To what extent was the Fight for Independence determined at sea? The navy was the most organized and effective military, economic, and political weapon of the warring nation that was rising up against a multinational empire. The Greeks did not possess an organized war fleet until then.

During the revolutionary decade, they utilized armed private merchant ships as war vessels, which, however, did not limit themselves to their new role but continued commercial activities while also taking on new actions within the context of the war economy. In the initial fervent years of the Greek Revolution, as well as during the civil war and the recession, and later, with the arrival of the first Governor, the Greek fleet consistently asserted its presence, marking smaller or larger successes.

Whether through military operations or thanks to raids, the Fight at sea remained active, essentially keeping the Revolution alive when the battle on land seemed to have been lost. This volume examines the Fight at sea through an expanded lens, co-examining the multifaceted contribution of commercial and war ships. Aegean and Ionian, rebel and neutral fleets are mapped in the troubled waters of the eastern Mediterranean during the Revolution.

Simultaneously, for the first time, the Ottoman navy and the reforms promoted by the Sublime Porte to address the Greek crisis are presented in detail, based on archival sources. The authors utilize a unique wealth of archival material from Greece, Turkey, and the broader Mediterranean, combining the micro-history of daily life at sea with macro-historical economic and social analysis.

Their research questions focus both on the institutional level – that of local communities and Central Administration – and on the level of ship operations, tracking developments during the decade 1821-1831, from the first local organizations to the government of Kapodistrias, and from the revolutionary to the national fleet.