- Author
- Letter Writer
- Subjects
- History - general, Letter to the Editor
- Tags
- None noted.
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- June 2000 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
The Athenian admiral was Themistocles who was a combination of Jackie Fisher who created the dreadnought, and Horatio Nelson. He had 200 Athenian triremes plus another 178 ships crewed by his allies. Once all the citizens were aboard Themistocles despatched a leading supply assistant and 10 ABs to ransack their houses. Digging up the back gardens produced enough drachma to finance the fleet. They then hoisted the Blue Peter and left the city to Xerxes.
Unfortunately for Themistocles he was only 2 i/c of the combined operation. The chief was Eurybiades, a chap who was, to quote old Plutarch, “faint-hearted in time of danger”. Euryo hoisted a signal just like the one sent to Nelson in the poem “Admirals All” –
“The admiral’s signal bade him fly
But he wickedly wagged his head.
He clapped the glass to his sightless eye
And I’m blowed if I see it, he said.”
Themistocles having two eyes and two arms and no telescope resorted to fear and superstition. He threatened Euryo with ostracism which meant execution should he fail to attack the Persian fleet. While he was laying down the law, an owl flew in from the starboard quarter and sat upon the mast, an omen of success. So the Greeks decided to give it a go; until next morning when the 800 odd Persian ships hove in sight – “Strike-me-lucky” or words to that effect, said Fury, “let’s beat it”.
Themistocles needing another rabbit to pull out of his helmet, whomped it up with a Trojan Horse stratagem. He had a captive Persian in tow and sent him to Xerxes with a message signed by Themistocles, that the 178 Greek odds and sods were about to scarper.
Whereupon Xerxes despatched 200 ships to enclose every exit from the Aegean Sea, thus forcing the Greek fleet to fight. He then sent his main fleet into the straits between Salamis and the mainland expecting wholesale surrender. He had been tricked because in such narrow waters numbers of cumbersome battleships were handicapped against the manoeuvrability of the Athenian galleys. The result is described by Plutarch:
“As the Persians fell foul of one another, the Greeks equalled them in strength, ramming, boarding and destroying until by evening they had obtained a noble and famous victory.”
So there we are – there is a lot more to the Battle of Salamis than space permits, but this should give Harv a bit of a go.
As for the Pleiades, Greek sailors used them as “sailing stars”. They would only undertake long or perilous voyages when the Pleiades were to be seen in the eastern heavens in the evenings, because it was only at that time of the year that navigation was safe – likewise if one follows the point of the belt of Orion north in March in the Indian Ocean one will hit Fremantle.
On the way back from the Pleiades Harv picked up his dhobi from Gemini where the terrible twins, Shags and Nat ran the firm. Shags, the head wallah, said:
“Harv, you heard about the pianist who was asked to explain why the keys on the piano were yellow? “It’s not very old,” he said, “it’s that the elephant was a heavy smoker.”
Thanks Harv.
Chaloner