 Chapter 19 of the Life of Thomas Lord Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dunn-Donald, completing the autobiography of a seaman, Volume 2, by Henry Richard Foxbourne and others. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 19 Before arriving in Greece, Lord Cochrane had been informed by Captain Abney Hastings and other experienced Phil Halleans of the inefficiency of the navy, and a very short stay at Poros served to convince him of the truth of the information. On the 17th of April he obtained from the National Assembly a decree authorizing the organization of a better national fleet, and before proceeding to join in the efforts for the relief of the Acropolis, he did all that was possible towards the achievement of this object, making such arrangements, as would prevent any hindrance there too, arising from his temporary absence on the most pressing work that devolved upon him. Having sent Captain Hastings with all available ships on the expedition to the Negropont, which has already been described, he established at Poros the centre of the administration of the fleet, entrusting its direction to Dr. Goss as commissary general. He then visited Hydra, Spetsas and other islands and left in each directions for the inspection of all the ships there stationed in order that according to the national decrees, the best of them might be brought up by the government on equitable terms, and converted into vessels of war at Poros. During his stay near the Piraeus, he was in almost daily correspondence with Dr. Goss and Emmanuel Tambazes, respecting the purchase of stores, the construction of gunboats, and every other essential to the fulfilment of his purpose. He sent Jakamaki Tambazes, the elder of the two brothers, to look out near Kandia for a new corvette which had just been built in Leghorn for the Pasha of Egypt. All other means in his power were adopted by him for augmenting the naval strength of Greece and fitting it to oppose the force of her enemies so soon as he was able to devote himself exclusively to that work. This he did promptly and zealously immediately after the failure of the expedition in favour of the garrison of the Acropolis. Brave officers and soldiers and seamen of the military and naval services, he wrote in a proclamation issued on the 7th of May, A defeat of the enemy's naval force will tenfold repay the check which was sustained in yesterday's attempt to relieve the Acropolis, that every man maintain his post as duty to his country demands, and in a few days I trust you will find your affairs not only retrieved but secured on a permanent base. That trust was not fulfilled, the Greeks proved themselves on sea as well as on land, unable to fight worthily and with enough real patriotism for the liberty of their country. But on I must not on that account be withheld from the man who used all his large experience and larger philanthropy in trying to put them in the way of victory. Lord Cochran returned to Poros on the 10th of May after an absence of just three weeks. He lost no time in rendering to the government then located in that island, a personal account of his recent proceedings, and in doing his utmost to persuade the Greeks to aid him in the new exploits on which he hoped to enter with better prospect of success. An address to the Saurians, dated the 11th of May, will serve as a specimen of many documents of the same nature. Quote it was my intention yesterday, he said, to have paid my respects to you in order personally, to have made known to you the circumstances in which the naval service is placed, and the state in preparations of the enemy, and to have called on you to show an example to the other islanders on whose exertions now depend the liberties and fate of their country. The abandonment of the Schooner, in which I have hitherto been embarked by all her seamen, prevented me from fulfilling my intention, and certain intelligence received this morning that the Turkish fleet from Constantinople passed Sira the day before yesterday to join the Egyptian fleet, compels me now to recommend you by writing, instead of by word of mouth, to save your country and yourselves by prompt and energetic exertions. The money I brought here with me, being the proceeds of subscriptions made throughout Europe for your cause, has unfortunately been nearly consumed in fruitless endeavours to save the capital of Greece by means of an irregular and unmanageable body of men who will neither receive instruction nor listen to advice. I hope that the brave seamen, who understand their duty, will listen to my recommendation through you, that they should at once step forward to save their families from oppression and slavery, and the name of their country from being struck out of the list of independent nations. By one glorious effort Greece may be free, but if she remain in her present state of apathy all hope must be abandoned. I call upon you now to stand forward in defence of your religion and all that is valuable to man. I send you a thousand dollars which is all I can spare. Those who will equip their ships may depend upon repayment out of the first money that shall be remitted to me from the public service of Greece." As that later implies, Lord Cochran had to begin his reconstruction of the Greek Navy, now the only remaining resource of the nation in its hope of working out and assuring its independence by effort of its own, almost without funds. The small sum of 8,000 pounds which he had brought with him, as well as the money collected by the European committees and transmitted to the Phil Hellenic committee in Greece, composed of Colonel Haydek, Dr Bailey and Dr Goss, was nearly exhausted, and the bankrupt government was unable to provide him with any adequate resources for carrying on his work. It had authorised him to buy ships and stores, and to employ labourers and seamen, and expected him to do all without stint, but gave him no money for the purpose. In lieu, it authorised him to borrow upon the security of all the future revenue to be derived from the islands, and every effort to utilise this mortgage was made by his agent Dr Goss, but with very poor success. The credit of the Greek government was so low that the prospects of any considerable revenue in the depressed state of commerce, likely to be yet more depressed by the steady advances made by the Turks in regaining their dominion over the insurgents, deterred capitalists from staking their money thereupon. Lord Cochrane, as we shall see, had to apply half his energies in performing the work of a financier, never anticipated by him, and certainly not proper to his functions as First Admiral, and the result of all being feeble, his legitimate duties were grievously crippled. Money was absolutely needed, however. He did his best to procure it, and with this view, as well as in order to make personal acquaintance with the principal ports and the ships and sailors contained in them, he left Poros three days after returning to it on a tour among the other important islands. Starting on Sunday the 13th of May he reached Hydra on the following morning. There in the house of the brothers Condoriotes, its richest and most influential inhabitants, he met several other leading primates, and prevailed on them to take upon themselves the outfit of several brigs and bralots, the cost of which he had at present no means of paying. Having on the 15th passed on to Spetsas, Lord Cochrane had a similar interview with its chief residence. I have been highly gratified, he wrote, on the 16th, to the elder Condoriotes. By the spirit he manifested in following the noble example which you have set, and I have no doubt but a sufficient force will be immediately equipped to cut off all resources by which the army of Rishidpasha is maintained and so destroy that army even more effectively than by the sword. The utmost promptitude, however, is necessary. One day's delay may permit several weeks' provisions and stores to enter the Negropont, end quote. Promptitude was not easy in spite of the favorable promises made by the primates. Quote, strange as it may appear to you, said Lord Cochrane, in a letter to his friend Mosho Eynard, it is yet a fact that out of thousands of semen idol, and starving at Hydra, Spetsas, and Agina, not a man will enter the service of his country without being paid in advance, nor will they engage to prolong their service beyond a month so that the labour of disciplining a crew is interminable. Were there funds to increase the pay for each month, the sailors would remain, and there might be some hope of getting a ship in order. At the present moment there are no individuals in Greece who were instructed in their duties as officers in ships of war. Readers note that, quote ends, a new one begins, I see no termination to the obstacles, he wrote to Dr. Goss on the seventeenth, which present themselves at every step I advance, neither the Hydrids nor the Saurians nor the Spetsiots nor the Poriots will embark in this frigate which is thus useless to Greece, if not prejudicial because her maintenance is an expense without benefit. I wish I could do a thousand things which I am compelled to neglect by reason of the difficulties and want of assistance of all kinds. You my good friend, are my only aide, end quote. At Spetsas and in its neighbourhood Lord Cochrane remained four days directing the arrangements to be made in organising a fleet strong enough to go against the enemy's shipping, and while waiting for that in appointing two minor expeditions upon services that were urgent. On the eighteenth of May he sent Admiral Sattorez with ten brigs and four fire ships to cruise about the Negra Pont and capture as much as he could of the stores sent through that channel from Constantinople for the use of the Turkish army in Attica. On the following day he went himself in the Hellas, attended by the Cateria under Captain Abney Hastings in the direction of Cape Clarenza, the north-western most point of the Maria opposite to Zante. Castle Tornizi, there situated, was being besieged by the Turks and Lord Cochrane hoped to be in time to avert its capture. In this he failed. Arriving on the twenty-second of May he found that the castle had capitulated a few hours before. All he could do was chase two Turkish frigates which had been found on the coast. Quote, we fired on them, he said, but our guns were ill-directed and the noise and confusion on board this ship was excessive, which prevented my choosing to attack them again, though they did us not the slightest injury, because I am desirous that the Hellas shall be in somewhat better order before I voluntarily attack an enemy who may take advantage of the impossibility of causing my orders to be obeyed, and so leave the fate of the ship to the conduct of a rubble. End quote. One capture however the Hellas was able to make on the following day she fell in with a vessel manned by Turks and Ionian islanders bearing the British flag loaded with captives, chiefly women, and children just taken in the castle Tunisi. Lord Cochrane seized her and sent her with a reasonably indignant letter to the Lord High Commissioner at Corfu. Quote, if I do not attempt to express my feelings in addressing you, he said, it is because I am aware that the terms I should employ would fall far short of the sensations that will arise in the breast of every honourable man throughout the civilised world, and the degradation which every Englishman will experience, unlearning that the flag of England, first prostituted by supplying the traffickers in Christian slaves with all the necessaries for their horrid purposes, is now further debased by a traffic in the slaves themselves. I send you an Ionian vessel full of women, violated in their persons, and who, with their children, have been reduced to slavery in order that the British public and the world may ascertain whether these unfortunate people will be protected by the decision of an Ionian tribunal. If there were any hope that the people in the Ionian islands would abandon their infamous dealings, otherwise then by force I should ask your Excellency to issue an order upon the subject, I beg, however, to signify that I am ready to cooperate with the Admiral and Officers of the British Naval Service in the Mediterranean in enforcing obedience to the laws of justice and humanity, and putting down the Ionian trade in slaves, as well as the piracies which have originated chiefly in the total contempt shown by the Ionian people, and others for the laws of nations and the principles of justice during the contest between Greeks and Turks. I also put at your disposal the Turks found on board the Ionian boat, not considering them as prisoners of war, but as men apprehended in violating the laws of civilised nations and insulting the feelings of Christendom. Since writing the above, it was added in a post script, I have experienced considerable difficulty in restraining the fury of the Greeks from bursting forth upon the violators of their countrywomen. From what I foresee I also feel at my duty to warn you that should the transportation of Christian captives by neutrals be continued, I cannot answer for the safety of Ionians found so employed by the other vessels of the Greek squadron." A formal acknowledgement of that letter was all the answer received by Lord Cochran. On the 24th of May, near Misalongi, he made another capture of a Turkish brig with eight guns, bearing Austrian colours which was preceding from Provisa to Navarino, in her, besides a good store of flour and gunpowder, were found some Turkish officials, and several members of Rashid Pasha's harem. The alarm of these prisoners was very great at first, but they were treated with courtesy and landed with all their personal properties at the first convenient halting place. The brig and its cargo being retained as prizes. Rashid Pasha, in return for the generous treatment shown to his attendants, afterwards released a hundred Greek prisoners without ransom. Another curious incident occurred at this time, several small Turkish merchant vessels passed Lord Cochran's ship during his stay near Misalongi, but he, abstained from capturing them, deeming it unworthy to interfere with such small crafts, devoted, as it was supposed, only to trading purposes. He was afterwards informed that in one of them, Ibrahim Pasha himself had been concealed. Had the Egyptian leader thus been made prisoner, the future course of the war might have been altogether changed. Lord Cochran had gone into the Gulf of Patras in the hope of meeting with Captain Hastings, from whom he had parted soon after leaving Spetzar's, but the Catarina had been disabled by a squall, which took away both her masts and over had to return to Poros, and with the ill-manned Hellas alone, Lord Cochran did not deem it prudent, as he had wished, to attack Navarino, with the besieges of Castle Tornizi had gone, and where twelve Egyptian frigates, twenty Corvettes, and forty or fifty smaller vessels, were for some time lying. Several of these came to take on board the Ottoman troops, who had done their work at Cape Clarenza, and Lord Cochran, on the 1st of June, remained for several hours within sight of them ready and hoping to be attacked. No fight being offered, however, he did not choose to run the risk of going single-handed into their midst. He, accordingly, contended himself with surveying the coast and forming his own judgment, as to the relative value of its ports and harbours, as he sailed back in the direction of Poros. To Poros itself, Lord Cochran did not venture to proceed. Quote, I have written for all the Greek vessels that are ready, including the fire ships and explosion vessels, to join me, he said, in a letter to Dr. Goss, written on the 7th of June, of Kerrigo, I remain at sea with this frigate, lest the whole of her crew should desert, according to custom, were I to pay a visit to Poros." The want of zeal, which he thus perceived in his semen, was shared by nearly all of their countrymen, or wished him to serve them, but very few made any patriotic effort to aid him in the service. His most active supporter was Captain Abney Hastings, and Captain Abney Hastings complained yet more loudly than did his superior of the indolence and bad conduct of the Greeks. Quote, I had the honor to receive your order of the 7th in joining me to repair to your lordship without delay, if ready for sea. He wrote on the 9th from Spetsas, a variety of circumstances unavoidable in a country deprived of even the shadow of organization has prevented me from being yet ready to sail. The majority and best of my crew have left me and I must look for others. End quote, Hastings and all his other officers wrote over and over again to Lord Cochrane asking for stores of all sorts and for money with which to pay the wages of their crews. But Lord Cochrane was still almost without funds, only from Condoriotes and the other island primates could he procure scanty supplies with which to carry on his work, or rather to prevent that work from being altogether abandoned. Quote, I have the honor, he wrote to the government, to represent to your excellencies that I find it impossible to realize the credit, which you assigned to me on the revenues of the islands and that insurmountable obstacles prevent my acting as affairs require. The hellish even is idle in want of supplies. Each day each event increases my conviction that without strong and special efforts, without a prompt and disinterested corporation of all its citizens, Greece must of necessity be overcome. Isolated as I am, I am useless to them. Supported by their patriotism and zeal, I could fight for their independence. The islands of the archipelago are willing to aid our efforts, but they claim, from me in return, a guarantee for the safety of their goods and for the regular administration of their imposts. I await your excellency's instruction for promptly answering their demand for the resources of the Western nations are drained. European charities, we read, the islands alone offer us the means of maintaining the naval forces and of resisting, if it be possible, if it be not too late, the vigorous preparations of our enemy. We must act promptly or abandon everything." The government only answered by urging its chief admiral to lose no time securing the independence of Greece. This, in spite of the difficulties thrown in his way, he set himself heartily to attempt. Two courses were now open to him. Richard Pasha, having taken possession of the Acropolis and thus completed the capture of Athens, had laid siege to Corinth. And so Richard Church, with a weak and vacillating body, which went by the name of an army, the remnants of that, which had proved so useless in the neighbourhood of the Piraeus, was vainly trying to raise the siege. By him and by the government, Lord Cochrane was urged to muster as large a fleet as possible in the Bay of Corinth and to cooperate with the land forces by blockading the besiegers after the method that had failed at Athens. Experience convinced him that such action would be useless, whereas from modification of the plan which he had, in the former instance, been induced to abandon, he hoped much. He knew that a large Egyptian force was being prepared at Alexandria to be employed first in aiding the siege of Corinth and afterwards in completing the conquest of all Greece. If only he could train the Greeks to act under his bold leadership, as he had trained the Chileans and Brazilians, he trusted that by one daring movement he could seize Alexandria as he had seized Valdivia and Moranhem. And to this project, he zealously addressed himself, deeming it sufficient to send a small force to blockade the Gulfs of Patras and Corinth and leaving Dr. Goss as his agent in command of naval affairs at home, with special orders to visit the various islands and in accordance with authority received from the government, to collect the revenues of each in order that the necessary expenses of the fleet might be met. He collected all the vessels he could muster in the neighborhood of Cape St. Angelo. His force consisted besides the hellos of one Corvette, the Sauvure, which he had bought from Marseille, commanded by Captain Thomas, of 14 Greek Briggs, and eight Brulots or fire ships. With these, he started for Alexandria on the 11th of June, the hellos having offered to slacken speed in order that the slower Greek vessels might be kept in attendance. Candia was passed on the 13th and Alexandria was cited at five o'clock in the morning of the 15th. Lord Cochrane stood out to sea so that he might not be discovered and spent the day in putting his fleet in order, preparing an explosion vessel and arranging for the work of the morrow. Quote, brave officers and seamen, he said, in an address to his followers. One decisive blow and Greece is free. The Port of Alexandria, the center of the evil that has befallen you, now contains within its narrow-bound numerous ships of war and a multitude of vessels laden with provisions, stores and troops intended to affect your total ruin. The wind is fair for us and our enterprise unsuspected. Brave bruleteers resolve by one moment of active exertion to annihilate the power of the satrap. Then shall the siege of Athens be raised in Egypt, then shall the armies of Ibrahim and Rashid be deprived of subsistence and their garrisons perish of hunger. What's the brave inhabitants of continental Greece and the islanders freed from impending danger will fly to arms and by one simultaneous movement throw off the barber in yoke. Date the return of happy days and the liberty and security of Greece from your present exhibition of Valar, the emancipation of Egypt and the downfall of the satrap are also inevitable consequences. For the war is concentrated in one point of action and of time. End quote. That spirited address was ineffectual and Lord Cochrane's bold plan for seizing Alexandria was prevented by the cowardice and disorganization of the Greeks to whom he was laboring to serve. They could hardly be persuaded on the 16th to follow the Hellas and Savoie or bearing Austrian colours. As far as the entrance to Alexandria and when 20 large Egyptian vessels were found to be there lying at harbour, they lost heart altogether. Lord Cochrane knew from past experience that with proper support from his subordinates he could easily capture or disperse the enemy's shipping. He had made arrangements for attacking them with the fire ships and his explosion vessel but nearly all the crews refused to serve. Canaris alone among the Greeks was brave. Having come under the fire ships, he induced the sailors of two of them to bear down upon the enemy and at about eight o'clock in the evening, one manor war was burnt. So great was the effect of this small success that the other ships of the enemy prepared to escape and great numbers of the inhabitants of Alexandria hurried out of the town and sought a hiding in the adjoining villages. Seeing the Egyptian ships making ready for flight, however the Greeks opposed that they were coming out to attack them and themselves immediately turned sail. Needless a like of their own honor and of Lord Cochrane's assurances that a splendid victory was easy to them. All the night was vainly spent by the Hellas and Salver in futile efforts to collect them and on the morning of the 18th they were found to be dispersed far out at sea over an area of more than 20 miles. In despite of his feeble allies, Lord Cochrane would have gone boldly into port and attacked the enemy but his own Greek sailors were as timid as their comrades and after a whole day spent in reconnoitering the enemy whose force of 25 sail dared not off a battle but had gained courage enough to abstain from actual flight, he was compelled on the 19th also to put out to sea and had to spend two other days in signaling the Briggs and Fyre ships to join him. Not until the afternoon of the 20th by which time he had pursued his allies to a distance 18 miles from Alexandria was he able to bring them into any sort of order and then the bitter conviction was forced upon him that further prosecution of his plan for the present at any rate was useless. The scanty store of provisions that had been sent with the fleet moreover was nearly exhausted and thus a new difficulty arose. Lord Cochrane sent the most useless of his vessels back to Poros for a fresh supply and with an earnest entreaty that some efficient reinforcements might also be forwarded to him announcing his intention of waiting in the neighborhood in hopes of achieving some better success. Quote, your excellencies may rest assured, he said in his letter to the government, that our visit to Alexandria will have a powerful effect in paralyzing the equipment of an expedition and I have every reason to conclude that the example made before their eyes of the Brigger War will deter any of the numerous neutral vessels from engaging as transports in the expedition equipping by the Pasha. The sensation created must indeed have been powerful as two neutral vessels of war made the signal for pilots before we weighed anchor on the morning of the 17th under the impression no doubt that a more effectual attack would shortly be attempted. I'm going to make a short tour with a view as far as I am enabled with the inadequate means at my disposal to distract and paralyze the enemy. End quote. In accordance with that purpose being already near Cyprus, Lord Cochrane conducted his fleet a little further north and anchored on the 23rd of June off Finica in Asia Minor where after a brief fight with the Turks he affected our landing and received some much needed food and water. Then he addressed letters urging the prompt dispatch of the necessary stores and vessels to the government, to the primates of Hydra and to Dr. Goss. From this halting place also he sent a noteworthy letter to Muhammad Ali the Pasha of Egypt, a supplement to one which he had addressed to him nearly a year before when he was on his way to enter the service of the Greeks. Quote. You're employing foreigners in your military and naval service, he had said in the former letter which will be best quoted in this place. The privilege which you claim and exercise of building and equipping ships of war in neutral states and of purchasing steam vessels and hiring transports under neutral flags for hostile purposes and to transport to slavery a people whom the Ottoman arms have never yet been able wholly to subdue, warrant a belief whatever your sentiments may be that the civilized, educated and liberal portion of mankind will be gratified that suckers similar to those which you unfortunately have hitherto obtained from these states are now about to be afforded to the brave, the oppressed and suffering Greeks. Nor will the advantage derived be wholly theirs for until you shall cease or be forced to abandon your inhuman traffic in Christian slaves and the commission of cruelties which stain the character of man, your subjects must inevitably continue barbarians a state from which it would be a source of great gratification to contribute to release them. It is true that the Christian world has not of late contended in arms with those of your faith on points of religion. It has however not fallen into a state of apathy so great as to see unheeded the perpetration of those enormities which you are daily committing on Christians. A sentiment with which no feeling of animosity towards you or towards your people is combined. On the contrary, it desires to render you every good service consistent with that duty paramount to all others namely to wipe out the stain from the civilized world of unfeelingly and inhumanely cooperating to exterminate, enslave and transport to bondage the whole Christian people and such a people the descendants of those Greeks whose genius laid the chief foundation of literature, the sciences and the arts who reared those noble monuments and edifices which time and the more destructive barbarian hand have yet failed to destroy and which compared with the wretched hovels of your hordes may better point out to you the elevation they attained and the prostrate state in which your people are owing alas to the baneful effects of bigotry and despotic sway. Surely, surely there is ample field for you to exercise your energies at home in encouraging industry, the arts and sciences in promoting the civilisation of your people and in enacting equitable laws for the security of persons and property on which bases the national prosperity of all countries must rest. But should your ambition not content with bestowing blessings like these on your native land lead you to soar almost above mortal acts that distant oceans would unite and the extremities of the globe approach at your command. Thus might your name be rendered immortal and Egypt become again the emporium of commerce and one of the richest and happiest nations upon earth. How infinitely great the glory from such acts had despicable the fame of a tyrant conqueror, the ruler of slaves. It would be pleasing to support you as the author of great and good works but it is shameful to permit your present proceedings and dastardly leave the unfeeling apostate sons of neutral and Christian nations unopposed. Aiding to perpetuate barbarism for horrid gain drawn from the price of Christians torn from their homes and sold as slaves in foreign lands against these atrocious men, my companions and myself, casting the gauntlet down, will contend in the hope that they and you may perceive your true interests and your great error and pursue a different course before it shall be too late. Quit the classic sacred soil of Greece. Let the flayings and burnings and impalings of that people cease and oh, shocking to humanity, the ripping up of pregnant women and the hewing up of their infant babes and other acts yet worse than these, too horrid to relate, release the Christian slaves, pursue an honourable and enlightened path and we become friends to aid you in your pursuits but should the present course be continued, let the bands of cruel assassins in your employ count on our opposition, count, too, on our neutralising the effect of every vessel procured or bought from Christian states. Hear the voice of the Lord ye rulers in the prophecy now to be fulfilled, woe to them that go down to Egypt for help and stay when the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is hoping shall fall down and they shall all fall together. Instead of filling brim full the cup of bitterness, of which you yourself must ultimately drink, how admirably might you not employ your people and your treasure, the waste whereof is rearing to you a barbarian successor to prolong the bondage of Egypt. The Christian prayer of those called to rescue their suffering brethren is that conforming yourself to the dictates of reason and humanity, you may live long to benefit mankind and as you are more enlightened than your predecessors, so may you become more humane and just." End quote. The second letter was more brief. Quote, the discrimination of your Highness, Lord Cochran now wrote, enables you to judge between those who offer advice to promote personal objects and those who disinterestedly desire the welfare of mankind. Egypt may become great by the attention of her rulers to her internal concerns, but not by war and foreign conquest and assuredly not by the conquest of that people with whom your Highness is now engaged in hostilities, not only on account of the impossibility of reducing them to subjection, but because the whole of Europe is directly or indirectly engaged in this support. I beg your Highness to be assured that if I present myself to your consideration and a more conspicuous point of view than others, it is only because the habits of my life have enabled me to be openly instrumental in the protection of a Christian people whom you attack and not because I feel animosity against your Highness nor because I desire the overthrow of the lawful power of your Highness. Should your Highness, however, listen to interested counselors or those who hope to gain by adulation and continue the present unjust and sanguinary contest, I take leave once more to warn you that the first visit I have had the honour of paying you shall not be the last and that it is not in the power of your Highness to prevent the destruction of your ships destined for the invasion of Greece nor to defeat my intention to block up the port of Alexandria. I had the honour to address your Highness 12 months ago, but I have thought proper to repeat once more the honest advice I then expressed in order that your Highness may acquit me when in the hour of adversity you have to regret that you have not listened to the voice of truth," end quote. Lord Cochrane's threats could not be enforced. Off the coast of Asia Minor and among the southern islands of the archipelago, he waited for more than a week but no adequate reinforcements or supplies of provisions arrived. The disorganised fleet became more and more unmanageable. One vessel after another deserted and those that remained in nominal attendance on the flagship could not be brought under control. Lord Cochrane, who had made skillful sailors and brave warriors of innovated Chileans and Brazilians, found the Greeks utterly unmanageable. Up to the 2nd of July he tried vainly to bring them into water and only succeeded in pursuing them from island to island until on that day they had drawn him back to the neighbourhood of Hydra. There they all dispersed and with a heavy heart he anchored at Poros on the 4th, the Helios was immediately deserted by her crew. Another month had been wasted and another bold project for the assistance of Greece had been spoiled by the want of patriotism which exhibited first and most flagrantly by the leaders was now rapidly pervading all classes of the Greeks. An amusing instance of the worthlessness of the Greek sailors whom from first to last he tried to make useful may here be given on one occasion following his invariable habit taking every possible occasion of trying to win the confidence and friendship of those under him he was exhibiting a magic lantern to the crew of the Helios. At many of the dissolving views they manifested a childish delight but at length one unfortunate picture was brought before them. It depicted a Greek running from the pursuit of a Turk and then melted into a view of the Turk cutting off the captor's head. At that side every Greek on board took fright. Some ran into the hold of the ship, others jumped overboard and many hours had to be spent in bringing them together again and dispelling their frivolous and superstitious fears. Lord Cochran however, though disheartened, still sought with unabated zeal to render to Greece such help as became his name and character. But he saw that this could not be done without a thorough reform in naval affairs and this often urged by him before he lost no time in urging again. Quote the crew of the Helios he wrote to the Iphite government on the very day of his return having according to their usual practice abandoned the vessel on her arrival in port, it is essential that others should be enlisted to serve in the frigate without delay. It is further essential that the individual so enlisted shall engage to serve during a period of not less than six months and that they shall be young men who will conform to the rules and regulations by which the ships of war of other states are governed. It is quite impossible to conduct a large ship of war amidst the noise and confusion which I have witnessed during the two months that have elapsed since my flag was hoisted on board the ship and equally impossible to induce monthly crews to conform to habits of order and regularity. Under these circumstances I enclose your proclamation stating the pay and advantages which will accrue to such individuals. I should prefer that the enlistment should take place under such respectable young men as proposed to obtain rank in the National Marine and who can be in some degree responsible for the good conduct of the individuals who accompany them each individual qualified for and aspiring to the rank of the tenant being accompanied by 60 young seamen the second lieutenant to be each accompanied by 30 for the ship five of the first class and eight of the second are required." The proclamation which Lord Cochrane submitted to the government detailed his plan for ensuring or at any rate making possible honest and hearty service in seafaring. I wish I could inform your excellencies he said in another letter written two days later that the obstacles however great which presented themselves in the course of the naval service were all I had to contend with. The jealousies among the islanders even the most enlightened embarrassed me exceedingly and these I regret to say cannot be alleviated by having recourse to your advice or authority at the distance at which you are placed without a correspondence so voluminous that I should occupy too much of your attention. I must therefore act according to my own responsibility and in doing so I'm aware that some may be displeased and probably no one will be satisfied. Nearly all the month of July indeed was spent by Lord Cochrane in zealous efforts to render the Greek navy more efficient. For these two things were needed that the officers and crew should be honest and intelligent and that there should be money enough in hand for paying their wages for vetting out proper vessels and for supplying the requisite stores and provisions. For the first object proclamations were issued the letters were written and agents were sent into various parts of Greece and her islands. For the second Lord Cochrane went personally to the assistance of Dr. Goss who, as commissary general of the fleet, had been attempting to collect the revenues of the islands which, by order of the government, had been assigned to naval uses and he succeeded to some extent in this and also in quickening the latent patriotism of the people whom he visited. His most important visit was to Sira, where, as will be seen from the letter which he addressed to the government on the 13th of July, he was obliged to resort to strong measures for securing the good end he had in view. I have the honour to inform your excellencies, he wrote, that a new crew, having been procured for the Hellas with less delay than I anticipated by reason of the pay having been increased one third in amount, I proceeded to Sira, taking with me several of the principal inhabitants of the three maritime islands who expressed to me by letter their anxiety to have an opportunity of promoting alone on the credit of the revenues of the islands which your excellencies had authorized me jointly with others to collect. I have now the pleasure to inform you that when I left Sira yesterday everything seemed to promise a favourable result but in order to obtain this important object it became necessary that I should take upon myself the responsibility of intimating to the prefect of police who had assumed to spot a authority that it was essential to the public good that the magistrates should resume the functions that they had exercised previous to his arrival. I am convinced that your excellencies will perceive as clearly as I do that it will be impossible to preserve harmony amongst the islanders if strangers are sent to exercise over the natives and authority that is not acceptable to them. Indeed the character of these natives demands at all times prudence and circumspection on the part of the government." Unfortunately the miserable triumph for it to which the direction of Greek affairs had been assigned until the arrival of Capodistrias was wholly wanting in prudence and circumspection after vainly trying to maintain a show of authority and to use it to their own aggrandizement at Demala and at Poros they had on the 4th of July removed to Napoleon there however they only found themselves more embarrassed than ever while the last hopes of Greek independence to be secured and maintained by Greeks themselves were rapidly dying out the leaders were amusing themselves and gratifying their petty jealousies and ambitions by conduct more despicable than ever. Now clear was the seat of civil war between two military factions whose joint contempt of the worthless government would have been at any rate excusable had not the interests of the whole nation been thereby injured though triumvirate was driven from the town and taking refuge in a little island in the bay of Naplia wrote in despair to Lord Cochran asking him to come to its aid and devise some means of preserving or rather constructing its authority to Naplia he accordingly went on the 19th of July quote I am now at the anchorage of this place he wrote thence to Dr. Goss on the 22nd the town is evacuated by the inhabitants and abandoned by the government the latter are in the little island in the bay in the most deplorable condition trembling like sancho when invaded in his dominions of Barotaria and not knowing which way to turn whether to avoid or meet the enemy no words can depict the state of things I've had correspondence with the government and all the chiefs but have waited on none because I am determined to keep myself clear of faction and go straightforward in what I consider to be my duty we are now weighing anchor he added in a post script written in the evening of the same day and the Austrian Commodore is coming into the bay an evil omen he is watching like a vulture the agonies of the expiring authorities of Greece end quote quote as you have done me the honor said Lord Cochran in a letter to the government to request my opinion regarding the matter of settling the disputes between the contending chiefs who hold the higher and lower fortresses of Naplia it becomes a sacred duty to give that opinion without the slightest reserve because the consequences of any half measure will be entirely destructive of the influence of your excellencies throughout Greece and eventually may frustrate the endeavors of the European powers to promote a settlement with the port your excellencies then must at once remove from the situation in which you are now placed or more properly speaking to which you have fled and where you are still under the canon of the disputing chiefs or both these chiefs must be caused to abandon the fortresses they hold to suffer one to remain and to expel the other would be voluntarily to surrender your authority and through Greece and throughout the world you would be considered in no other light than as instruments forgiving the semblance of legality to the dictates of a military chief Lord Cochran did not wait to see the end of this dispute between the mock government and its nominal subjects he left Naplia on the 22nd of July to complete the arrangements he had made for another attempt in defense of Greece he had already sent admiral secturas and a small force to maintain a show of blockading Alexandria in order that thereby neutral vessels at any rate might be deterred from giving aid to the Turkish cause he had sent vessels to blockade the Gulf of Patras in the same way he had also issued a vigorous proclamation to the inhabitants of western Greece urging them to rise against their oppressors and he was eager to go there himself and encourage the work for which he hoped that his fleet and his naval arrangements were now better fitted one important auxiliary to this work he hoped to have in a core of marines to the number of a thousand which Colonel Gordon Urquhart was now trying under his directions to organize quote I have several things in view which even this small force could accomplish he wrote to Dr. Goss and amongst the rest will be the rooting out of the pirates from the islands end quote more important however than the restraint of piracy was the resistance if possible of the Turkish forces several of the Egyptian ships which Lord Cochrane had hoped to destroy in the hybrid of Alexandria had now come out and joined the Ottoman fleet which had Navarino for its headquarters he determined without loss of time to go and see what injury could be done to them and accordingly after a brief visit to Poros where he took on board some stores and provisions and where he left Dr. Goss to use the scanty supply of money which he had collected in completing the equipment of the other vessels he started in the Hellos on the 28th of July for the western side of the Maria on the 29th when near Cape St. Angelo he fell in with the Salver returning from a cruise in the Gulf of Patras and the two vessels proceeded with all haste to Navarino they reached that port and had sight of the Turkish fleet on the evening of the 30th with French colors flying Lord Cochrane reconnoited its position and then watched for an opportunity of attacking some part of it the opportunity occurred on the 1st of August a corvette carrying 28 fine guns and a crew of 340 with two Briggs and two Schooners had passed out on the previous day apparently with the intention of conveying reinforcements to the Gulf of Patras Lord Cochrane immediately gave them chase and drove them backwards and forwards between Zante and the shore north of Navarino all through the night and till nearly noon on the 1st then suddenly tacking he closed upon the corvette and there was hard fighting the first in which he had been able to persuade his Greeks to join between the two vessels for 50 minutes at about 1 o'clock after 50 of their number had been killed and 30 wounded the Turks surrendered Lord Cochrane found on board 20 Greek women and several children who had been subjected to the vilest treatment in the meanwhile Captain Thomas of the Savoie had engaged with one of the Briggs carrying 12 guns and captured her with the loss of 15 killed and wounded to the Turks but none to the Greeks the other vessels escaped but an Ionian vessel laden with provisions for the Ottoman army at Patras was seized in the afternoon and her cargo put to good use Lord Cochrane waited off Navarino for two days hoping that some of the enemy's fleet would come out to attack him they however locked themselves carefully in the harbour until he had set sail for the south when they feebly attempted to pursue him he there upon after releasing the Turkish prisoners at Kandia returned to Poros there to leave his prizes and endeavored to take back a larger force with which worthily to supplement his recent successes End of Chapter 19 Recording by Timothy Ferguson Gold Coast Australia Chapter 20 of the life of Thomas Lord Cochrane 10th Earl of Dundonald completing the autobiography of Seaman Volume 2 by Henry Richard Foxbourne and others this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Timothy Ferguson Chapter 20 The Duke of Wellington's mission to St. Petersburg in the spring of 1826 which has been already referred to was part of a policy by which the British government materially contributed to the ultimate independence of Greece its first result was the protocol of the 4th of April in which England and Russia recognised the right of the Greeks to claim from the port a recognition of their freedom at about the same time our government had sent Mr Stratford Canning afterwards Lord Stratford de Redcliff as Ambassador to Constantinople with special instructions to use every endeavour to bring about a cessation of the war which should be favourable to Greece and on the 24th of April the National Assembly at Epidorus had authorised him to treat with Turkey on its behalf agreeing if no more favourable terms could be obtained to a recognition of the Sultan's supremacy and the payment of tribute to him on condition that Greece should be independent in all its internal government those terms however were rejected by the port and after a delay of a year and a half it was forced by the great powers solely awakening from their long lethargy to accede to arrangements far more favourable to Greece these negotiations however proceeded very slowly and before the dawn of Greek independence there was a time of almost utter darkness the darkest time of all being the few months following Lord Cochran's arrival quote vanquished Greece says her historian lay writhing in convulsive throes in herself there was neither hope nor help and the question to be solved was merely whether the Mohammedans would have time to subdue her before the mediating powers made up their minds to use force that the former if not checked from abroad must speedily over on the country did not admit of the least doubt but it was equally certain that they could not pacify it for while the rich and timid prepared to emigrate the poorer and huddier portion of the insurgents formed themselves into bands of robbers and pirates which would have long infested the mountains and the leavened seas deriding the efforts of the port to suppress them the only branch of the Hellenic Confederacy that still presented a menacing aspect was the navy under Lord Cochran every other department was a heap of confusion no government existed since it would be idle to dignify with that name the three puppets set up by the Congress of Demala none ever thought of obeying them and they sealed their own degradation by carrying on an infamous traffic instilling letters of mark to freebooters there was no army because there was no revenue after the fall of Athens Rumelia was entirely lost and the captains either renewed their active submission to Rashid Pasha or fled to the Maria it was not however with an intention of defending the peninsula that they retreated into it their purpose was to seize the fortresses and thereby being able to make a good bargain with the Turks or any other party that should remain in final possession Naoplea and the acrocorintheus were already garrisoned by rumelyots Mon Amvasia the third Polypenetian stronghold yet held by the Greeks was in the hands of Petrobae's brother John Mavra Mikales who fitting out from thence predatory craft converted it into a den of thieves readers note quote ends it is not strange that amid all this confusion cowardice and treachery Lord Cochran should have found it almost impossible to achieve anything worthy of his abilities or of the cause which he desired so earnestly to serve yet he continued in spite of all obstacles to do all that lay in his power in fulfilment of his duty and even in excess of that duty he had engaged to act as first admiral of the Greek fleet finding that there was no fleet for him to direct he laboured with unwearyed zeal not only to construct one and to turn his unmanly subordinates into disciplined sailors and brave warriors but also to persuade the landsmen to cooperate with him in trying to withstand if not to drive back the advancing force of the enemy one day when he was at Porus Dr. Goss came aboard the helis to visit him see my friend said Lord Cochran taking a loaded pistol from the inner pocket of his waistcoat see what it is to be a Greek admiral end quote he found it necessary to be always provided with a weapon with which he could defend himself from his indolent unpatriotic seaman having returned to Porus with his prizes on the 14th of August he was obliged to wait there for 12 days there were no funds to be had for the requisite repairs and other expenses in paying and feeding his crews all he could do was to repeat his former arguments and entreaties for assistance from the miserable government at Naplia and the more active but still half-hearted primates of the islands he also made all the other arrangements in his power for improving his fleet and for carrying on some sort of naval warfare among the southern Isles especially on the coast of Candia and for fermenting an insurrection of the inhabitants of western Greece who held in awe by the Turks ever since the fall of Missa Longhi had hitherto done little in aid of the national strife but to whose support he now looked with some hope on the 24th he obtained a little further assistance Mr George Cochran whom he had sent to Marseille in the unicorn to ask for fresh supplies of money and stores from the Phil Hellenes of Western Europe but whose return had been long delayed now arrived with cargo of provisions and the sum of five thousand pounds which although altogether inadequate to the work to be done made possible some work at any rate in the unicorn also came a new volunteer on behalf of Greek independence the schooner having called at Zhante on her way back Mr Cochran there met Prince Paul Bonaparte nephew of the great Napoleon who asked to be taken on board in order that he might serve under Lord Cochran this was agreed to and the Prince of Youth about 18 years old and six feet high became immediately after his arrival at Poros a favourite with Lord Cochran and all his staff and crew he was remarkable said Dr Goss for quote his goodwill his amiability of character his solidity of judgment his intelligence and the moderation of his principles end quote his stay in Greece however was very brief on the morning of the 6th of September all aboard the Helles was startled by a shriek and an exclamation arm on Jew Jesus Mott Lord Cochran and several officers rushed to the Prince's cabin there to find him lying in a pool of blood and driving in agony his servant had been cleaning his pistols and he had just loaded one of them to hang it on a nail when the trigger being accidentally struck the weapon discharged and a ball entered his body and settled in the groin Dr Howe an American surgeon famous for his services to Greece and for later philanthropic labours being at hand came to his relief until Dr Goss could be sent for all that could be done however was to lessen the pain which he bore with great heroism through to in 20 hours Lord Cochran had him placed in his own cabin and carefully tended him with his own hands at seven o'clock in the following morning he cried out that melancholy accident had a sequel which must be told in illustration of the greed of the Greeks the Prince's body was placed in a hog's head of spirits and conveyed to Spetsas there to be deposited in a convent until the wishes of the father Prince Lucian Bonaparte could be ascertained as to its internment a few months afterwards some natives entering the convent and smelling the spirits but apparently in ignorance of the use to which they had been applied could not resist the temptation of tapping the hog's head and drinking part of the contents Prince Paul Bonaparte died while Lord Cochran was again making a tour of the islands vainly trying to induce the inhabitants to provide him with adequate means for a formidable attack on the enemy quote in the port of Spetsas wrote one of his officers on the 29th of August there are now nearly 40 vessels none of them ready not a man on board all the men are out in cruisers notwithstanding his excellency's order to fit out their vessels to meet the enemy's fleet but such are the Greeks they have no foresighted until they see the enemy they will make no preparations nor will they unless the money is in their hands expend a dollar to prepare a single fire ship to defend their country it is now 28 days since Lord Cochran ordered the vessels from Hydra, Spetsas and Regina to be prepared and they are not yet ready end quote at length on the 5th of September Lord Cochran was able though still with difficulty to resign the irksome and extra official duties of attacks gatherer that had been forced upon him quote since my return from Zante and indeed since my return from Alexandria he wrote on that day to the government now lodged at Regina I have been using my utmost endeavours to procure the equipment of a dozen brigs and as many fire ships the delays occasioned however by the want of pecuniary means have hitherto prevented the realization of my wishes and the services of this frigate have been lost to the state during the aforementioned period owing to the impossibility of procuring the necessary funds without my personal presence at Cyra and elsewhere the equipment of the brigs and part of the fire ships is now completed in spite of all difficulties and I shall not delay one moment to the endeavour to effect something useful to the interests of the state I think it proper however to intimate to your excellencies that everything being paid relative to the expense of the present expedition I know of no means whereby a single vessel can be maintained during the ensuing month on the 7th of September Lord Cochrane was able to start on another war-like cruise his force comprised the Hellas the Caterina the Savillor and 19 or 20 other vessels the Speciots and the Hydriots at the last moment refused to aid him but he was attended by Mialis Canarchus and Sactores the three best of the native admirals after a brief visit to Candia where he encouraged the garrison of Gabrusa to hold out against the enemy he again passed round the Maria in which direction he desired to attain two important objects the first was to injure as much as possible the Turkish and Egyptian vessels collected near Navarino the second was to cooperate with the wretched force that under general church had for three months passed been making a show of resistance to the enemy at Corinth and with its help to try and stir up the natives of Albania and Western Greece these objects partially prevented in other ways were nearly averted by a barbarous plot for Lord Cochrane's assassination while halting off the southern coast of the Maria on or near the 10th of September a short thick-built Greek with an ugly countenance and determined eye came on board the Hellas and asked for employment as a sailor he was examined and rejected on the grounds of previous misconduct instead of going on shore again however he contrived to hide himself among the crew and was not detected by Lord Cochrane for several hours and when the frigate was in full sail in the interval Lord Cochrane had received authentic information that this man had been commissioned by Ibrahim Pasha to attempt his life there would have been justification for his immediate arrest and after court-martial for his summary execution but Lord Cochrane pursued a more generous policy looking up to his secretary Mr George Cochrane he said observed that man who was at the gangway on the lab at side I have just had information that he has been sent by Ibrahim Pasha to assassinate me go quietly below put on your sword and watch while he is on board Mr Cochrane obeyed his instructions quote in less than five minutes he says I was again on deck with my sword I took a few turns on the quarter deck with his lordship and then placed myself in a convenient position about a dozen yards from the man I did not lose sight of him for a couple of hours keeping my eyes steadily upon him he soon observed that I was watching him and I could perceive that he did not feel very comfortable in his mind he did not attempt to come aft had he done so I should have drawn my sword after the men had their dinner one or two boats were got ready to convey his semen on board another vessel and this fellow seeing that his intentions were discovered took advantage of the opportunity and got into one of the boats I looked over the side of the helis and saw him depart end quote thus Lord Cochrane's life was saved Navarino was passed on the 11th of September Lord Cochrane made no halt as he saw that a British squadron under Sir Edward Codrington was there watching the Ottoman fleet and forbidding its aggress he accordingly at once proceeded northwards and entered the Gulf of Patras on the 17th of September on that day in anticipation of the visit which he proposed to pay them he forwarded proclamations to the inhabitants of the western coast quote people of Albania he wrote in one of them although you have so long suffered down to the musselman yoke although your love of liberty has been so long kept down by a dark and cruel despotism the hour of your deliverance is not distant and if you will you can hasten it Europe takes a lively interest in your destiny your fellow countrymen are hastening to aid you but all depends on the energy which you yourselves display the support which we offer you to be efficacious requires on your part redoubled zeal and patriotism in the actual and decisive moment brave Albanians your happy future the security of your families and the honour of your religion are in your hands your bold and steady cooperation will ensure your own salvation and our success the intended expedition was prevented it had been arranged that Lord Cochran should wait near Cape Pappas for the arrival of General Church's army and convey it to western Greece in the hope of putting it in better service in that region but the land force was long in coming and before it arrived Lord Cochran had to write to the government explaining his most recent movement and the reasons which compelled him to abandon the project of fighting in Albania having proceeded to the Gulf of Patras he said in order to cooperate with General Church in his intended expedition to western Greece I thought it would be conducive to the public service to invest the fort of Vasaladi until by the arrival of the forces of the general or more important operations could be undertaken and so accordingly the island was immediately blockaded by the boats of the squadron and now continues surrounded by the vessels belonging to the misalongites who have undertaken to maintain the blockade until it shall surrender the Caterina, the Savvore and two of the gunboats were immediately detached with orders to take or destroy all the enemy's vessels within the Gulf of Lopanto whilst the Hellas went to the anchorage of Calamus in order to ascertain from the officers in arms what prospect there was of general cooperation and I regret to say that the want of union among the chiefs and the prospect of some kind of accommodation with the enemy seemed to paralyze all energies I therefore detached all the squadron under Admiral Mialis to Sira and Naxos to aid the candidates and Chiotz should they continue inclined to assert their independence I have to add that I received an indirect communication from the British Admiral intimating his desire that no new or further operation should be undertaken in that quarter for a reason I am about to proceed elsewhere under the impression that nothing should be left undone to stir up the population of Greece to a sense of their duty to themselves and their country The communication referred to was by Lord Ingustry commander of the Philamel who hailed the Hellas on the 27th of September to deliver a message from Sir Edward Codrington whereas I am informed by Sir Frederick Adam wrote the English Admiral that Lord Cochran with the Greek fleet is about to embark the army of general church in the neighborhood of Cape Papas for the purpose of conveying them to the coast of Albania you are hereby directed to make known to the commander of that expedition that I consider it my duty in the present state of affairs to prevent such a measure being carried into execution and that I shall shortly present myself in that neighborhood for that purpose end quote Lord Cochran knew that if it would be personally distasteful to him to be in collision with the naval force of his own country it would on public grounds and in the interests of Greek independence be wholly inexcusable for him to act in violation of Sir Edward Codrington's message therefore he complied with Edson went back to the archipelago there to do other work while England was serving Greece in her own way the service was to be rendered at last after spending a year in diplomatic formalities Great Britain and Russia had in the spring of 1827 openly renewed their arguments with the port in favour of Greek independence these arguments having been rejected the two Christian powers were in consultation as to the next course to be pursued when France partly urged thereunto by her schemes for the acquisition of Algiers then a Turkish dependency offered to take part in the defence of Greece the result was a treaty signed in London on behalf of the three states and on the 6th of July having for its object the enforcement of the St Petersburg protocol of the 4th of April 1826 it insisted that Greece should have internal freedom though under vassalage to Turkey and provided that if the contending parties did not agree to an armistice within a month there should be a forcible intervention the Greeks welcomed the proposals made to them in consequence of this treaty but they were rejected by the Turkish government notwithstanding the appearance of English, French and Russian warships in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Rashid Pasha and Ibrahim continued their efforts to bring the whole insurgent district into thorough subjection and accordingly the patriotic Greeks and their foreign supporters continued to act on the defensive Lord Cochrane and a few others indeed were eager to secure action bolder than ever considering that when the settling time arrived the limits of independent Greece would be augmented if a larger area was then the scene of zealous opposition to the Turkish power this it was that chiefly induced the efforts to quicken the revolt in Albania and when Lord Cochrane was prevented by Sir Edward Codrington from persevering in his work in that quarter he lost no time in sailing around to the eastern side of Greece there to do his utmost towards browsing the people of Candia and other islands into an assertion of their independence in order that they too might have a claim to be included in the liberation of the Greeks the message from Sir Edward Codrington to Lord Cochrane which has been quoted was dated the 25th of September it was written immediately after an interview of the English commander and Admiral de Rigny who was in charge of the French squadron with Ibrahim Pasha to him they had formally announced that they were instructed to insist upon the cessation of hostilities and that they should probably act upon their instructions Ibrahim answered that he had had orders from the Sultan to continue the war but he promised to communicate with his sovereign and pledged himself to abstain from hostilities until the answer arrived and was reported to the Allied fleets before the answer came a fortunate series of accidents arising out of Lord Cochrane's expedition to the Albanian coast turned the current of diplomacy and secured for Greece more freedom than had been anticipated Lord Cochrane attended by his Greek vessels had left the neighbourhood of Cape Papas on the 27th of September but though deeming himself bound in honour to that course he was willing to allow a part of his force to remain in the neighbourhood and watch the progress of events especially as that part was at that time separated from him and lying in the Gulf of Lopanto it consisted of the Catarina and a captain Abney Hastings the Savoir under Captain Thomas and two gunboats each mounting a 32 pounder for a week this little squadron ignorant of the arrangement between the Allied admirals and Ibrahim Pasha watched a Turkish force that was moored in Scala of Salona and comprised one large Algerine schooner carrying 20 brass guns, a brig of 14 guns six smaller brigs and schooners two gunboats and two armed transports these vessels were protected by batteries on the level shore and other batteries on overhanging rocks on the 30th of September Captain Hastings and Thomas proceeded to attack them and did so with excellent effect the solid shot of the Savoir and the gunboats soon silenced the batteries the red hot shells of the Catarina made havoc of the enemy's vessels for being defeated within half an hour soon the Savoir and the gunboats joined in the attack on the shipping and in the end seven vessels were destroyed and three captured the news of that victory as soon as it was conveyed to Navarino where nearly all the naval force of the Turks was lying roused the anger of Ibrahim Pasha who complained that the ally powers while binding him to an action allowed the Greeks to carry on the war on the 1st of October he sent out 30 warships with orders to enter the Gulf of Lepento and punish Hastings and Thomas for their recent exploits so Erdwood Codrington however pursued them and drove them back to Navarino Ibrahim Pasha not easily to be baffled himself left Navarino on the evening of the 3rd with 14 of his stoutest vessels again Sir Erdwood Codrington gave chase and the 2nd squadron also was compelled by him to return to port Ibrahim Pasha however was not to be robbed of his revenge he did not leave Navarino by sea but he sent thence a land force which marched up the northern side of the Maria and it's serious mischief to the worn out fragment of an army which general church was slowly conducting from Corinth to Pappas there to be embarked for Albania only by the unlooked for valour of young Colocatronez and his section was the route of the whole army averted nor was Ibrahim satisfied with his act of retaliation his troops scaled all the adjoining country burning villages and laying waste the olive groves and fig gardens which were the only source of subsistence to the luckless natives thereby Sir Edward Codrington and his allies were in turn incensed they decided that the time had come for direct interference in the struggle and for the expulsion of the Ottoman forces from the Maria in the afternoon of the 20th of October five and twenty line of battleships frigates and sloops entered the bay of Navarino ten of them were English seven were French and eight were Russian and they carried in all 1,172 guns 20,000 Ottoman troops watched them from the fortresses of Navarino and Sfakteria and as they entered the harbour 80 Turkish and Egyptian vessels mounting about 2,000 guns drawn up in the shape of a horseshoe to receive them they had come only to threaten but accident or design on the part of the enemy brought about a most momentous battle a volley from the Ottomans began the fight which was continued for four hours with stolid energy on both sides the English and French vessels being foremost carried on the chief contest the Russians had silenced the batteries before they could enter the harbour but then their admiral, Count Hayden did his full share of the deadly work the fighting lasted till sunset but by that time many of the enemy's hulks were in flames and all through the night these flames spread from one vessel to another till nearly all were destroyed at daybreak only 29 of the 80 were afloat and 6,000 or more Muslims had been slain burned or drowned many of the vessels of the allies were seriously damaged and of their crews 175 men were killed and 450 wounded that was the battle of Navarino quote I have the honour to inform you wrote Sir Edward Codrington to the Greek government that according to the decision of my colleagues Count Hayden and rear Admiral Derigny and myself the combined fleet entered this war to 2 o'clock on the 20th the Franco-Egyptian fleet first began a fire of musketry and then fired cannon shot which led very shortly to a general battle which lasted till dark and that the consequence of this has been the destruction of the whole of the Turkish fleet except a few corvettes and brigs most of the ships of the allied fleets have received so much injury that they must go into port but if the Greek vessels of war are employed against their enemy instead of destroying the commerce of the allies they may henceforth easily obstruct the movements of any Turkish force by sea end of chapter 20 recording by Timothy Ferguson Gold Coast, Australia Chapter 21 of the Life of Thomas Lord Cochran 10th Earl of Dundonald completing the autobiography of the seaman Volume 2 by Henry Richard Fox-Born and others this LibraVox recording is in the public domain recording by Timothy Ferguson 1827 to 1828 heartily rejoicing at the benefit conferred on Greece by the battle of Navarino Lord Cochran could not but be troubled to think that the overthrow of the Turkish and Egyptian fleet which he had labored so zealously to effect and which had he received any support from the government or the people would have been a work as easy for him as the enterprises in which he had been so notably successful in former times and other countries had to be done by the officers and ships of foreign nations instead of by him and the native fleet of which by name he was commanding chief the battle being won however he tried with no flagging of his energy to complete the triumph that had been thus begun and if anything was easy to a people so wanting in patriotism made easier it was at Poros at the time of the battle on his way thither he had fallen in with the enterprise the first of the steamers built in England and which with others that never were completed at all or to have been completed nearly two years before the enterprise had been so badly constructed that now that she arrived she was a very little use Lord Cochran was now trying to improve her sailing powers and at the same time attempting to collect a really manageable crew for the Hellas and to bring together other vessels fit for naval work in these labours there was no less difficulty than had befallen him on former occasions the Hellas was in want of water but the inhabitants of Poros refused to supply it on the plea that they had no more than was needed for their lemon gardens some carpentering was urgently needed by the enterprise but as it had to be done on a Sunday the workmen declined to touch a hammer not withstanding the exhortations of a priest who promised them absolution and even threatened to excommunicate them if they failed in their duty to the country in this pressing time of necessity of those sorts with the obstacles that occurred each day and rendered futile all the efforts of Lord Cochran and his officers on the 27th of October Lord Cochran again sits out from Poros and the Hellas accompanied by the Savoy and the Corvette which he had lately taken from the Turks which the name of Hydra was now given and proceeded to Gios that island the scene of previous disasters had since 1822 been left in the hands of the Turks Colonel Favir was now attempting to recover it for Greece and Lord Cochran entered heartily into the work he arrived on the 30th and spent two days in vigorous cooperation with the land force that had reached the island a day before his share in this enterprise however was brief he was visited on the 2nd of November first by Captain Leblanc bearing a message from Admiral Derigny and afterwards by Captain Hamilton who produced a copy of a letter addressed on the 24th of October to the Legislative Assembly by the admirals of three Allied Powers quote we will not suffer Greece they there said to send any expedition to cruise Oblacade except between Lepanto and Volo comprehending Salamis Agena Hydra and Spatzas we will not suffer the Greeks to carry insurrection into either Cios or Albania and by doing so to expose the inhabitants to the cruel reprisals of the Turks we regard as Null and Void all letters of mark given to cruisers found beyond the above limits and the ships of war of the Allied Powers will everywhere have orders to detain them there remains no longer any pretense for them Maritime Armistice is in fact observed on the side of the Turks since their fleet no longer exists take care of yours for we will destroy it also if the case requires it to put an end to a system of maritime pillage which will end by putting you out of the protection of the law of nations end quote by that later Lord Cochran was constrained to abandon his intended work at Cios he could excuse the angry terms in which it was couched since the anger was only directed against the same unpatriotic conduct which he had all along been denouncing he was painfully aware that with the exception of his own flagship and the few vessels commanded by English officers his fleet was chiefly composed of pirates who took only temporary service under the national flag in order to fill up their idle time or to make their public service for further clandestine pursuit of their lawless avocations from the first he had persistently and fiercely denounced this privacy and from the day on which he had heard of the victory at Navarino he had resolved to make it a special business to do all in his power to root out the evil quote the destruction of the Ottoman fleet by that of the Allied powers he said in a proclamation dated the 29th of October having delivered the Greek fleet from the Cares which had necessarily occupied its attention and the commander of the maritime forces of Greece having the right to take due measures for the extinction of piracy to preserve the honour of the state and to protect the people and property of friendly nations it is now made known that ships of less than 100 tonnes of burden are not to have arms on board unless they are first provided with express commissions so registered and numbered in such a manner that the numbers shall be conspicuously noted on the ship all other vessels of the size defined which shall be found at sea with arms will be considered as pirates and the crew shall be brought to trial and if found guilty be executed end quote for the brief remainder of his service in Greece indeed Lord Cochrane made it his principal duty to do all in his power towards the suppression of piracy the admirals of the Allies having insisted that the Greek vessels should do nothing but watch their own coasts within a distance of 12 miles from the shore he proceeded to the southern part of the Maria making on his short tour in order to meet the primates of Samos, Naxia, Paros, Candia and other islands and ascertain from them the conditions of the people and their power of resistance to the Turks and to their piratical enemies of their own race the information gained by him was not satisfactory he found that here as in the mainland and the nearer islands patriotism was weak and misrule oppressive everywhere the people with victims of their own want of patriotism and of the tyranny of foes both Muslim and Christian he was of Curgio on the 15th of November there having heard that the residue of the Turkish and Egyptian fleet was preparing to put to sea with all available force apparently to carry on the war in Candia he once sailed on to the south eastern promontory of the Maria and during a fortnight maintained the blockade on both sides of Navarino between Coron and Prudana there also he was able to carry on his war against pirates quote, the Hellas being off the island of Prudana a few miles to the north of Navarino he reported to the government describing an important adventure on the 21st of November I sent two boats for the purpose of procuring wood from the island the boats being fired upon from persons near to some vessels in a cove returned with the report that there were Turks upon the island in consequence of this report the Corvette Hydra was directed to enter by the northern passage whilst the Hellas entered to the southward of the island and both vessels anchored opposite to the place where the supposed Turkish vessels were at anchor it was immediately perceived however that the vessels were not Turkish so the determination one proved to be a schooner under the Greek flag it was soon discovered that a Dutch vessel at anchor in the same port had been seized without the slightest pretense by the schooner and plundered of almost everything that could be removed and moreover that the captain and crew had been most barbarously flogged for the purpose of ascertaining where the proceeds of the outward cargo were deposited end quote Lord Cochran wrote to the same effect I have left the piratical vessel with a petty officer and sufficient crew to blockade Pradhana until you can send and seize the pirates should you think proper as they have been plundering and annoying the trade of the Ionian islands I sent two of the pirates in irons in order that obtaining further information you may deal with them and with the others according to the laws of nations end quote that instance of the policy adopted by Lord Cochran will help to show how he set himself to put down piracy the work was not easy as the lawless conduct was secretly authorised by the government and practised with very little secrecy by great numbers of the national vessels it was in vain that he issued the proclamation of the 27th of October that has been quoted in vain too that he sent two gun boats to visit all the principal ports with fresh injunctions against piracy and with authority to compel obedience to those injunctions if necessary by force good work however was done by these gun boats in conjunction with two Briggs detached for the purpose in escorting neutral trading vessels through the waters most infested by the sea robbers slowly and painfully the conviction was forced upon Lord Cochran that after all his previous failures in attempting to turn the lawless Greeks into honest patriots and to convert their ill-managed ships into members of an efficient navy his labours were now more useless than ever after fortnight's cruising about Navarino he retraced his course and anchored on the 3rd of December a vagina where the so-called government was then located to which he wrote on that day asking for directions as to his motive procedure quote the squadron under my command he said has been in the blockade of Coron, Modron and Navarino and I have to inform your excellencies that there yet exists in the port of Navarino a naval force under the Turkish flag superior to the force under my command I have therefore felt it my duty to repair to this port in order that I may obtain instructions for my guidance more especially as the Turkish squadron is ready for sea and said to be destined for Candia with 10,000 men intending there to repeat the barbarities which the want of provisions in the Maria renders it impossible that they can longer perpetrate in that quarter there is also a great number of captive women and children about to be transported as slaves and the only force of the allied powers off Navarino consists of a small brig the pelican which is totally inadequate to impede the naval operations of the Turks under these circumstances I beg to be explicitly informed whether I am to consider that Armistice de facto continues and if you have any doubt on the subject that you will be pleased candidly to inform me that I may not be led into error and so increase the evils by doing anything in opposition to the intentions of the allied powers end quote was answered by a personal visit from the members of the government when Lord Cochrane was informed that the triumph of it was so embarrassed by the demands of the allied powers for restitution on account of piracies committed with its approval that it could neither do nor sanction anything at all he was told that even the scanty means that he had for supporting the fleet out of the revenues of the islands could no longer be allowed to him as every dollar that could anyhow be collected would be required for other purposes still however the government expected him to continue his work and he was even asked to do work from which both for his own honour and in the interests of Greece he felt bound to abstain quote he wrote to the secretary about 10 days afterwards from Poros informing me that it is the desire of the government that a national vessel shall be dispatched to Chios in the event of my being prevented from personally proceeding in the Hellas to that island in reply to this intimation I have to state to you that it is impossible for me consistently with the duties which I owe to Greece to place the national squadron whilst it shall continue under my command or any part thereof under circumstances to be treated by the ships of war of the allied powers after the manor set forth in the letter of the 24th of October addressed by the three admals to the legislative assembly a determination which is even more painful to me than the grief I feel at finding myself involved notwithstanding all my precautions the restrictions and penalties just laid upon privateers and pirates I cannot trust myself to say more on this subject lest I should be led by my feelings to pass the bounds which I prescribe to myself as an officer when treating of the conduct of the government which he serves if Chios remains unprotected if Candia is deprived of the aid it might receive from the national marine and if the ships of war are incapacitated from extending the bounds of Greece it is a situation of knowing that I have used my utmost endeavours to prevent the evils I foresaw one of these however I was far from anticipating namely that the revenues which I was authorised to collect for the service of the marine would have been withdrawn from my control and expended for other purposes more particularly that some so diverted should be placed to the account of the marine without the objects for which they were employed having received my sanction or even been known by me I struggled for eight months in the service of Greece against difficulties far greater than all I ever encountered before and I would most willingly continue to contend with these did I find the slightest cooperation in any quarter but as the government has withdrawn de facto the resources decreed and the seamen declined to embark without pay in advance and the funds arising from the philanthropy of other European nations which supplied the navy with the means of subsistence are wholly exhausted I have no alternative but to lay the ships up in port until means to defray the expenses of the navy shall be found I have myself during the last month paid the Greeks in the naval service but whilst I see that even the share of prizes claimed by the government is diverted from its proper use I shall not continue to be answerable for future expenses nor the liquidation of the just claims of the foreign officers which they have had the patience to leave in arrears for many months end quote I come to this Lord Cochrane had been devoting all his energies to the service of Greece and now he found himself deserted by his employers or only retained in the hope that he would be an unpaid agent in piratical and lawless proceedings that last circumstance was to him the most painful of all having done his utmost to restrain the piracy that was rife he was still regarded by the governing triumvirate as only the most powerful instrument for achievements that were little better than piratical and the same cruel representation of his functions was common among his enemies in England and other parts of Europe color for this misrepresentation appeared in the celebrated letter written by the three admirals on the 24th of October which describing the national fleet as a mere crowd of Greek corsairs by implication included Lord Cochrane and his English supporters in the same approbrium this had not at first been perceived by him on detecting the insult he wrote to the representatives of the three powers three letters which he and need to be quoted in his justification the first was addressed on the 13th of December to captain the blank commander of the Junon quote the salutes respecting the regular forces under my orders he said observed in the letter of the admirals of the mediating powers dated October the 24th 1827 appearing to make no distinction between them and the mere pirates hanging over both the same accusations and subjecting consequently the former to the restrictions wisely adopted towards the latter makes it my duty both towards the country which I serve towards the officers under my command and towards myself to protest publicly and in the face of Europe against the interpretations to which such a document seems to give foundation the detailed account of the ships of war which are under my immediate orders and which compose the national squadron of Greece will prove that their own neutral vessel whatever has been seized driven out of its course or stopped by them under any pretext whatever with the exception of such as a broken the blockade of the Panto the detention of which is legalized by the act above mentioned these facts are undeniable the conduct of the officers of the national squadron has been conformable in all points to the laws of nations and to the instructions issued by the admirals in their character of representatives of the mediating powers no hostility has been committed by the national vessels against the territory or forces of the Turco Egyptian government placed beyond the prescribed limits of Lepanto but if such be the state of things I have the right of sending on a mission for the public service ships of war beyond these limits and availing myself of that right I have dispatched two the one to Corfu the other to Cyra the destination of which relates to the finances of the navy be pleased sir to communicate the contents of this letter to Admiral Derigny with whom you have communicated verbally on the subject and explained to him the propriety of this step to avoid explanations with which it is not necessary that the public should intermix end quote the second letter dated the 5th of January 1828 was to the commander of the Russian frigate Constantine quote although I am aware of Lord Cochran that his excellency Count Hayden is his signature to the letter of the admals addressed to the Legislative Assembly of Greece dated the 24th of October could not attest of his own knowledge the truth of the imputations contained in the said document yet as the public may not recollect that the recent arrival of the Count precluded the possibility of his being in the slightest degree acquainted with facts regarding the regular naval service under my command I expect from the Count that so soon as he shall have informed himself on the subject he will take the necessary steps to remove an evil impression which he unconsciously has contributed to produce and thus save me in as far as the Count is concerned the necessity always disagreeable even of a satisfactory refutation of the imputations cast upon me as commander in chief of the Greek fleet end quote the third letter was to Commodore Hamilton of the Cambrian who had been left Edward Codrington to represent the British squadron in the archipelago quote the government of Greece having acquiesced in the offer made by the three powers to mediate in her behalf wrote Lord Cochrane it became my duty to obey the decision of the admals representing those powers when Julie communicated but whilst my official situation demands acquiescence on points of a public nature it is far otherwise when the admals give reasons affecting the character of the regular naval service of Greece in justification of restrictions imposed by them on the movements of the squadron I command accompanied by threats to destroy the Greek vessels of war in order to prevent asserted piracy you sir who are accurately acquainted with the facts and now possess ample means of ascertaining the truth here upon the spot must know or may learn that no neutral vessel has been seized or disturbed in her course by the national squadron on the high seas nor any vessel detained or acting in violation of the blockades acknowledged by these very admirals is it not then extraordinary that such limitations in menaces on false grounds should originate with persons whose high official situations would seem to sanction imputation under their signatures I have told the French and Russian commanders and I hope you will assure the British admiral that I shall be loathed to trespass on public attention with explanations to refute their joint letter of the 24th of October in justification of those under my orders but it will become me so to do unless the satisfactory interpretation shall be given to expressions which at present seem even more particularly personal to myself end quote that was almost the last letter written by lord Cochran in Greece for many months finding his position as first admiral of the Greek navy without work to do or cruise to direct unbearable he had resolved upon a fresh expedient for attempting to improve the state of affairs before that however he made a last attempt to gain support from the nominal government and uttered a last protest against its mode of procedure quote he wrote on the 18th of December to avoid laying before you and he complained more particularly concerning acts done by your excellencies but there is a point at which such forbearance on my part would become a dereliction of my duty and as an officer in the service of Greece amounting even to treason against the state so long as the evils extended no further than the depriving the ships of war of their crews and preventing the brulots from being equipped for service so long as the injury occasioned by the granting of numerous licenses to privateers only prevented naval operations being carried on against the enemy I remained silent but now the conduct of those privateers has brought down upon the Greek nation a threat of being placed out of the lure of nations and has involved the national squadron unmeritedly in the disgrace attached to those who have been guilty of unlawful acts it is my duty to notify to your excellencies that I consider all authorities given without my intervention to armed vessels of any description for belligerent purposes to be illegal and that I have given orders to the national vessels under my authority to seize them wherever they may be found that they may be judged according to the laws of nations end quote I have been waiting with anxiety he wrote another letter a few days later for the occurrence of events which would have rendered it unnecessary for me to enter any correspondence with your excellencies on pecuniary matters but unfortunately my anticipations on this head having been disappointed in the squadron being without even the provisions necessary for the maintenance of the few men required on board the ships when at anchor it has become an imperious duty no longer to delay calling upon your excellencies to fulfill the engagement entered into relative to the appropriation of two-thirds of the revenues of the islands which you have thought fit to apply to other purposes end quote tonight the letter was any satisfactory answer sent by the authorities and Lord Cochran after all his previous troubles believed that none would ever be obtained he therefore suddenly resolved to leave Greece for a time to go himself to England and France and thereby personal communication with the leading Phil Hellenes to describe the actual condition of Greece and to see if any better state of affairs could be brought about this resolution he announced on the 1st of January 1828 to count Cappadistrias who having been elected the president of Greece nearly nine months before and having accepted that office had not yet thought fit to enter upon it or do anything towards repairing the shattered fortunes and retrieving the violated honour of the state of which he was nominally the head on my return from Brazil said Lord Cochran in this memorable letter I was pressed by various friends of Greece to engage in the service of a people struggling to free themselves from oppression and slavery my inclination was consonant to theirs it was stipulated that for the objects in view 16 vessels should be rapidly built and the two old vessels of war or indiamen should be purchased and manned with foreign seamen the engines for the steam vessels were to be high pressure these being the easiest constructed and managed and two American frigates when finished were also to be placed under my authority the failure of the engineer through disgraceful ignorance or base treachery in the proper construction of the engines the want of funds to procure the old vessels of war or indiamen with foreign seamen and the retention of one of the frigates built in North America deprived me of the whole of the stipulated force except the hellers it is needless to remark that with one frigate I was unable to affect that which has since required 11 European ships of the line aided by many frigates and smaller vessels to accomplish under these circumstances it became my duty to confine myself to desaltry operations secretly conducted against the enemy the difficulties I have had to contend with even in these excursions he continued can best be appreciated by the few foreign European officers who accompanied me the obstinate refusal of the greek seamen to embark or perform the smallest service without being paid in advance the contempt with which the elder portion of the seamen treated every endeavour to promote regularity and maintained silence in exercising the great guns and other evolutions rendered their improvement hopeless and the enlistment of young seamen whilst the old were rejected has been rendered extremely difficult by reason of the influence of the latter and by the prejudice excited against a regular naval service by influential individuals whose power and importance are thereby diminished in the maritime islands the frequent mutinies or resistance to authority and the numerous instances which are obliged to return to port are abstained from going to sea are recorded as to the dates and circumstances in the logbook of the helis together with the disgraceful conduct of the crew in the stripping and robbing of prisoners and their want of coolness in the presence of an enemy exemplified on her attacking a small frigate in Corvette near Clarenza and by the firing upwards of 400 round shot on a subsequent occasion at the Corvette now named Hydra without hitting the hull of that vessel four times by the guards of the helis such was the confusion excited by the contiguity even of so inferior an enemy it is not my intention to trouble you at present with detail yet I cannot suffer to pass unnoticed that certain commanders and seamen of the majority of the fire ships in the use of which vessels rested my last hopes failed in their duty on the only two important occasions when the services were required once at Alexandria in the presence of the enemy as the brave Canaris can well testify and again by the crews abandoning their duty and embarking in privateers many of them having received pay in advance for their services indeed encouraged by privateering licences insubordination, outrage and piracy have arrived at such a pitch that these very national fire ships stripped not only of their rigging but of their anchors and cables are now drifting around the harbour of Poros a neutral boat detained by the helis for violation of blockade plundered by those sent in charge of her and scarcely a vessel can pass between the islands or along the shore without the passengers and property being exposed to brutal violence and plunder a darker period is yet approaching if decisive measures are not adopted for the suppression of outrageous like these I am ready to serve Greece and to aid it in any way in the accomplishment of the arduous task you have undertaken but on the fullest consideration of circumstances I feel that I should practice a deception and try to contribute to the belief that the few foreign officers in the naval service can put a stop to these disorders which must finally involve the character of that very service already prematurely brought into question by the conduct of the vessels unlawfully commissioned by the temporary government I have in consequence of this opinion come to the resolution to exert myself to procure adequate means to execute the duties of an office in which my efforts hitherto have been all counteracted and I the more readily adopt this resolution the winter months it is impossible to navigate the hellers and these narrow seas with a crew of young inexperienced Greek seamen and still more impracticable to manage her with the old ones of Turkish habits I may indeed add that until the communication addressed on the 24th of October by the three admals to the legislative assembly shall be cancelled, it is hopeless to attempt any naval enterprise in favour of Greece even had Admiral de Rigny not super-added his commands that all Greek vessels armed for war found beyond 12 miles from the shores of continental Greece between Volo and Lopanto shall be destroyed I repeat that I have taken my determination not from any private failing of disgust at the above disgraceful restrictions brought by the temporary government nor from their misappropriation of the revenues allotted to maritime purposes and the consequent want of pay stores and even provisions for the ships of war nor from the painful feeling that the crippled ships of the enemy are thereby enabled to depart in security dragging with them 4000 grecian captains to slavery nor from the possibility of reducing their maritime fortifications or the Greeks unpunished of the chief violators of the blockade but I have resolved to proceed to England without loss of time that I may render better service to Greece if you aid me with means my object as to semen will be ensured sober, steady men can be obtained from the northern nations who will do their duty and since precept is useless teach the Greeks by example or cease and commerce may flourish be your intention in regard to the steam vessel still in England what it may foreign semen are indispensable to the interests of Greece and to your own and the expense of bringing them here will be little increased if these steamers fitted under my inspection shall become the means of conveyance the hardship of a winter's voyage to the north in a small vessel I shall deem amply repaid if I can accomplish these objects expose the injustice and impolice of certain measures and bring the real wants of Greece to the knowledge of a liberal and enlightened administration on the same new year's day Lord Cochran wrote explaining his resolution to Dr. Goss who of all the Phil Hellenes in Greece had rendered him most efficient service in his thankless task and most zealously encouraged him throughout a long series of failures for which he was in no way answerable to persevere in struggling for success quote my dear friend and fellow sufferer he said in conformity with your wish and opinion I have tolerated a mental load of grievances until the new year but as it is essential to commence it well in order that measures may prosper to the end I have resolved to put my intention in execution regardless of the officious tongues of those of microscopic views who may deem that my time might be well employed in balancing the rival ships of barbarous semen or protecting the movable stores of the immovable Hellenes in my present state of official insignificance I could render no other service I have stated a few of my reasons in a letter to Capigodestris for his private information when he shall assume the office of president I hope these will suffice and that he will communicate his desire which shall be duly attended to end quote in accordance with his new resolution Lord Cochrane transferred the command of the Hellenes and such control of the whole navy as was possible to admiral Mia Lawes he left Porus in the little schooner unicorn on the 10th of January and arrived at Portsmouth on the 11th of February the anxiety and disappointment he said writing to Marshawn Annard from Portsmouth on the following day which I experienced in regard to the steam vessels and other means that were too have been placed at my disposal are trifling when compared to the distress I have felt at finding my only remaining hope of rendering effectual service to Greece destroyed by the impossibility of inducing the Greek semen to submit to the slightest restraint on their inclinations or to render the most trifling service without being paid in advance or to perform such service after being paid if it suited their interest or convenience to evade the fulfilment of their engagement more than six crews have passed under my review on board the Hellenes in course of as many months exclusive of those in other vessels and notwithstanding all that has been written to praise the courage of the Greek semen they are collectively the greatest cowards I have ever met with no service of any difficulty or danger can be undertaken with such men without the greatest risk of being compromised and the impossibility of causing orders to be obeyed indeed those styled commander-in-chief of the Greek naval forces I have since the 12th of April last when I hosted my flag been in truth under the control of wild and frantic savages whose acts are guided by momentary impulses or heedless avidity to grasp some immediate pecuniary or petty advantage regardless of any prospect of future benefit however great to their country or to themselves to give you an idea of the character of men suddenly emancipated from a state degrading and abject slavery in which state cunning, deception and fraud if not absolutely requisite were convenient and profitable of their present arrogance, ignorance, despotism and cruelty when safe opportunity offers for revenge would require that a diary should be laid before you of events which have actually occurred the confidence you were pleased to repose in me and the friendly officers for which I am indebted to you would have imposed upon me the task of transmitting to you such detail had the state of my mind harassed by constant contraries permitted leaving to a future period then my new recital of distressing occurrences permit me to make a few observations as to the course that appears to be necessary to be pursued in order to save Greece from impending ruin first the chief leaders of the different factions should be removed from Greece those who have education on missions to different states as envoys, consuls etc and the others as circumstances will permit else Greece will be a theatre of plunder and discord whilst they hold authority or have means to interfere in public affairs secondly troops to the amount of 4,000 at least are required to enforce obedience to salutary laws and regulations thirdly 500 seamen from the northern nations of Europe or North America are indispensable for the suppression of piracy and to prevent the plunder of the islands fourthly young Greek seamen should be employed by the civilised nations in their vessels of war and commerce fifthly the settlement of persons from all quarters of Europe in numbers affording mutual protection should be encouraged of course education at home but more especially abroad will improve the rising generation for all those people now at the age of maturity in Greece there is no hope of amelioration in regard to myself I am ready according to my engagement to render any service in my power to Greece and I shall feel great satisfaction if I am able to do so but it is no part of my contract to place myself under the control of all the savages what might we not have done had the steam vessels and 500 good seamen been employed in Greece when with these barbarians we have doubled the number of Greek national vessels of war and destroyed twice as many of the enemy squadron I hope the president Cappadistrias will not put his foot on shore in Greece unless accompanied by a military force if he does he will afford a corroborative proof of the impossibility of establishing a new order of things by the instrumentality of men who feel interested in the continuance of ancient habits and abuses End of Chapter 21 Recording by Timothy Ferguson Gold Coast, Australia