On June 26-27, 1770, a Russian squadron under the command of Count Alexei Orlov burned down the Turkish fleet in the Chesme Bay. Killed 14 ships, 6 frigates and up to 50 small ships. The Russian trophies were the 60-gun ship "Rhodes" and 5 large galleys. The Russian fleet became the master of the Aegean Sea. In St. Petersburg, Catherine II ordered a medal to be minted in honor of the victory, which depicted a burning Turkish fleet with a laconic inscription: "Was." And in Tsarskoe Selo, a Chesme column was erected on a pond, to which tourists are still being led.
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Later, historians describe the brilliant victories of Rumyantsev and Suvorov, the uprising of Pugachev, etc. Meanwhile, the Russian fleet left the Mediterranean Sea only at the beginning of 1775. And what did it do there for five (!) years?
After Chesma, Catherine II sent three more squadrons to the Mediterranean Sea, in total there were only ships in the Archipelago (then the term "ship of the line" was not used) - already nineteen!
Generally speaking, the very sending of Russian squadrons to the Mediterranean Sea was an ingenious strategic plan of the great empress and her advisers, who would later be called "Catherine's Eagles." After all, before that, not a single Russian warship even went to the Atlantic, except for the transfer of "newly built" ships from Arkhangelsk to Kronstadt.
All the victories of the Russian fleet pale before Chesma, and not only in the number of enemy ships sunk, but also because the battle was won many thousands of miles from their bases. In previous and subsequent battles in the Baltic and the Black Sea, Russian squadrons went out to sea for a week, at least three, fought a battle 100 miles from the base, or even in view of their own coast and went home. The wounded and sick were unloaded at the base, the ship got up for repairs. And only after a few weeks or even months, the squadron was replenished with new sailors to replace those who had left and, having taken on board ammunition and provisions, again went to sea.
And then Count Orlov found himself alone in a strange sea. Transport ships that have come from Kronstadt in 5 years can be counted on one hand. The entire Mediterranean coast from Dalmatia to the Dardanelles and from the Dardanelles to Tunisia was Turkish. France and Spain were hostile to the Russians and did not allow them to enter their ports. True, the Knights of Malta and the Italian states were ready to provide hospitality, but only for very good money. Orlov's squadron was supposed to die in less than a month, like Napoleon's Great Army in Russia.
According to the original plan of Catherine, it was supposed to land small troops on the territory of mainland Greece, and then the "sons of Hellas" were supposed to raise an uprising, expel the Turks and provide their ports to the Russians. But the Turks concentrated large forces in Greece, and the leaders of the rebels did not get along with each other and did not manage to create a regular army. As a result, the Russian paratroopers had to get back on the ships.
After Chesma, Catherine II in every possible way forced the count to break through the Dardanelles and bombard Istanbul from the sea. The fortifications of the Turks in the strait were then very weak, and technically the task was easily achievable. However, Alexey Orlov got scared. The 24-year-old sergeant of the Preobrazhensky regiment was not afraid to plot against the legitimate emperor in favor of a German woman who had no rights to the throne, and later in Ropsha personally arrange "hemorrhoidal colic" for Peter III. But after Chesma, the count was at the zenith of fame. Previously, a beggar guardsman risked only his head, and with luck he acquired everything. Now he could lose everything, and if he was successful, he could get nothing.
With a 95% probability, the Russian squadron would break through the Dardanelles. What's next? It will be good if Mustafa III, seeing the Russian fleet under the windows of the palace, asks for peace. And if not? Landing troops? No troops. You can burn Istanbul, but why? The Sultan will become angry and will continue the war, and Catherine will lose in Europe the image of a wise and enlightened empress, which she has been creating with such difficulty for many years. And it will be much more difficult for the Russian squadron to leave the Dardanelles.
And then Orlov, with the approval of the Empress, decides to establish a Russian province in the Cyclades and the adjacent islands of the Aegean Sea.
Who proposed to choose the island of Paros as the main base of the Russian fleet is unknown. In any case, it was strategically chosen well. Paros belongs to the Cyclades Islands (southern part of the Aegean Sea) and is located in the center of them. Thus, owning Paros, one can easily control the Aegean Sea and the approaches to the Dardanelles, which is about 350 km away. The nearest point of the peninsula of Asia Minor is 170 km from Paros, and it is impossible for the Turks to land troops from the mainland on the island without securing domination of the sea.
On October 15, 1770, the squadron of Count Alexei Orlov consisting of the ships "Three Hierarchs", "Rostislav", "Rhodes", the bombarding ship "Thunder", the frigates "Slava", "Pobeda" and "St. Paul" arrived to the island of Paros.
By the time of the capture by the Russians, 5 thousand people lived in Paros, the overwhelming majority of Orthodox Greeks. They were engaged in arable farming, viticulture and sheep breeding. The population of the island eked out a miserable existence.
There were no Turkish authorities on the island, and the Greeks happily greeted our ships. Russian sailors used both bays of the island - Auzu and Trio, where the ship docks were equipped. But the capital of the "province" was the city of Auza, built by the Russians on the left bank of the bay of the same name.
First of all, the bay was fortified, on its left bank two forts were built with stone parapets for nine and eight 30- and 24-pound cannons. A 10-gun battery was placed on the island at the entrance to the bay. Accordingly, the Trio Bay was fortified.
The Admiralty building was erected on the left bank of the Ausa Bay. Yes Yes! Russian Admiralty! The Baltic Fleet had an Admiralty in St. Petersburg, on the Black Sea there was no Admiralty at all, just as there was no fleet, but on the Mediterranean there was an Admiralty for our "Archipelagic Fleet". Dozens of shipbuilders were discharged from St. Petersburg to Auza, including the famous A. S. Kasatonov, who later became the chief inspector of shipbuilding. On July 3, 1772, Admiral Spiridov gave Kasatonov a prize of 50 ducats with an announcement in the order.
Large ships were not built in Auza, and there was no need for this, but ships of all ranks were repaired. But they built a large number of small sailing and various rowing ships.
Ausa was filled with various administrative buildings, bakeries, spinning mills, sailors' barracks. I will note that the ground forces for some objective, but rather subjective reasons were stationed outside the city. So, the barracks of the Shlisselburg Infantry Regiment were located on the right bank of the Ausa Bay. A little further there were the camps of the Greeks, Slavs and Albanians. The camp of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment was located in the depths of the island. Even a gymnasium was established in Auza, in which hundreds of Greek boys studied.
The province of 27 islands was supposed to provide a fleet of up to 50 pennants and several infantry regiments. Therefore, the islands were taxed (10 percent tax) on bread, wine, timber, etc. A certain proportion of the tax was collected in money. In addition, some of these goods were bought by the Russian authorities, but the author failed to establish the proportion between the paid goods and the taxes collected. But, alas, these taxes were not enough, and Orlov did not want to become a burden to the friendly Orthodox people. Basurmans have to pay for everything!
The Greeks, especially the islanders, already from the 15th century controlled most of the sea traffic in the Mediterranean. They considered piracy to be a completely legitimate business, as it were, a part of trade. The only thing that held them back was the overwhelming power of the Turkish fleet. Chesma and a number of other victories of the Russian fleet saved them from the Turks. Even before Chesma, several Greek owners of merchant ships (they were also captains) came to Orlov and asked for Russian citizenship. The count willingly accepted the Greeks and allowed the St. Andrew's flags to be raised on their ships.
And so frigates, brigs, shebeks and galleys flew all over the Eastern Mediterranean under Russian flags. Let's remember that the huge Turkish empire had almost no roads, and trade was carried out mainly by sea. Every year hundreds of Turkish and, to be honest, neutral ships fell prey to the Greek corsairs. Moreover, sometimes a mixed (Russian-Greek) crew under the command of Russian officers also went out hunting. The corsairs made several daring raids on Turkish ports in Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt.
I must say that the Greek captains did not "rattle" and gave what was due to the authorities of the province both in money and in kind. The same Alexey Orlov received a lot of jewelry, thoroughbred horses and noble beauties.
The captains of Orlov's squadron had much more adventures than the vaunted filibusters of the Caribbean. So, on the night of September 8, 1771, the St. Michael "(a sailing merchant ship), carrying a landing of four officers and 202 soldiers of the Shlisselburg regiment, missed the Russian squadron. And in the morning calm came - the sails of the clumsy trackers hung. And then out of nowhere - five Turkish galleys. The Turks counted on easy prey, but Captain Alexander Mitrofanovich Ushakov decided to fight to the death. By his order, “instead of rounds, empty water barrels were placed around the board, hung with beds and clothes, and two boats with a tug were sent to make it easier to turn the tracker during defense. Two Turkish galleys attacked our ship from the stern, and the third from the starboard side, but, met with strong grapefire, stopped. Having recovered, the Turks together rushed to the trekatra with the intention of boarding it. Letting them on to a pistol shot, Ushakov suddenly turned the tracker side to them and opened continuous rapid fire, which forced the enemy to retreat in great frustration."
At St. Mikhail "sails and rigging were badly damaged, there were five holes in the starboard side, but thanks to Ushakov's improvised" armor ", only one musketeer was killed and seven were wounded.
On the night of September 9, 1772, Lieutenant-Commander Panaioti Alexiano approached the island of Stancio and landed troops. On the move, a small Turkish fortress of Keffano was taken, where 11 cannons were captured. For this, Catherine II awarded Alexiano with the Order of St. George, 4th degree.
And just a month and a half later, Panaioti Alexiano on his “St. Pavle and with the corsair rowing felucca, commanded by the Greek Palamida, sets off to the mouth of the Nile.
The frigate "St. Pavel”is a former merchant ship. The gun ports were camouflaged. And the felucca, too, was no different from the hundreds of similar feluccas that sailed in the Eastern Mediterranean. Thus, the ships of Alexiano, which did not arouse any suspicion among the Egyptians, calmly entered the harbor of Damietta (now Dumyat, 45 km north-west of present-day Port Said). And already in the port, the corsairs opened fire. In a two-hour fierce battle, all Turkish military and merchant ships "were set on fire."
Already leaving the port, Alexiano came across a Turkish frigate. After a short skirmish, the Turks lowered the flag. On the frigate, the local ruler Selim-bey was taken "with the three main ages, various other officers and servants, of whom 120 Turks remained."
June 13, 1774 Alexiano on the frigate "St. Pavel ", together with two half-gallers" Zizhiga "and" Lion "went out to sea and headed for the Dardanelles. On June 26, Alexiano landed 160 paratroopers on the small island of Karybada (Mekasti), located in the Gulf of Decaria off the Rumelian coast. A detachment of Turks with a cannon advanced towards them. But the paratroopers scattered them and captured the cannon.
Then the paratroopers laid siege to a weakly fortified stone fortress with five towers. After a short skirmish, her garrison surrendered on the condition that the besieged would be allowed to cross to the Rumelian coast without weapons in boats. The paratroopers fulfilled their promises, and the head of the Sardar fortress Mustafa agha Kaksarli with fifty Turks set off for the European coast. Our sailors reloaded on St. Paul taken from the fortress 15 guns of caliber from 3 to 14 pounds, 4200 cannonballs, 40 barrels of gunpowder and other supplies. On the shore, the paratroopers burned 4 feluccas, and in the fortress - all the houses of the inhabitants, and on that they departed home.
All of the above did not enter the history textbooks as ordinary everyday life of a forgotten war.
Turkish maritime trade was paralyzed and a famine broke out in Istanbul. The Turks were rescued by the French, who transported food and other goods to the Turkish capital under their flag. Count Orlov and the Russian admirals demanded permission from the empress to capture all the French indiscriminately, but because of Catherine's indecision, this was not done.
On July 25, 1774, a Turkish half-galley with a white flag approached the Russian squadron of Admiral Elmanov, which was stationed near the island of Tasso. Major Belich (a Serb in the Russian service) arrived on it with a letter from Field Marshal Rumyantsev, which said that peace had been made with the Turks on July 10. The campaign in the Archipelago is over.
Catherine failed to keep the promises given to the Greeks. Our admirals told them that after the war, if not all of Greece, then at least the "province" would become part of Russia. And now the Turks were to return to the islands. As far as possible, Catherine tried to alleviate the fate of the Greeks who trusted her. The terms of the peace included an article on amnesty for all Greeks, Slavs and Albanians who fought on the side of Russia. The Turks were instructed to monitor the implementation of this article by the Russian consulates in Greece. Everyone from the population of the island province was allowed to sail to Russia on Russian and Greek ships.
Thousands of Greeks left for Russia, most of them settled in the Crimea and on the coast of the Azov Sea. The gymnasium was transferred to St. Petersburg, where the Greek gymnasium was opened, later renamed the Greek Corps.
Several corsair frigates with Greek refugees - "Archipelago", "Tino", "Saint Nicholas" and others, disguised as merchant ships, passed the Straits, and then became one of the first ships of the nascent Black Sea Fleet.
Catherine ordered the formation of a Greek infantry regiment in the Crimea. Many Greek corsairs became admirals of the Russian fleet. Among them are Mark Voinovich (he had Serbian roots), Panaioti Alexiano, Anton Alekiano and others.
The Kyuchuk-Kainardzhiyskiy peace turned out to be only a short truce. In August 1787, the Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia again. Greeks from the first generation of corsairs became the captains of a number of ships of the Black Sea Fleet, and the old pirate Mark Voinovich commanded the Sevastopol squadron of the Black Sea Fleet. And the young Greek corsairs, without waiting for the arrival of the Russian squadrons, equipped the ships themselves and went out into the Mediterranean Sea under the St. Andrew's flags.
