The Greek frigate ''Hellas'' () was the flagship of the

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Hellenic Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; , abbreviated ΠΝ) is the Navy, naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independ ...

. After an arbitration hearing in New York due to financial default by the Greek government, she was delivered to Greece in 1826. She was burned in 1831 by the Greek Admiral Andreas Miaoulis when the government of

Ioannis Kapodistrias Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (; February 1776 –27 September 1831), sometimes anglicized as John Capodistrias, was a Greek statesman who was one of the most distinguished politicians and diplomats of 19th-century Europe. Kapodistrias's ...

ordered her turned over to the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

navy.

Two ships ordered

In 1825, during the latter part of the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

from the

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, representatives of the Greek government in

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negotiated with an American shipyard in

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for the construction of two

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

s to be named ''Hope'' and ''Liberator''. Ultimately, the Greek government defaulted and one of the ships, ( ''Liberator'') was sold and the proceeds were used to pay for the other ship to be delivered to Greece.

The frigate ''Hellas''

The ''Hope'' sailed from New York during the first days of October 1826, with the crew being mostly adventurers. An agent of the Greek government, K. A. Kontostavlos, was also on board. The voyage was raucous as the crew attempted to murder both the Captain and the Greek government agent in a scheme to sell the vessel in

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. The crew failed in their

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military or a crew) to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, ...

, and the ship was delivered to

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about 25 November 1826. The crew tried a second time to sell the vessel, this time to Ibrahim Pasha, who at the head of an Ottoman-

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ian force had invaded the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

. This time, Admiral Andreas Miaoulis and a force of 30 local mariners secured the vessel and dispatched the raucous delivery crew.Scorinis, Nicholas G. quoted in ''The Arbitrator'' April, 2001.
After her arrival in Nafplion, three Admirals ( Andreas Miaoulis from Hydra,

Nikolis Apostolis Nikolis Apostolis (, 1770–1827) was a Greek naval commander, leader of the Psarian fleet during the Greek War of Independence. Apostolis was born on the island of Psara in 1770. He was initiated into the Filiki Eteria in 1818. When the revolt ...

from Psara and Androutsos from Spetses) took official delivery of the frigate and brought her to the island of

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, which had recently become capital of Greece. The frigate, renamed ''Hellas'', became the flagship of the Greek Navy, as she was the most powerful ship in the navy. Under the command of various captains (among them Cochrane, Antonios Miaoulis, son of the Admiral, and Konstantinos Kanaris), the frigate took part in various successful, but insignificant, naval battles in both the Aegean and

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Sinking of the flagship

On 27 July 1831, Admiral Miaoulis, who in the meantime had joined the English Party that was opposed to Governor Kapodistrias' Russian Party seized on the island of

Poros Poros (; ) is a small Greek island-pair in the southern part of the Saronic Gulf, about south of the port of Piraeus and separated from the Peloponnese by a wide sea channel, with the town of Galatas on the mainland across the strait. Its surf ...

the navy then under the command of Kanaris. When the government in Nafplion asked Miaoulis to deliver the Greek fleet to the Russian Admiral Pyotr Ivanovich Ricord, Miaoulis refused to obey that order and threatened to scuttle the entire fleet under his command in the event of hostile movement by Ricord. When Ricord attacked Poros Island 13 August, Miaoulis carried out his threats, burning the small fleet. In addition to ''Hellas'', the other scuttled ships were the corvettes ''Hydra'' and ''Spetsai''.

References

External links

History of the Hellenic Navy (English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hellas Frigates of the Hellenic Navy Ships built in New York City 1826 ships Greek War of Independence naval ships of Greece Ioannis Kapodistrias