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NAVARINO, BATTLE OF
Online EncyclopediaOriginally appearing in Volume
V19,
Page 281
of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also: NAVARINO, See also:BATTLE OF , fought on the loth of See also:October 1827, the decisive event which established the See also:independence of See also:Greece. By the treaty signed in See also:London on the 6th of See also:July 1827 (see GREECE, See also:History), See also:England, See also:France and See also:Russia agreed to demand an See also:armistice, as preliminary to a See also:settlement. See also:Sir See also:Edward See also:Codrington, then See also:commander-in-See also:chief in the Mediterranean, received the treaty and his instructions on the See also:night of the Loth,/11th of See also:August at See also:Smyrna, and proceeded at once to See also:Nauplia to communicate them to the Greeks. His instructions were to demand an armistice, to intercept all supplies coming to the See also:Turkish forces in the Morea from See also:Africa or See also:Turkey in See also:general, and to look for directions to See also:Stratford See also:Canning (See also:Lord Stratford de Redcliffe), the See also:British See also:ambassador at See also:Constantinople. The ambassador's instructions reached Codrington on the 7th of See also:September. He was accompanied to Nauplia by his See also:French colleague, See also:Rear-See also:Admiral de Rigny. The See also:Greek See also:government agreed to accept the armistice. Admiral de Rigny See also:left for a cruise in the See also:Levant, and Sir Edward Codrington, See also:hearing that an See also:Egyptian a mament was on its way from See also:Alexandria, and believing the t it was See also:bound for See also:Hydra, steered for that See also:island, which he reached on the 3rd of September, but on the 12th of September found the Egyptians at See also:anchor with a Turkish See also:squadron at Navarino. The Turkish government refused to accept the armistice. On the Igth of September, seeing a See also:movement among the Egyptian and Turkish See also:ships in the See also:bay, Codrington informed the See also:Ottoman admiral, Tahir See also:Pasha, that he had orders to prevent hostile movements against the Greeks. Admiral de Rigny joined him immediately afterwards, and a See also:joint See also:note was sent by them on the 22nd of September to See also:Ibrahim Pasha, who held the See also:superior command for the See also:sultan. On the 25th an interview took See also:place, in which Ibrahim gave a verbal engagement not to See also:act against the Greeks, pending orders from the sultan.The See also: allies, who were in want of stores, now separated, Codrington going to See also:Zante and de Rigny to Cervi, where his See also:store ships were. Frigateswere left to See also:watch Navarino. The British admiral had barely anchored at Zante before he was informed that the sultan's forces were putting to See also:sea. On the 29th of September a Greek See also:naval force, commanded by an See also:English Philhellene, See also:Captain See also:Frank Abney See also:Hastings, had destroyed some Turkish vessels in Salona Bay, on the See also:north See also:side of the Gulf of See also:Corinth. From the 3rd to the 5th of October Codrington, who had with him only his See also:flagship the " See also:Asia " (84) and some smaller vessels, was engaged in turning back the Egyptian and Turkish vessels, a task in which he was aided by a violent See also:gale. He resumed his watch off Navarino, and on the 13th was joined by de Rigny and the See also:Russian rear-admiral Heiden with his squadron. By general agreement among the See also:powers the command was entrusted to Codrington, and the allied force consisted of three British, four French and four Russian See also:sail of the See also:line, if the French admiral's flagship the " Sirene " (6o), which was technic-ally " a See also:double banked See also:frigate," be included. There were four British, one French and four Russian frigates, and six British and French brigs and schooners. The Egyptians and See also:Turks had only three line of battleships and fifteen large frigates, together with a swarm of small See also:craft which raised their See also:total number to eighty and upwards. Ibrahim Pasha, though unable to operate at sea, considered himself at See also:liberty to carry on the See also:war by See also:land. His men were actively employed in burning the Greek villages, and reducing the inhabitants to See also:slavery. The flames and See also:smoke of the destroyed villages were clearly seen from the allied See also:fleet.On the 17th of October, a joint See also: letter of expostulation was sent in to Ibrahim Pasha, but was returned with the manifestly false See also:answer that he had left Navarino, and that his See also:officers did not know where he was. The admirals, therefore, decided to stand into the bay and anchor among the Egyptian and Turkish ships. A French officer in the Egyptian service, of the name of Letellier, had anchored the vessels of Ibrahim and the Turkish admiral in a horseshoe formation, of which the points touched the entrance to the bay, and there were forts on the lands at both sides of the entry. The allies entered in two lines—one formed of the French and British led byCodrington in the " Asia," the other of the Russians,--and began to anchor in the See also:free See also:water in the midst of Ibrahim's fleet. The officer commanding the British frigate " See also:Dartmouth " (42), Captain Fellowes, seeing a Turkish See also:fireship See also:close to windward of him, sent a See also:boat with a demand that she should be removed. The Turks fired, killing See also:Lieutenant G. W. H. See also:Fitzroy, who brought the See also:message, and several of the boat's See also:crew. The " Dartmouth " then opened " a defensive See also:fire," and the See also:action became general at once. The allies, who were all closely engaged, were anchored among their enemies, and the result was obtained by their heavier broadsides and their better gunnery. Three-fourths of the Turkish and Egyptian vessels were sunk by the assailants, or fired by their own crews.On the allied side the British squadron lost 75 killed and 197 wounded; the French 43 killed and 183 wounded; the Russians 59 killed and 139 wounded. In the British squadron Captain See also: Walter See also:Bathurst of the " See also:Genoa " (74) was slain. The loss of the Turks and Egyptians was never accurately reported, but it was certainly very See also:great. In its effects on the See also:international situation Navarino may be reckoned one of the decisive battles of the See also:world. It not only made the efforts of the Turks to suppress the Greek revolt See also:hope-less, but it made a See also:breach difficult to heal in the traditional friendship between Great See also:Britain and Turkey, which had its effect during the See also:critical See also:period of the struggle between Mehemet See also:Ali and the See also:Porte (1831-1841). It precipitated the Russo-Turkish war of 1828-1829, and, by annihilating the Ottoman See also:navy, weakened the resisting See also:power of Turkey to Russia and later to Mehemet Ali. See Memoir of Admiral Sir E. Codrington, by his daughter See also:Lady See also:Bourchier (London, 1873) ; Naval History of Great Britain, by W. See also:
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