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Lot Essay
"In October 1768, having secured the backing of Austria and France, Turkey declared war on Russia. Now the Danube basin became the primary theatre of hostilities. Active there were Alexander Golitsin's main Russian forces. Meanwhile, Piotr Rumiantsev's army in the Crimea was assisted by Vice-Admiral Alexei Seniavin's newly formed Azov flotilla. To divert the enemy from the Danube theatre, the Baltic fleet dispatched a host of warships to the Mediterranean, where General-in-Chief Alexei Orlov was in overall command. The fleet there was placed under the highly experienced flag officer Admiral Grigory Spiridov. In 1769 and 1770 two naval squadrons, one under Spirodov, the other under Rear-Admiral John Elphinstone, complemented the Russian naval forces in the Mediterranean. Another three squadrons were sent there over the following four years. This large Russian naval expedition, known as the First Archipelago Force, was given the task of inciting massive insurgencies against the Turks amongst the Balkan peoples, especially those of Morea (the Peloponnesus Peninsula) and on the Greek Archipelago in the Aegean Sea- the idea being to create a new theatre of hostilities and thus provoke Turkey into scattering its forces.
This strategy succeeded admirably. Naval action in the Meditarranean, in particular the crushing defeats inflicted on the Turks on June 24 and 26, 1770, on the Chios Strait and at Chesme, enabled Russia to establish full dominion over the archipelago and subsequently throughout the entire eastern Meditarranean from the Ionian islands to the shores of Egypt and Syria"...
"The Turkish squadron whose sixteen battleships and six frigates were lined up off the shores of Chesme Bay was engaged on the morning of June 24, 1770, in the Chios Strait by Russian naval force consisting of but nine battleships, three frigates and one fireship. As they approached, the Russian ships were met by withering fire from Turkish ordnance, which almost immediately put out of commission the head Russian vessel, the Europe, under Captain Fedot Klokachev. Its place was taken by Admiral Spiridov's flagship, the St. Evstafii, which under Captain Alexander Kruz attacked and set fire to the Turkish flagship, the Real Moustapha, but was itself damaged and lost its steering. Repeated attempts to tow the ship to safety by means of sloops proved unsuccessful. Admiral Spiridov and Count Orlov rowed to the Three Holy Men. Rear-Admiral Greigh's Three Hierarchs came up too late to help. Indeed the St. Evstafii and the Real Moustapha were so close that the flames enveloping the latter began to singe the Russian ship whose crew, however, continued fighting and managed to board the Turkish vessel. The outcome of the struggle was decided by a dramatic accident-the Turkish ship's burning mast fell onto the St. Evstafii and struck the Russian vessel's gunpowder magazine, causing both ships to blow up. Nearly the entire Russian crew of some six hundred men were killed; the captain, Kruz, escaped by a sheer fluke. Meanwhile the remaining Turkish ships retreated in complete disarray into Chesme Bay"...Alexander Ioffe and Others, The Navy of the Russian Empire, (St. Petersburg, 1996), pgs. 61, 62, 74, and 75.
This strategy succeeded admirably. Naval action in the Meditarranean, in particular the crushing defeats inflicted on the Turks on June 24 and 26, 1770, on the Chios Strait and at Chesme, enabled Russia to establish full dominion over the archipelago and subsequently throughout the entire eastern Meditarranean from the Ionian islands to the shores of Egypt and Syria"...
"The Turkish squadron whose sixteen battleships and six frigates were lined up off the shores of Chesme Bay was engaged on the morning of June 24, 1770, in the Chios Strait by Russian naval force consisting of but nine battleships, three frigates and one fireship. As they approached, the Russian ships were met by withering fire from Turkish ordnance, which almost immediately put out of commission the head Russian vessel, the Europe, under Captain Fedot Klokachev. Its place was taken by Admiral Spiridov's flagship, the St. Evstafii, which under Captain Alexander Kruz attacked and set fire to the Turkish flagship, the Real Moustapha, but was itself damaged and lost its steering. Repeated attempts to tow the ship to safety by means of sloops proved unsuccessful. Admiral Spiridov and Count Orlov rowed to the Three Holy Men. Rear-Admiral Greigh's Three Hierarchs came up too late to help. Indeed the St. Evstafii and the Real Moustapha were so close that the flames enveloping the latter began to singe the Russian ship whose crew, however, continued fighting and managed to board the Turkish vessel. The outcome of the struggle was decided by a dramatic accident-the Turkish ship's burning mast fell onto the St. Evstafii and struck the Russian vessel's gunpowder magazine, causing both ships to blow up. Nearly the entire Russian crew of some six hundred men were killed; the captain, Kruz, escaped by a sheer fluke. Meanwhile the remaining Turkish ships retreated in complete disarray into Chesme Bay"...Alexander Ioffe and Others, The Navy of the Russian Empire, (St. Petersburg, 1996), pgs. 61, 62, 74, and 75.