An abstract from Heracles Log


A report by an eye-witness from Cyprus, Ioannis D. Frangoudis, a clerk on the ship 'Heracles' commanded by Captain Arargyros Hadji-Anargyros.

'About 4 o'clock in the morning of 27th May 1821 Captains Ghikas D. Tsoupas and Konstantinos Babas arrived. At this moment the wind being favourable, a north-west wind, Papanikolis' fireship put up the sign of battle. Then we attacked, together with a few ships from Spetsae, firing at the enemy fiercely and crying 'hurrah', our cries echoing in the nearby mountains and valleys.

To encourage the men in the fireship we went so deep into the enemy's fire that the shells of its cannons went through the shrouds of our own ship to hit the boats behind us. We finally saw our purpose succeeding, that is to say the fireship was secured to the enemy ship and the fire started spreading from the prow to the whole vessel. We all went mad with joy and ran about the deck crying loudly "Great is the Lord", shelling the burning boat incessantly. Meanwhile the enemy sent back a rain of bullets, propelled by the fire and intensified by the despair of the Turks, who were doing their best to chase us away so as to be able to jump into the sea and escape from the flames. Our men, exalted and full of courage, wanted to board the burning frigate, but our Captain wisely prevented them.

He and some men went on shore to see if the routed enemy had left supplies behind at the camp site, but they only found a drum and a few caldrons with meat and other foodstuffs, which we threw away, fearing that they might have been poisoned. Our ships carried away the undamaged feluccas and the caldrons. While some boats were circling round the burning frigate, the fire spread to the ship's magazine, the great explosion hurling everything on and around the boat on the land. The sea heaved as if to swallow the boats, and the flames and a thick black smoke rose to the clouds, yet, thank Heaven, not a boat was damaged, not a man was killed. Moreover, we found some Turks drowned and some others killed, a fact that proved that there had been some quarreling after the captain abandoned the ship. Some Christians who took refuge on a small island told us that there were 600 Turks on the frigate, of whom 100 managed to escape, while the rest perished.'


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Last update: Dec. 25, 1995