Laskarina Bouboulina (1771 – 1825) was a Greek heroine of the Greek War of Independence of 1821. A wealthy shipowner, she commanded ships in combat.
Birth in prison
Daughter of Skevo Pinotsis and Captain Stavrianos Pinotsis, Laskarina was born in prison in Constantinople, during a visit from her mother to her imprisoned father on May 11, 1771. The latter was imprisoned for having taken part in the Orloff Revolution in 1769 -1770 against the Ottoman occupation. Stavrianos Pinotsis dies shortly after and Laskarina lives for some time on the island of Hydra with his mother, until her remarriage with Dimitrios Lazarou Orlof. The family then settled on the island of Spetses, and eight children were born from this new union.
The War of Independence
Laskarina married for the first time at seventeen, with D. Yannouzas; they will have three children. Her husband died in 1797 and she remarried four years later to D. Bouboulis, a wealthy man. On her death in a clash with French ships in 1811, Laskarina inherited her husband's possessions and had four ships built, including the Agamemnon , a particularly large warship. In 1816, Bouboulis having fought with the Russians against the Turks, the Ottomans tried to confiscate her property but she found protection with the Russian ambassador and the mother of the Ottoman sultan.
Rumors say that during this period, Laskarina Bouboulina would have joined the Philiki Etairia , a Clandestine organization preparing the revolution against the Ottoman occupation, but there is no evidence to prove it. She continued to build her warships and the Agamemnon was completed in 1820. Laskarina then organized her troops, employed men, bought equipment and weapons for the soldiers under her command; she devotes all her fortune to it. On March 13, 1821, twelve days before the official start of the War of Independence, it hoisted the first revolutionary flag on its mast. On April 3, the people of Spetses revolt, along with the islands of Hydra and Psara, and Laskarina joins forces with the fleet of 300 ships. In Nafplion, together with other ships, she maintains a naval blockade, during which her son dies in battle.
Considered the equal of the other generals, she took part in the fighting at Monemvasia, Pylos and witnessed the fall of Tripolis on September 11, 1821, where she met the Greek general Theódoros Kolokotrónis; the two engaged their children, Eleni Boubouli and Panos Kolokotronis. In December 1822, she moved to Nafplion, commanded by Panos, but was expelled from it following various accusations.
Laskarina Bouboulina was killed on May 22, 1825, during a vendetta family. Subsequently, the Agamemnon, sold to the Greek State, became one of the ships of the French Navy. On Spetses, his home has been transformed into a museum dedicated to him.