FEMALE FIRSTS

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

BOUBOULINA

Laskarina "Bouboulina" Pinotsis 11 May 1771 – 22 May 1825) was a Greek naval commander, heroine of the Greek War of Independence in 1821, and allegedly first woman-admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy.

Allegedly Bouboulina joined the Filiki Etaireia, an underground organization that was preparing Greece for revolution against Ottoman rule. She would have been one of few women but she is not named in historical members lists. She bought arms and ammunition at her own expense and brought them secretly to Spetses in her ships, to fight "for the sake of my nation." 

Construction of the ship Agamemnon was finished in 1820. She bribed Turkish officials to ignore the ship's size and it was later one of the largest warships in the hands of Greek rebels. She also organized her own armed troops, composed of men from Spetses. She used most of her fortune to provide food and ammunition for the sailors and soldiers under her command.

On 13 March 1821 Bouboulina raised on the mast of Agamemnon her own Greek flag, based on the flag of the Komnenos dynasty of Byzantine emperors.[citation needed] The people of Spetses revolted on 3 April (O.S.) and later joined forces with ships from other Greek islands. Bouboulina sailed with eight ships to Nafplion and began a naval blockade. Later she took part in the naval blockade and capture of Monemvasia and Pylos.[citation needed] Her son Yiannis Yiannouzas died in May 1821, in battle at Argos against superior numbers of Ottoman troops.

She arrived at Tripolis in time to witness its fall on 11 September 1821 and to meet general Theodoros Kolokotronis. Their children Eleni Boubouli and Panos Kolokotronis later married. During the ensuing defeat of the Ottoman garrison, Bouboulina saved most of the female members of the sultan's household.

When the opposing factions erupted into civil war in 1824, the Greek government arrested Bouboulina for her family connection with Kolokotronis; her son-in-law was killed during the events. Eventually, she was exiled back to Spetses. She had exhausted her fortune for the war of independence.