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

194 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
and drove them back. Hussein, the conqueror of
Kasos, of Crete, and of Sphakteria, fell mortally
wounded while directing the third assault. The
Greeks, with the loss of thirty-five men, remained
masters of the island. Of the Turks, a thousand had
fallen in vain.
Had the Missolonghiots taken advantage of the discouragement
of the besiegers, caused by this reverse,
to throw themselves en masse upon the enemy, and
cut their way through, the attempt would probably
have succeeded. But, though
reduced now to the
greatest straits, they still looked forward confidently
to the arrival of the fleet with relief. On the 31st of
March, Admiral Miaoulis actually did appear; but his
fleet was small, poorly armed, and undermanned. The
combined navy of the Turks and Egyptians lay,
overwhelming strength, across his course;
in
and, in the
absence of flat-bottomed boats, he could make no attempt
to throw provisions into the town by way
lagoons.
of the
Keluctantly he was compelled to relinquish
his enterprise, and leave Missolonghi to its fate.
This could now be no longer delayed. The town
was reduced to the most miserable plight. The starved
inhabitants wandered amid the ruins of their homes,
looking more like ghosts than living men. For days
they had been reduced to subsisting upon the most