Captains of war

Hydra, a picturesque Greek island just a short boat ride from Athens, boasts a history that, if it were a movie script, could easily make it to Hollywood. For most of its centuries-old existence, Hydra was a poor island of fishermen and pirates. However, it gained prominence as a major player in European sea trade at the turn of the 18th century. A few years later, in the 1820s, its powerful shipowners became war captains, sacrificing their fleet and fortunes to the Greek War of Independence. When the flames of war had died down, these brave Hydriots had no choice but to start anew—either as immigrants to more prosperous islands or as sponge fishermen in their homeland. Today, thanks to its distinctive architecture, characterized by iconic cube-shaped mansions—remnants of the captains’ once-great prosperity—and the influx of numerous artists throughout the 20th century, Hydra has earned a reputation as one of Greece’s most elegant islands and a vibrant hub for cultural summer events.

Like many other places in Greece, Hydra’s population was shaped by successive waves of immigration. As early as the 16th century, the island was settled by refugees fleeing the conflict between the Ottomans and Venetians. Later, in the early 18th century, an Albanian-speaking community known as the Arvanites arrived. Their language was adopted by the local merchant class, and soon the entire island spoke Arvanitika. This population, renowned for their resilient and enduring spirit, would later give rise to a generation of brave fighters in the Greek War of Independence. 

With a relatively small fleet of medium-sized vessels (15 to 50 tons) and a strict trade policy imposed by the Ottomans, including a ban on reaching the Black Sea, the Hydriots were limited to trading within the Aegean, reaching as far as Constantinople (now Istanbul). The situation changed in 1774 when the Ottomans signed a peace treaty with the Russian Empire, granting the latter important maritime trade privileges. Russia’s religious ties with the Greeks allowed the Hydriots to sail under the Russian flag and benefit from free trade. For the first time, Hydriot vessels transported goods from the prosperous Black Sea region to the Italian ports of Ancona and Livorno. By 1771, over 100 boats, some as large as 250 tons, were trading Baltic amber, Russian fur, Ukrainian grain, Ottoman silk and spices, Italian porcelain, and more. Additionally, during the Napoleonic Wars, the Hydriot fleet managed to break the British blockade, supplying food to France. Napoleon celebrated this achievement by gifting a silver chandelier to the islanders.

In the early 19th century, Hydra’s fleet comprised over 125 boats and 10.000 sailors, with their sea trade reaching as far as France, Spain, and even the Americas. The island had as many as 16.000 residents and boasted a harbor lined with the captains’ imposing mansions, which stand as a testament to the prosperity that shipping brought to Hydra. 

When the call to arms for the Greek War of Independence came, the voices advocating for sacrifice ultimately prevailed over those who feared the devastating losses such a commitment would bring. Hydra’s contribution of approximately 150 ships played a crucial role in the fight against the Ottomans. The Greek-Arvanite sailors of Hydra, like those from the nearby island of Spetses, formed the backbone of the Greek fleet and produced leading figures in the first Greek government, such as Lazaros Kountouriotis. Another valiant admiral from the Arvanite community, Andreas Miaoulis, used Hydriot fire ships to inflict significant damage on the Ottoman fleet. This glorious rise and heroic fall remain a source of enduring national pride.

Historians are undoubtedly grateful for the memoirs left behind by a handful of adventurous philhellenes who volunteered to fight in the Greek revolutionary war against the Ottoman Empire. After completing an intellectual “Grand Tour” of Europe, the young Irishman James Emerson Tennent (1804-1869) joined Lord Byron’s artillery corps in Messolonghi. Appointed as a captain of artillery, he is believed to have participated in the battle to break the Siege of the Acropolis in Athens. Emerson traveled extensively in Greece, notably visiting Corfu, Hydra and the Peloponnesian towns of Pyrgos, Ancient Olympia, and Tripolis. In Nafplio, the town that would later become Greece’s first capital, he met with members of the Greek government and reported on the fierce conflicts that took place during the critical year of 1825.

In the selected extracts, Emerson describes the deplorable state of poverty that plagued the once-thriving island, where a previously prosperous trade had been reduced to ruins. He vividly portrays the despair that gripped the islanders as they mourned the sailors who had perished during the naval battle of Sphacteria, an island captured by the Egyptians, allies of the Ottoman Empire, in May 1825. His notes also highlight the sober elegance of the brave captains’ houses, grand mansions shaped like large cubes. A year later, Emerson’s memoirs were published in Picture of Greece in 1825, a book that contributed to the growth of the philhellenic movement in Great Britain.

This remarkable journey of the Hydriots—from humble sailors to prosperous sea tycoons, and eventually back to impoverished fishermen—is chronicled in the travel notes of British novelist Lawrence Durrell (1912–1990). In 1935, at the age of 23, Durrell convinced his family to move to the island of Corfu, where he remained until World War II. “Electrified by Greek light,” as he noted, Durrell fell in love with the vibrant colors of the landscape, the simplicity of the lifestyle, and the warmth of the locals. During his six-year stay, he traveled throughout the country and befriended members of the intellectual elite of the time, including Nobel Prize-winning poet George Seferis and cubist painter Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, both of whom profoundly influenced his creative vision. In his 1978 book, The Greek Islands, Durrell takes readers on an imaginative sailing journey across 53 islands. This work has become a major reference in travel literature, celebrated for its vivid historical descriptions, its masterful praise of nature, its portraits of the locals, and its recounting of personal memories. 

In the decades following the war, Hydra gradually lost its dominant position in Mediterranean sea trade. The island’s fleet was stripped of its trade privileges, and its shipowners were reluctant to transition to the steamship era, which utilized new technology to create faster, more cost-effective vessels. Hydra slowly recovered, first through sponge fishing and later through the film industry, which helped the island become a popular summer destination, attracting tourists and artists from around the world. 

The beautiful, cubic-shaped mansions owned by the Hydriot captains are a testament to the island’s storied past and a true gem that has graced Hydra’s harbor with a distinctive, elegant allure—a timeless city mark. Step inside Hydra’s iconic mansions, such as the one belonging to Lazaros Koundouriotis—now home to the National Historical Museum—the austere rocky villa of Pavlos Koundouriotis, and the Museum of Hydra. Their architecture, furniture, heirlooms, and precious memorabilia from the War of Independence encapsulate not only Hydra’s history but also a significant chapter of the country’s emblematic transition from its Ottoman past into modernity as an independent state.