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

THE GREEK SEA POWER 13
dence. Another and even more potent weapon, forged
by the policy of the Porte, and to be used in the same
cause, was the maritime power
of the Greek islands.
Long anterior to the Hellenic revolt many
of these
islands had, by one means or another, gained a large
measure of independence. Some were practically autonomous,
their subservience to the Sultan being evidenced
only by the obligation to pay a small annual
tribute, and to supply a certain number of sailors to
the Ottoman navy. The islanders, accustomed from
earliest infancy to face the perils and chances of the
sea, were magnificent seamen;
and, favoured by their
political circumstances, they speedily built up a very
considerable maritime trade. To the development of
this a great impetus was given in 1774 by the treaty
of Kainardji, by which Russia obtained certain privileges
in the navigation of the Bosphorus and the
Dardanelles, and a somewhat vague and shadowy
right of protection over the Sultan's Christian subjects.
Greek merchants now began to trade under the
Russian flag.
Their vessels, hitherto mainly small
coasting brigs, increased in size; and their voyages,
at first adventured timidly from island to island, began
to extend from Cherson to Gibraltar, and even beyond.
ants suffered,
from the Turks.
during" the war, far more from them than