Table of contents:
- Birth in an Ottoman prison and hatred of the Turks from the first breath
- Continuing husband's business and help from the Russian ambassador
- At the head of the Greek rebels and personal participation in the battles
- Attitude towards Boubulina in Russia and the high-profile title of admiral
Video: The first and only admiral in a skirt: For what merits the Greek woman received the high rank of the Russian fleet
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
There is a widespread belief among sailors that the presence of women on a ship will inevitably lead to disaster. The Russian sovereign Peter I, forming the Russian fleet, unambiguously ordered not to admit representatives of the weaker half to the naval service. All the royal followers strictly followed this command. It was only during the reign of Emperor Alexander I that the Petrine covenant was violated. The emperor retreated from dogma on a grand scale, for the first time in history conferring a high admiral's rank on a woman. True, this lady became an admiral not at all for the brilliant command of the Russian fleet, but for completely different achievements.
Birth in an Ottoman prison and hatred of the Turks from the first breath
For almost 4 centuries (1453-1830) the Greeks were under the overwhelming Turkish yoke. The cruelty of the enslavers was manifested not only in the forcible Turkification of the Orthodox people and unbearable extortions. The most defenseless part of the Greek population during this period were children, whom the Ottomans simply took away from their parents. Boys were automatically sent to janissaries, and girls to harems. Until today, the Greeks cannot forgive the Turks for these crimes. And then, in response to the Turkish occupation arbitrariness, the people of Greece could only respond with frequent widespread uprisings.
In a family who did not bow their heads before the Ottoman regime, the Greek woman Laskarina grew up on their own land. Moreover, the girl was born right in the Ottoman prison, located in Constantinople. The child's father, Captain Stavrionis Pinotsis, took part in the Moray revolt (Peloponnesian uprising) against the Ottomans in 1769-1770 and, together with his wife Skevo, was captured and sent to prison. Soon the head of the family died right in prison, and his wife with a newborn daughter in her arms was released from prison and sent home to the island of Hydra.
The diaspora of Orthodox Albanians lived in that place. A few years later, Laskarina's mother remarried with the sailor Dimitros Lazarou. The captain found an opportunity to transport everyone to his homeland - the island of Spetses. The inhabitants of all the Greek islands without exception, mostly sailors or fishermen, for centuries hated the Turkish invaders, dreaming of the freedom and independence of their state. It was in this rebellious atmosphere that Laskarina Boubulina grew up.
Continuing husband's business and help from the Russian ambassador
From her own father and stepfather, Laskarina inherited not only the spirit of the struggle for the Fatherland, but also love for the sea. Since childhood, the little girl disappeared for hours at the shipyards, comprehending the secrets of the sea on the ship's decks. She was legally married twice. After the death of her first spouse, Laskarina decided to tie fate with Dmitrios Boubulis, a man from a sailor's environment. By the age of 40, the woman was raising seven children, knew how to sail ships, owned fertile lands, was engaged in successful trade and was known among acquaintances as an initiative and strong-willed person. When Laskarina's second husband died in a battle with the Algerian corsairs, she became the heir to a weighty fortune and a flotilla of sailing ships. The funds accumulated by hard work made it possible to build a new 18-gun corvette called "Agamemnon" (translated as "inevitable"). In addition, Laskarina maintained a small fleet with several crews and helped finance the rebel army.
In 1816, the Ottoman enslavers decided to take away all her rich property from Laskarina, as from the wife of a Greek who fought on the side of the Russians. Fearing arrest, Bubulina turned to the Russian ambassador in Constantinople for help. He took part in the fate of a woman defenseless against the Turks, contributing to her temporary shelter within the Crimean peninsula. But the brave Greek woman was not going to give up, using several months in a safe shelter to plan further revolutionary liberation actions in her homeland.
At the head of the Greek rebels and personal participation in the battles
In 1821, a wave of liberation uprisings swept across Greece. Bubulina stood at the head of the rebellious inhabitants of the island. The warship Agamemnon, built on her initiative, now played a significant role in the Greek liberation movement. The woman organized ideological patriots from the neighboring islands of Hydra, Insara, Spetses. The locals became a viable base for the rebel fleet. About 80 ships were concentrated in their hands, the overwhelming majority of which were equipped with the money of Laskarina Boubulina.
Almost all of her savings went to the armament of the People's Navy. At the age of fifty, Laskarina took a personal part in a naval battle near the fortress of Nafplion. Boubulina fearlessly led the rebel ship, blocking the Ottomans and capturing the fortress of Monemvasia and the city of Pylos. Boubulina was able to unite all the island ships. The war with the Turks lasted ten years. Russia played a decisive role in helping the Greeks in this struggle. On March 25, 1831, long-suffering Greece gained its long-awaited freedom and independence. Unfortunately, Bubulina did not live to see this significant event, having died at the age of 54. The corvette built by her continued to serve Greece faithfully, performing the functions of a flagship under the new name "Spetses".
Attitude towards Boubulina in Russia and the high-profile title of admiral
Despite the fact that Laskarina Boubulina traded in distant Greece, in the Russian Empire her name was famous and revered. Orthodox Greek revolutionaries, close to Russians in spirit, aroused approval and admiration in Russian society. Boubulina, who in Russia was called "Bobelina", was often portrayed by artists on canvases and was introduced by writers to the list of characters. And for some reason in the paintings she appeared not at the ship's wheel, but on horseback. In their literary creations, she was recalled by the Russian classics Turgenev, Gogol, Leskov.
The merits of Boubulina in the liberation movement were highly appreciated by the Russian Emperor Alexander I. He made a bold decision to confer the high admiral rank of the Russian Empire on the woman. So Laskarina Bubulina went down in history as the first and only admiral in a skirt.
By the way, even today we know very little about the Ottoman Empire. For example, about the simple fact that some sultans were brought up in cages.
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