MIAOULIS, ANDREAS VOKOS

born 1769, Negropont, Euboea, Greece died June 24, 1835, Athens patriot who successfully commanded the Greek revolutionary naval forces during the Greek War of Independence (182130). Miaoulis acquired a considerable fortune from his wheat-shipping business during the Napoleonic Wars and devoted it to the Greek struggle for independence against the Turks. In 1822 he was given command of the principal Greek naval forces and between May 1825 and January 1826 defeated the Turks in engagements off Modon, Cape Matapan, Suda, and Cape Papas. After the war he led a faction of the influential pro-English party; later his opposition to the pro-Russian president of Greece, Ionnis Kapodstrias, and support for the antigovernment rebels of the isle of Hydra moved him to seize the government naval arsenal at Poros (July 27, 1831) and burn the government fleet (Aug. 13, 1831). He later served on the commission that offered the Greek crown to Prince Otto (later called Otho) of Bavaria and was made vice admiral shortly before his death.