Frank Abney Hastings

Frank Abney Hastings (Greek Φρανκ Χέιστινγκς, born February 14, 1794 in Willesley Hall in Ashby -de- la- Zouch, † June 1, 1828 in Zakynthos), was a British naval officer who was as Philhellene the hero of the Greek Revolution.

Early military career

Hastings came from a family of naval officers: Following family tradition, he joined at the age of eleven years in the naval services and took in 1805 on board HMS Neptune at the Battle of Trafalgar in part. He subsequently underwent a successful military career until he retired in 1820 following a dispute with a supervisor.

He went first to France for a year and embarked in March 1822 from Marseille to Greece in order to support the liberation struggle.

Participation in the Greek War of Independence

Hastings entered in April 1822 Hydra and participated in numerous clashes, on water and on land.

Modernizers of the Greek fleet

Hastings realized that the light Greek naval forces of the Ottoman fleet were inferior. In a memorandum he wrote to Lord Byron in 1823 and 1824 the provisional Greek government submitted, he developed new strategic and tactical thinking. Essentially, this is important for the progress of the Greek uprising memorandum contained the proposal to use steam ships instead of sailing ships and preferred instead of using direct fire fire-ships of the Turkish fleet by artillery shells.

As the Greek government could only partially implement its plans, which meant the purchase of steamers and the introduction of armor, and sat Hastings to their achievement in a significant own assets. He went in 1824 to England to purchase a steamer and had 1825 Karteria ( " endurance " ), a small steamer, equipped. This first Greek steam-powered warship manned by Englishmen, Sweden and Greece and equipped with grenade launchers.

Successful battles

Under Hastings ' command as captain of the Karteria be immediately demonstrated the effectiveness of the shelling when he Oropus in the supply lines to the lake for the Turkish army, which was besieging Athens, attack.

When the fighting shifted after the defeat of Athens to the west, Hastings denied successful battles for the reconquest of the Peloponnese. On September 29, 1827 he destroyed in the Bay of Salona near the Gulf of Corinth in Itea some ships of the Turkish fleet. This provoked the aggressive approach of the Turkish commander in chief Ibrahim Pasha, which led to the destruction of the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Navarino by the Great Powers on October 20, 1827.

In battles with Etoliko, a small island at the entrance of the lagoon of Messolonghi, Hastings was severely wounded in May 1828. He succumbed to his injuries a few days later at the port of Zakynthos.

Commemoration

Hastings was buried at Poros in a memorial erected for him, his heart in the Anglican Church in Athens. In Messolonghi a monument commemorates him. In Athens and Piraeus streets are named after him.