5-17, August 1824 – Constantine Kanaris Led Greek Fleet to Victory in the Battle of Samos

The Battle of Samos (Greek: Ναυμαχία της Σάμου) was a naval battle fought on August 5, 1824 off the Greek island of Samos during the Greek War of Independence.

The island of Samos, under its leader, Lykourgos Logothetis, had successfully rebelled against the Ottomans in 1821. The island’s position however, a few miles off the Anatolian coast, made it vulnerable to a potential Ottoman attack. In the summer of 1824, following the destruction of Psara, a joint Ottoman-Egyptian fleet and troops assembled on the Anatolian coast, with the intention of capturing the island. Anxious to avoid repeating the failure to protect Psara, the Greek fleet, under admirals Georgios Sachtouris and Andreas Vokos Miaoulis, assembled to guard the island.

The battle occurred on August 5, as the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet moved to bombard the fortress of Samos town. The Greek fireships, including one under the celebrated Constantine Kanaris, then attacked and succeeded in burning several Ottoman ships, forcing the Kapudan Pasha Mehmed Hüsrev to withdraw. Together with the victory at the strait of Gerontas soon after, the battle of Samos ensured the safety of the island; Samos was not threatened again by the Ottomans for the duration of the war. However, it was also not included in independent Greece; rather, it became an autonomous principality under Ottoman suzerainty until the Balkan Wars.