Summer 2016 Cruises; Serifos

We left Kythnos, and sailed due south to the island of Serifos.     

Just before we entered Koutala bay in the southernmost part of the island we passed by a beautiful sailboat.   The tiny islet Macronisi is seen on the left and barely visible behind the boat is the island of Sifnos.    

We entered the bay in fair weather with George, my 12-year-old nephew, resting against the lifelines.  In the back, one of caves legend has it was the dwelling of the Cyclops.  Of course the other contender where the Cyclops lived is the charming little town of Aci Trezza in Sicily where the stones Polyphemous catapulted in his effort to sink Odysseus boat can be seen. 

Alas, our peaceful time at Koutala bay did not last as the feared seasonal wind Meltemi started blowing at night.  We recorded velocities of 30-35 knots and gusts of 40-45 knots.  Although our primary anchor, the lightweight 7lb aluminum Fortress, buried itself in the sand and provided good holding, we dropped a second much heavier 26lb Cobra anchor.  As the two anchors were dropped at different points resulting in lines of different lengths they caused us to swirl and swivel all night long.  The endless boat dancing was a minor inconvenience as we felt especially at night when not assessing distance from the other boats and our proximity to the rocks is not easy.

As it was near impossible to use our dingy against the fierce wind, my brother Nikos, cooked a wonderful dinner of spaghetti using seawater.  We will all remember the saltiness of the pasta but because we were hungry we did not mind it or cared about the lack of sauce.  The dinner was complete as it was accompanied with stale bread and raki a potent alcoholic drink for the adults and treats for the kids.

In the 20th century, the mining company “Société des mines Seriphos-Spiliazeza exploited the iron ore mines of Serifos. In the summer of 1916, in response to inhumane working conditions, the 460 miners formed a union and organized a strike. Their leader was K Speras, a Serifos native, who had experience with labor struggles, on the Greek mainland. In response to the strike, Grohman, the director of the mines, asked help from the Greek authorities, who dispatch a 30-man gendarmerie detachment.  After detaining Speras and the strike committee, the gendarmerie lieutenant ordered his men to fire on the workers, who had gathered at the ore loading dock at Megalo Livadi and did permit the loading of a cargo ship.

In the morning of August 21 after the gendarmes fired at the strikers they in turn reacted with stoning them. Four workers died and tenths were injured. The lieutenant and two of his men were stoned to death and their bodies were thrown into the sea.  And there was the famous French flag incident: “Suddenly I heard cheers and in the midst of the crowd I saw a woman holding the French flag. I didn’t lose time and grabbed the flag and shouted: In the name of the French Democracy, put your weapons down!!” Speras writes in his book.

On August 26 the French warship «Henri Quatre» arrives at the island. Its crew honored the French flag and the captain declared support to the requests of the miners.  In early September, the Greek warship “Avlis” with 250 soldiers aboard was sent from the island of Syros. The union leaders and some of the workers were arrested and imprisoned in Syros. Thus the short summer of anarchy ends in Serifos but this strike led the way to the establishment of the 8-hour workday in the rest of Greece.

The capital of the island -Hora- is perched on a high hill and is defended by its Venetian fortifications.  As the weather forecast was predicting strong northerly winds we left the island of the Cyclops that is also associated with two more great heroes of Greek Mythology, Odysseus and Perseus, hoping that we will return again to get to know it better.