intended to scale the wall on its eastern flank, whileanother was to endeavour to penetrate the town by wading through ashallow lagoon at its eastern extremity. The whole Turkish army turnedout, and suddenly opened a tremendous fire of musketry against theramparts, while the storming parties moved forward. The defendersremained in their concealment until the Albanians were close at hand,and then, leaping up, poured their fire into them. Expecting to takethe defenders by surprise, the Albanians were astounded at the suddenand heavy fire poured into them, and at once broke and fled inconfusion. For some hours the Turks kept up a heavy fire, but did notrenew their attack in earnest. Tons of ammunition were fired away onboth sides, and then the Turks fell back to their camps, and on thefollowing day raised the siege.
The wildness of the fire was evidenced by the fact that only fourGreeks were killed. The blue-jackets from the schooner joined in thefire upon the storming parties, but when it was evident that the Turkshad no idea of renewing the attack they returned on board ship. Theirremarks upon the combatants were the reverse of complimentary.
"It is well-nigh enough to make a man sick, Tom," one man said toanother in Horace's hearing. "To see them both blazing away goodpowder and lead like that, I reckon to be downright sinful."
"You are right there, mate. It is a downright waste of the gifts ofProvidence. Why, there was powder and ball enough to have killed agood five thousand Englishmen and Frenchmen thrown away in accountingfor four or five of them yelling fellows. It is more like play-actingthan fighting. Why, if you was to arm a couple of gals' schools andput 'em to fire at each other they would do ever so much better thanthat. And to think them Greeks calls themselves Christians and don'tknow how to aim a musket no better than that; they might just as wellbe heathen."
While Missolonghi had been resisting successfully, the Turkishgarrison of Nauplia had at last surrendered. After Dramali's army hadabandoned it the only hope that remained to them was that the fleetmight return. The Greeks retained possession of a small fort that hadbeen given up to them at the time that the first negotiations forsurrender were going on. From this fort combustible missiles werefired into the town, and a brisk cannonade kept up with its defences,but without much damage being done on either side. On the 20th ofSeptember the Turkish fleet appeared off the entrance to the gulf, andthe Greek fleet from the islands of Hydra and Spetzas stood out tomeet them.
Unfortunately Admiral Kanaris was not present. For four days the twofleets remained in sight of each other, firing at such distances thatno harm was done on either side. There was nothing to have preventedthe Turkish admiral relieving Nauplia and landing the troops andprovisions in his transports; but he feared to enter the gulf, whilethe Greeks shrank equally from an attack upon him. After thusexhibiting for four days his cowardice and incapacity, the Turkishcapitan-pasha abandoned Nauplia to its fate. The resistance onlycontinued because the Turks could put no reliance upon the oaths ofthe Greeks. Women and children dropped dead from hunger in thestreets; the soldiers were so weak from starvation that but few wereable to carry their arms. The citadel was at last abandoned simplybecause the soldiers who went down into the town to fetch the scantyrations for its defenders were too weak to climb the hill again; andthe Greeks, as soon as they learned that it was abandoned, occupiedthe position. Kolokotronis and a number of other leaders, attracted bythe prospect of booty, hurried to the spot like vultures round acarcass.
Negotiations were again opened, and the Turks surrendered on the termsof the Greeks engaging to transport them to Asia Minor, allowing eachto retain a single suit of clothes, a quilt for bedding, and a carpetfor prayer. As soon as the terms were signed, Kolokotronis and thecaptains entered the town with their personal followers and preventedall others from entering. The soldiers assembled before the gates,declaring that they would not allow the chiefs to appropriate tothemselves everything valuable, threatening to storm the place, murderthe Turks, and sack the town. Greece was saved from fresh dishonour bythe timely arrival of the English frigate _Cambrian_, commanded byCaptain Hamilton. He was a strong friend of Greece, and was known tomany of the Greek leaders.
He at once held a conference with them, and in the strongest languageurged upon them the necessity of taking measures for the execution ofthe capitulation, for that another breach of faith, another foulmassacre, would render the name of Greece despicable in civilizedEurope and ruin the cause of the country. Hamilton's character wasgreatly respected, and his words had their effect. He insisted upontheir chartering ships to embark the Turks. He himself took fivehundred of them on board the _Cambrian_, and nine hundred wereembarked in the Greek transports. This interference of CaptainHamilton excited great anger in Greece.
The Turkish fleet did not escape absolutely scathless after itsinglorious departure from Nauplia. Although unmolested by the Greeks,it sailed north, and anchored inside the island of Tenedos.
Kanaris persuaded the people of Psara to fit out two fire-ships. Hetook the command of one, and both sailed for the Turkish fleet, whichthey approached at daybreak. Two line-of-battle ships were anchored towindward of the rest of the fleet. Kanaris undertook the destructionof the ship to leeward, that being the most difficult operation. Hesucceeded as well as he had done on two previous occasions. He ran theenemy aboard to windward, lashed the fire-ship there, and fired thetrain. The Turk was at once enveloped in flames, and the whole of thecrew, eight hundred in number, perished.
But Kanaris seemed to be the only Greek naval officer who had thenecessary courage and coolness to manoeuvre successfully withfire-ships. The other captain ran his fire-ship alongside theman-of-war which carried the flag of the capitan-pasha. The positionof the fire-ship was, however, ill chosen, and after being set on fireit drifted away without doing injury
to the Turk. The rest of theTurkish fleet cut their cables and made for the Dardanelles, while onecorvette ran ashore on Tenedos. Another was abandoned by her crew.Kanaris and the crews of the two fire-ships returned safely to Psarain their boats.
