She built her own fleet. Captured the impregnable fortress of Nafplion. Saved hundreds of harem women. Started a revolution. And was the first and only woman ever to be named Admiral. Not bad for a twice-widowed mother of seven in the 1820s . . .
TITLE
CARD FADES IN:
MAY 17, 1771
CONSTANTINOPLE
ANGLE ON: Panoramic view of Constantinople, with the Sultan’s palace.
CAMERA PANS TO REVEAL the prisons of Bosphorous. In the middle of the
night we hear the cry of a newborn inside the dungeons of the Ottoman
prison in Istanbul. A beautiful baby girl is born under the moonlight
inside a cell that looks more like a rathole. LASKARINA BOUBOULINA is
born when her mother, Skevo visits her dying husband, Stavrianos
Pinotsis, who had been imprisoned by the Turks. The arrest and
imprisonment of Pinotsis is due to his participation in the
Peloponnesian revolution of 1769-70 against the Turks. 
This
revolution, which is known in Greek history as the Orlof revolution
subsequently failed. At this time Spetses island was almost destroyed by
the Turks for taking part in the uprising.
TITLE CARD SUPERIMOSED:
MARCH OF 1801
She is the unchallenged leader among her eight half brothers and
sisters. Strong, stubborn, courageous, determined. Dark in colouring,
untamed, with regal stature, she marries for a second time to DIMITRIOS
BOUBOULIS.
JULY OF 1811
Her second husband BOUBOULIS, a real menace to the pirates, was killed
during one of the most heroic naval exploits of the time. He is ambushed
by two Algerian pirate ships which he simultaneously destroyed and as
described by a historian at the time “he fell at the last moment of
victory, when looking over his ships gunwale at the destroyed enemy, a
bullet hit him on the forehead and left him dead”.
The fallen hero’s command is taken immediately by a fighting relative,
who having kept secret the captain’s death from the rest of the crew
resumed even more intensely the bombardment against the enemy spreading
death amongst them.
BOUBOULINA is twice widowed and the mother of seven children now, but at
the same time, extremely rich from the fortunes of ships, land and cash
inherited from her husbands. The cash alone which she inherited from
Bouboulis was over 300.000 Spanish golden tallara (sovereigns of those
days). She manages not only to keep this fortune intact but also to
increase it due to her good management and successful trading. She
became partner in several Spetsiot vessels and in time managed to build
three of her own. Among these was the famous “Agamemnon” the first and
the largest Greek fighting ship of the 1821 war of independence, whose
construction cost BOUBOULINA the amount of 75.000 tallara.
She showed her business mettle (given her character and having had six
kids, one can expect that she knew how to take charge) and within five
years had increased her husband's fortune significantly. Mind you, she
was probably running a profitable sideline as pirate queen, her men were
after all fighting islanders.
She broke every rule and regulation imposed on Greek shipowners by the
Ottomans by building a full-blown man-o-war--the regulations were in
place to prevent precisely what she was doing. To build a corvette armed
with eighteen heavy cannons. The Agamemnon was to become her flagship
and the finest warship in the nascent Greek navy. Three smaller ships
were also constructed at her orders.
The Sultan attempts to confiscate BOUBOULINA’s fortune using as an
excuse the fact that her husband had taken part in the Ottoman-Russian
wars, using his own vessels, alongside the Russian fleet. In fact
Bouboulis for his services to the Russians, had been highly decorated by
them and was also awarded the title of captain in the Russian navy and
that of honorary Russian citizen.
In her massive effort to save her fortune, BOUBOULINA sailed with her
ship “Coriezos” to Constantinople, where she meets the Russian
ambassador, COUNT
STROGONOFF,
a well-known philhellene. She sought his protections citing her
husband’s services to Russia and produced an official document signed by
the Russian admiral Senior, in which all of her husband’s services were
listed.
In addition, her ships at the time were flying the Russian flag, due to a
merchant treaty between Russia and Turkey which included Greek
shipping.
STROGONOFF, in his effort to protect her and save her from imminent
arrest by the Turks, sends her to Crimea, Russia, to an estate given for
her use by Tsar Alexander I. Before she leaves for Russia, she manages
to gain an audience with the Sultan’s mother, VALIDE-SULTANA, who was
extremely impressed by BOUBOULINA’s character, personality and her pleas
for help. BOUBOULINA stayed in Russia for approximately three months
and waited for the crisis to defuse, during which time the Sultana
finally convinced her son, the Sultan Mahmud II, to issue a special
declaration by which BOUBOULINA’s fortune was saved. No longer under
threat of arrest, BOUBOULINA left immediately for Spetses.
While in Constantinople, BOUBOULINA became a member of the underground
secret organization, FILIKI ETAIREIA (Friendly Society) which for a
number of years had organized and prepared the Greeks for the revolution
against the Turks.
BOUBOULINA is the only woman who was allowed to join this organization,
as they would not accept woman in their ranks.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, which is published in the American newspapers, asking for moral support. "Your virtues, Americans, are close to ours, although a broad sea separates us", writes among other Mavromichalis. "We feel you closer than our neighboring countries and we consider you as friends, co-patriots and brothers, because you are fair, philanthropic and brave… Do not deny to help us…" IN BALTIMORE, PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK: During a fundraiser in New York City,
NICHOLAS BIDDLE, a banker, offered the then largest personal donation of $300 to the "New York Greek Relief Committee". Leading the fundraising efforts in Baltimore is
CHARLES
CAROLL, of Carrollton, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence,
and in Philadelphia the leader is MATHEW CAREY.
IN YALE AND COLUMBIA UNIVERSITIES:
Passionate speeches are delivered to young students with emphasis on
“…liberating the holy land of Socrates and Leonidas”.
IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY:
EDWARD EVERETT, a Harvard professor and great philhellene, publishes in
the North American Review, publishes every correspondence of letters or
appeals that he is receiving from Greece and through articles and
speeches he made strong public pronouncements for the recognition of the
Revolution . On December 3rd, 1822, US president JAMES MONROE in his
annual address to Congress said:
"A strong hope is entertained that the Greeks will recover their
independence and assume their equal statue among the nations of the
earth."
IN THE AMERICAN CONGRESS:
Congressman DANIEL WEBSTER from Massachusetts makes a motion in Congress
for the appropriation of money, to send an American envoy to Greece and
for the support of the Greek struggle for independence.
On January 19th, 1824, Webster gave a powerful and resonating speech in
defense of his proposal:
"I have in mind the modern not the ancient, the alive and not the dead
Greece… today's Greece, fighting against unprecedented difficulties… a
Greece fighting for its existence and for the common privilege of human
existence”.
Congressman HENRY CLAY, from Kentucky, supports Webster's motion and in a
moving oratorical speech asks Congress to officially recognize the
Greek War of Independence and to send an envoy to Greece to examine and
report on the situation. He stresses the fact that the entire American
nation was showing sympathy and support for Greece and urged Congress to
suppress any fears and apprehensions and to help a Christian nation.
However, the speeches of the great philhellenes, WEBSTER and CLAY, were
widely publicized in America, Europe and South America and sparked the
interest of many individuals, who decided to help the Greek revolution
with various means, including many volunteers from New York, Vermont,
Boston.
IN A NYC TAVERN:
WILLIAM TOWNSEND WASHINGTON, surrounded by decadent hookers and drunken
sailors, a nephew 
of
president George Washington, handsome and stubborn, a womanizer par
excellence, travels from the heavy winter of the East coast to the “sun
and glory of Greece and its ethereal women”. Three ships are leaving for
Greece from the New York harbor “Chancellor”, “Jane”, “Six Brothers”.
WASHINGTON drunk, with his long hair loose on his shoulders, appears
dressed in white bedsheets holding a self-made spear from a broom posing
as LEONIDAS, is asking the captain of “Six Brothers” to embark for
Greece.
CUT BACK TO GREEK WAR OF INDEPENDENCE:
During the revolution BOUBOULINA has her own small private army made up
of Spetsiots, her brave lads (palikaria) as she used to call them –
which she herself armed, fed and paid, together with the crews of her
ships. This expenditure continued for a number of years, and included
large amounts of money for food and ammunition which went to help the
Greek armies surrounding the Turkish strongholds of Nafplion and
Tripolis. In this way she manages to spend the whole of her considerable
fortune during the first two years of the war, a war which lasted
nearly seven years.
On April 3rd Spetses island revolted – the first navy force to join the
uprising. A few days later the naval forces of Spetses isd joined by
those from the islands of Hydra and Psara. The forces of these three
islands totaled over three hundred ships and played a leading role in
the war. It is accepted by most historians that without a strong navy it
would have been very difficult for Greece to gain it’s independence.
"We shall win or cease to live, but shall do so with the comfort of
knowing that we did not leave the Greeks behind us enslaved."
Upon the Spetsiot uprising BOUBOULINA commanding a fleet of eight
vessels, five of which were her own, sails towards Nafplion and begins
it’s naval blockade. With its three forts Bourtzi, Acronafplia and the
famous Palamidi and armed with three hundred cannons, Nafplion was
considered to be impregnable.
BOUBOULINA lands with her forces at nearby Mili, where her fiery words
and great enthusiasm gave courage to the Greek land forces to keep on
with the siege of Nafplion. Her naval attacks on Nafplion’s seaside
fortifications were actions of unrivalled heroism.
Indeed the very rare event in the history of nations, of a woman to take
up arms. A very rich woman who decided to sacrifice to the altar of her
country everything: her ships, her money and her sons. This woman was
Laskarina BOUBOULINA, whom the nations of the world saluted as a
heroine. She was indeed lion hearted.
On December 4th 1821 on board of her own vessel she alone gives orders
for the boats to attach the fort. They immediately sail forward but a
rain of bullets and cannon fire from the seaside fortifications make her
brave lads fall back. Like an angry Amazon watching the battle over the
side of her boat, she shouts: “Are you men or women lads? No man dares
to move forward?”.
Her officers obey regroup and attack and they fight until the very end.
They die in vain since the fort is impregnable by sea. BOUBOULINA
herself lands with her forces and stays until the fall of the fort on
the 30th November 1822 leading her men in battle, spending her fortune.
BOUBOULINA takes part in the naval blockade and subsequent capture of
Monemvasia, which was another fort along the Peloponnesian coast. Her
ships also blockade Pylos, close to the southern tip of the Peloponnese
and brought supplies to the coastal town of Galaksidi in the Corinthian
gulf. The captains of her ships were her sons and her half brothers. Her
brave lads fought many battles alongside the Greek land forces.
At the battle of Argos a city close to Nafplion a few dozen Spetsiots,
having as their leader BOUBOULINA’s first born son Yiannis Yiannouzas,
put up a fight against more than two thousand Turks, under the command
of the notorious barbaric Veli-Bey. The battle was unequal, and like the
ancient Greek warrior Leonidas, Yiannouzas fell like a hero. He charged
on foot against the Turkish riders and VELI-BEY, who was well protected
by his soldiers. He brought the Turk down from his horse and mortally
wounded him with his sword. As he was about to finish him off, a bullet
struck YIANNOUZAS on the forehead and left him dead. No Spetsiots
escaped the Turkish attack but their sacrifice gave enough time for the
civilian population of Argos to escape into the nearby hills, so
avoiding certain death.
A few days before the fall of Tripolis which was then the capital city
of the Peloponnese and thus the headquarters of the Turkish pasha ruling
the area BOUBOULINA arrived at the Greek camp outside the city, riding a
white horse and accompanied by her spetsiot warriors. She was received
with loud cheers. At the camp she met General KOLOKOTRONIS, who was the
leading man figure in the War of Independence. A feeling of respect and
friendship developed between them to such a degree that later they
became relatives by the marriage of their children, ELENI BOUBOULI and
PANOS KOLOKOTRONIS. BOUBOULINA participates as an equal with the rest of
the generals, in their war meetings and decision making.
They begin to address her as Kapetanissa, (meaning lady-captain).
On the 11th September 1821 Tripoli fell to the surrounding Greek forces.
The fall of the city was followed by a massacre that went on for three
days and nights – a massacre which had as a reprisal the total
destruction of Chios island by the Turks and the killing of the whole
population.
After the defeat of the Turks at Tripoli she was one of the first to
enter the town on A WHITE HORSEBACK and restrained the rampaging men
during the infamous sacking of the town. She personally arranged for the
safe passage of Turkish women and children to Istanbul, in accordance
with a promise she'd given Valide-Sultana back in Constantinople.
Thirty thousand dead filled streets and lanes and the blood flowed in
rivers. During this terrible massacre BOUBOULINA managed to save the
harem of Hoursit Pasha, the city’s ruler. This she did at the risk of
her own life, when she received a plea from the Pasha’s wife to save the
lives of the harem woman and their children. By doing that, BOUBOULINA
kept a promise given back in 1816 to the sultan’s mother in
Constantinople, (when the latter intervened to save BOUBOULINA’s fortune), that if ever a Turkish woman asked for help, she would not refuse, but instead do her best to assist.
CUT
TO:
TITLE CARD FADES IN:
NOVEMBER 30, 1822
WILLIAM TOWNSEND WASHINGTON despite his erratic personal behavior and
colorful life-style is fearless and brave in the siege of Mesologhi. He
learns the Greek language, puts on a "foustanella" (Greek kilted skirt)
and upon joining the "kleftes" (Greek guerilla fighters) he becomes
known as "Kapetan Vasili”. WASHINGTON is brave, participates in many
battles survives the Mesologhi exodus and is repeatedly wounded.
WASHINGTON meets and falls in love with LASKARINA in the siege of
Nafplion in a military camp.
He falls heroically fighting in the battle of Nafplion in 1822.
LASKARINA mourns over his dead body.
After the fall of Nafplion on 30th November 1822, the result of an
almost two year siege by the Greek forces, BOUBOULINA stays on there, in
a house given to her by the state as a reward for her services to the
nation.
At the the end of 1824 the country was hit by a second and more
destructive civil war caused by opposing factions attempting to assume
leadership despite the ever-present Turkish danger.
PANOS KOLOKOTRONIS, BOUBOULINA’s son in law is assassinated and his
father, the General, THEODOROS KOLOKOTRONIS, is arrested and finally put
into prison by his political opponents, at a monastery on Hydra.
BOUBOULINA, who had strongly reacted to the imprisonment of
Kolokotronis, was considered by the government to be dangerous to the
state, and is arrested (twice) with orders for her imprisonment.
Finally BOUBOULINA is expelled back to Spetses where she stays for the
remaining month until her death.
February of 1825 finds BOUBOULINA living in her house on Spetses,
without any fortune, bitter with the politicians and the outcome of the
struggle for freedom..
On the 12th of February the Egyptian Admiral IBRAHIM lands almost
undisturbed with 4.400 Turko-Egyptian troops on the south of the
Peloponnese, a force that the Greeks could have easily opposed and
defeated had they not been fighting among themselves. Suddenly the
Hellenic nation was again in grave danger
That landing was the beach-head of the main invasion that followed,
resulting in the recapture by the Turks of most parts of the Peloponnese
and the massacre and tyranny of it’s population for nearly another
three years. After Ibrahim’s landing, the politicians freed KOLOKOTRONIS
and offered him the leadership of the army once more.
BOUBOULINA dies at home of what may or may not have been a stray bullet,
shot in the head during a family feud while she was making preparations
to face the Egyptian army of Ibrahim Pasha.
The sunburned daughter of the sea was shot dead by a Spetsiot bullet on
the 22nd May 1825, in a dispute with members of the Koutsis family of
Spetses. The reason for the dispute, which took place at her first
husband’s house, was the elopement of a Koutsis daughter with
BOUBOULINA’s son Yeorgios Yiannouzas. The implacable and angry words of
the Kapetanissa were enough to arm the hand of the killer unrecognizable
in the darkness.
After her death the Russians gave her the honorary title of admiral, an
honor unique even now in world naval history for a female figure.
WE HEAR THE SOUND OF THE CANNONS IN THE SIEGE OF NAFPLION.
A TILE CARD FADES IN:
LASKARINA BOUBOULINA
MAY 11, 1771 - MAY 22, 1825
“Against her, the unmanly were ashamed and the brave stepped back."
CLOSE ON: A HANDWRITTEN EPISTLE signed by THEODOROS KOLOKOTRONIS, sent
to EDWARD EVERETT, dated July 5th, 1826.
THE EPISTLE CATCHES ON FIRE. IN THE BACKGROUND WE SEE ACTION MONTAGE
SEQUENCE FROM THE BATTLEFIELDS OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE TO
BOUBOULINA’S HEROIC ACHIEVEMENTS AND THE LOSS OF HER BELOVED ONES.
"Greece is forever grateful to the philanthropy of our Christian
American brothers who share her struggle and who also support with their
funds her just war for independence… the Greeks, determined to live or
die free, do not fear shedding their blood… or the killing of their old,
their women and their children… and they are ready to accept death
rather than slavery; and now, more than ever, enthusiastically and
united they are moving forward against the Turks… The Greek nation is
not ungrateful to its benefactors. It is grateful to those who proclaim
its epic struggle and their names will be recorded with indelible
letters in the annals of the reborn Greece, in timeless display, for the
respect of upcoming generations… You are benefiting humanity and
fulfilling Christ's will. "
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