The United States Mediterranean Squadron and the Greek War of Independence: A Study of the Standoff on Mykonos and the Pirate Mermelechas

Abstract:In response to the boom of piracy during the Greek War of Independence, Western powers sent warships to the Aegean to protect their commercial interests. Only limited attention has hitherto been given to these operations, including those by the US Mediterranean Squadron which represent "the first extensive experience of Greece by a large number of Americans." My study examines this experience beyond the traditional, albeit reductive, context of philhellenism and mishellenism. It illuminates tactical operations, political deliberations and cultural interests of the American marines in the Aegean by focusing on a violent standoff on Mykonos in 1827. The standoff is found to have been triggered by activities of the pirate Mermelechas, a previously obscure figure who is lately celebrated on the island. I identify hitherto unknown literary and artistic portraits of the pirate in the US, and I explain the American interest in him in the light of the "Greek fervor" and the passion for pirate stories which swept the country at the time. More broadly, my study exposes the role of the Mediterranean Squadron in carrying textual and visual documentation of the revolutionary Greeks across the Atlantic.