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

266 THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE
The Dartmouth was now ordered by
admiral to request the removal of a fire-ship,
was stationed to
the British
which
windward of the English flag-ship;
and on the Turks refusing to alter its position, a boat
was sent to cut its cables, and tow it aside. The attempt
to do this was resisted by the Ottomans with volleys
of musketry, and a French and an English
ship answered with their guns. Admiral Codrington
now sent a boat to carry a remonstrance to the Turkish
admiral; but the boat was fired on, and the
The battle now became
bullet struck the flag-ship.
general.
From the point of view of naval science the fight
at Navarino has little importance, for cooped up within
the limits of a narrow bay, there was no room for the
display of tactics or seamanship. It was a mere question
of '
'
hard pounding; and sound discipline and
good practice at the guns were the factors which determined
the victory. It was not long doubtful on which
side this lay.
For two hours the cannonade continued,
while, from the amphitheatre of hills around, twenty
thousand of Ibrahim's troops watched the
struggle.
At the end of this time the flag-ship of the Capitan
Bey and that of Mohurrem, which had been engaged
by the Asia, cut their cables and drifted to leeward.
Others of the Turks now began to follow suit, or fired