User:Lambros Katsonis

Lambros Katsonis (Greek Λάμπρος Κατσώνης / Russian Ламброс Кацонис, 1752–1804) was a Greek naval admiral of the 18th century. He was born in Livadia, Voiotia, in 1752, in a time when the entire Greece was suffering under the Ottoman rule. He spent his youth on the island of Zante. He enlisted in the Russian imperial navy and he joined the Orlov Revolt in 1770. After the revolt, he was honoured for his bravery by the Russian empress Catherine the Great, but he was not pleased by the result. Greece was still enslaved. With the help of wealthy Greeks he bought a ship (an American corvette) that he armed with 28-32 cannons. The ship was called "Athena of the Ursa". Along with this, he built up a small fleet and began harassing the Ottomans in the Aegean Sea, raiding their ships, capturing them and adding them to his fleet. In 1788 he had assembled a Greek pirate fleet of seventeen vessels, which harassed the Turkish squadrons and forced the Ottomans to abandon the island of Kastelorizo; the castle on the island was renamed to Lambros Katsonis Castle. The Sultan offered him an island in the eastern Aegean Sea to stop his hostilities, but Katsonis refused. In 1790, his fleet defeated a superior Ottoman force off the coast of Andros. However, reinforcements of Algerian pirates soon arrived to aid the Turks. After a terrible battle Lambros Katsonis lost 5 ships, among them his flagship. He himself was injured and fled to the island of Melos. Soon he built another fleet and took refuge in the bay of Porto Kagio in Mani where he continued to harass not only Turkish but also French ships. Finally, a mighty Turkish fleet, aided by two French ships, attacked Porto Kagio and, despite their heavy losses (five thousand men), Katsonis was forced to retreat. He fled first to Ithaca, then to Parga and eventually to Russia. He finally arrived to Crimea where he was granted the Livadia Palace estate by Catherine the Great. He lived out the rest of his days there. He died there, in 1804, alone and disappointed, because he never saw his homeland free.