THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE 1821 TO 1833 BY W.ALISON PHILLIPS 1897

ARAB ASSAULT KEPULSED 191
compelled to draw off. On the night of the 27th the
Greeks succeeded in destroying with a fireship an
Ottoman corvette. On the 28th a battle with the
Turkish and Egyptian fleets resulted in a victory for
the Greeks. Miaoulis was enabled to throw two
months' provisions into the town, before,
at the beginning
of February, he was compelled by the insubordination
of the Hydriot seamen to sail home.
Ibrahim, whose proceedings during the winter had
been stopped by floods and rains, which made the
marshes about the town impassable, now commenced
in earnest. He determined first to attempt
operations
to take the place by assault,
trusting that his drilled
regiments might succeed where Reshid's undisciplined
horde had failed. On the 25th of February a heavy
cannonade began;
and, for three days, a hail of iron
descended on the devoted town. On the 28th the
Egyptians advanced to the attack of the bastion Botzares.
Three times the Arab guard gained a footing
on the walls ;
three times they recoiled before the furious
onslaught of the Greeks; and at midday the attempt
was relinquished. Ibrahim was beside himself
with rage. Reshid, not altogether displeased, asked
him what he now thought of the ' fence ' !
It was now determined to
invest the place once
more by sea, as well as by land. The selfishness of