"Dragomestri, January 2. 1824.
"Dear Sir 'Ancock[1],'
[Footnote 1: This letter is, more properly, a postscript to one which
Dr. Bruno had, by his orders, written to Mr. Hancock, with some
particulars of their voyage; and the Doctor having begun his letter,
"Pregiat'mo. Sig'r. Ancock," Lord Byron thus parodies his mode of
address.]
"Remember me to Dr. Muir and every body else. I have still the 16,000
dollars with me, the rest were on board the Bombarda. Here we
are--the Bombarda taken, or at least missing, with all the Committee
stores, my friend Gamba, the horses, negro, bull-dog, steward, and
domestics, with all our implements of peace and war, also 8000
dollars; but whether she will be lawful prize or no, is for the
decision of the Governor of the Seven Islands. I have written to Dr.
Muir, by way of Kalamo, with all particulars. We are in good
condition; and what with wind and weather, and being hunted or so,
little sleeping on deck, &c. are in tolerable seasoning for the
country and circumstances. But I foresee that we shall have occasion
for all the cash I can muster at Zante and elsewhere. Mr. Barff gave
us 8000 and odd dollars; so there is still a balance in my favour. We
are not quite certain that the vessels were Turkish which chased; but
there is strong presumption that they were, and no news to the
contrary. At Zante, every body, from the Resident downwards, were as
kind as could be, especially your worthy and courteous partner.
"Tell our friends to keep up their spirits, and we may yet do well. I
disembarked the boy and another Greek, who were in most terrible
alarm--the boy, at least, from the Morea--on shore near Anatoliko, I
believe, which put them in safety; and, as for me and mine, we must
stick by our goods.
"I hope that Gamba's detention will only be temporary. As for the
effects and monies, if we have them,--well; if otherwise, patience. I
wish you a happy new year, and all our friends the same.
"Yours," &c.
During these adventures of Lord Byron, Count Gamba, having been
brought to by the Turkish frigate, had been carried, with his
valuable charge, into Patras, where the Commander of the Turkish
fleet was stationed. Here, after an interview with the Pacha, by whom
he was treated, during his detention, most courteously, he had the
good fortune to procure the release of his vessel and freight; and,
on the 4th of January, reached Missolonghi. To his surprise, however,
he found that Lord Byron had not yet arrived; for,--as if everything
connected with this short voyage were doomed to deepen whatever ill
bodings there were already in his mind,--on his Lordship's departure
from Dragomestri, a violent gale of wind had come on; his vessel was
twice driven on the rocks in the passage of the Scrofes, and, from
the force of the wind, and the captain's ignorance of those shoals,
the danger was by all on board considered to be most serious. "On the
second time of striking," says Count Gamba, "the sailors, losing all
hope of saving the vessel, began to think of their own safety. But
Lord Byron persuaded them to remain; and by his firmness, and no
small share of nautical skill, got them out of danger, and thus saved
the vessel and several lives, with 25,000 dollars, the greater part
in specie."
The wind still blowing right against their course to Missolonghi,
they again anchored between two of the numerous islets by which this
part of the coast is lined; and here Lord Byron, as well for
refreshment as ablution, found himself tempted into an indulgence
which, it is not improbable, may have had some share in producing the
fatal illness that followed. Having put off in a boat to a small rock
at some distance, he sent back a messenger for the nankeen trowsers
which he usually wore in bathing; and, though the sea was rough and
the night cold, it being then the 3d of January, swam back to the
vessel. "I am fully persuaded," says his valet, in relating this
imprudent freak, "that it injured my Lord's health. He certainly was
not taken ill at the time, but in the course of two or three days his
Lordship complained of a pain in all his bones, which continued, more
or less, to the time of his death."
Setting sail again next morning with the hope of reaching Missolonghi
before sunset, they were still baffled by adverse winds, and,
arriving late at night in the port, did not land till the morning of
the 5th.
The solicitude, in the mean time, of all at Missolonghi, knowing that
the Turkish fleet was out, and Lord Byron on his way, may without
difficulty be conceived, and is most livelily depicted in a letter
written during the suspense of that moment, by an eye-witness. "The
Turkish fleet," says Colonel Stanhope, "has ventured out, and is, at
this moment, blockading the port. Beyond these again are seen the
Greek ships, and among the rest the one that was sent for Lord Byron.
Whether he is on board or not is a question. You will allow that this
is an eventful day." Towards the end of the letter, he adds, "Lord
Byron's servants have just arrived; he himself will be here
to-morrow. If he had not come, we had need have prayed for fair
weather; for both fleet and army are hungry and inactive. Parry has
not appeared. Should he also arrive to-morrow, all Missolonghi will
go mad with pleasure."
The reception their noble visiter experienced on his arrival was such
as, from the ardent eagerness with which he had been looked for,
might be expected. The whole population of the place crowded to the
shore to welcome him: the ships anchored off the fortress fired a
salute as he passed; and all the troops and dignitaries of the place,
civil and military, with the Prince Mavrocordato at their head, met
him on his landing, and accompanied him, amidst the mingled din of
shouts, wild music, and discharges of artillery, to the house that
had been prepared for him. "I cannot easily describe," says Count
Gamba, "the emotions which such a scene excited. I could scarcely
refrain from tears."
After eight days of fatigue such as Lord Byron had endured, some
short interval of rest might fairly have been desired by him. But the
scene on which he had now entered was one that precluded all thoughts
of repose. He on whom the eyes and hopes of all others were centred,
could but little dream of indulging any care for himself. There were,
at this particular moment, too, collected within the precincts of
that town as great an abundance of the materials of unquiet and
misrule as had been ever brought together in so small a space. In
every quarter; both public and private, disorganisation and
dissatisfaction presented themselves. Of the fourteen brigs of war
which had come to the succour of Missolonghi, and which had for some
time actually protected it against a Turkish fleet double its number,
nine had already, hopeless of pay, returned to Hydra, while the
sailors of the remaining five, from the same cause of complaint, had
just quitted their ships, and were murmuring idly on shore. The
inhabitants, seeing themselves thus deserted or preyed upon by their
defenders, with a scarcity of provisions threatening them, and the
Turkish fleet before their eyes, were no less ready to break forth
into riot and revolt; while, at the same moment, to complete the
confusion, a General Assembly was on the point of being held in the
town, for the purpose of organising the forces of Western Greece, and
to this meeting all the wild mountain chiefs of the province, ripe,
of course, for dissension, were now flocking with their followers.
Mavrocordato himself, the President of the intended Congress, had
brought in his train no less than 5000 armed men, who were at this
moment in the town. Ill provided, too, with either pay or food by the
Government, this large military mob were but little less discontented
and destitute than the sailors; and in short, in every direction, the
entire population seems to have presented such a fermenting mass of
insubordination and discord as was far more likely to produce warfare
among themselves than with the enemy.
Such was the state of affairs when Lord Byron arrived at
Missolonghi;--such the evils he had now to encounter, with the
formidable consciousness that to him, and him alone, all looked for
the removal of them.
Of his proceedings during the first weeks after his arrival, the
following letters to Mr. Hancock (which by the great kindness of that
gentleman I am enabled to give) will, assisted by a few explanatory
notes, supply a sufficiently ample account.