Paris,
6 October. An officer of the Danish navy who commanded a division of the Greek
fleet wrote some time ago an extensive letter to his family and of which an
extract was published in a (pity) enough) anonymous magazine. In his opinion
were two ships of the line and four frigates with European crews manned
sufficient to destroy in a single battle all the fleets of the Ottoman Empire.
The Greeks would do the same if they haven’t had worse and to small vessels to
use against the heavy Turkish artillery. The Turkish are the worse sailors with
captains lacking all necessary knowledge even blaming their helmsmen when the
weather conditions changes. Their sailors most of them were Greek were forced
to serve on board and were beaten with sticks when a wind suddenly blows from a
different direction causing a changed course. During the fight all manoeuvres
are one disorder. Although some German newspapers and even some French claimed
that the Turkish were noble brave men their courage was simple owed to the use
of opium. Officers or just a simple sailor or gunner all were drunk or better
described furious. Just the enormous sound of gunfire and thick smog was enough
to believe everything was well. It’s without any doubt that repeatedly
negotiations started to obtain a squadron of the United States in exchange for
each island in the Archipelago they wanted to choose.
