Petros Arapakis: The Greek Legend Who Conquered the Seas

Petros Arapakis and his globetrotting adventures made headlines much than 1 100 years ago. Credit: Greek Reporter

Petros Arapakis wagered that Greeks were the champion sailors successful the world. That stake outgo him his beingness but made him some a section and planetary legend.

Born and raised successful a castle successful the Mani portion successful the 19th century, contiguous the Arapakis property is simply a 4 prima edifice successful Charia, conscionable six miles from Aeropolis, the prefecture’s capital.

And possibly it was the precise scenery of Arapakis’ location that encouraged his wanderlust for the unfastened oversea and adventure. Although raised connected mainland Greece, helium whitethorn arsenic good person been connected an island.

Mani, located connected the Peloponnesian Peninsula, was 1 of the astir inaccessible, wildest and difficult-to-rule parts of Greece, which, until the 1970s, could lone beryllium accessed by boat.

The 50-mile-long peninsula is washed by the waters of the Messinian and the Laconian Gulfs, which are crystal wide and escaped of pollution. It begins northbound of the Taygetos upland range, the occidental spine of the Peloponnese which separates East Mani from West Mani, and ends astatine Cape Tainaron, the southernmost tip. Areopolis, its capital, virtually translates successful Greek to mean “city of war.”

The radical of Mani, known arsenic Maniotes, person the estimation of being the fiercest radical of Greece. The scenery reflects the quality of its people, rugged and barren, bathed successful merciless sunlight and dominated by stone. However, it is besides framed by beauteous cypress and olive trees and each sorts of wildflowers. Over the centuries, it has shaped its ain past and government, which is unsocial successful Greece.

The archetypal location of Petros Arapakis, a legendary Greek seafarer. Credit: Greek Reporter

Once a basal for pirates, impregnable to each types of raids, this onshore has been inhabited from prehistoric times until today, populated by proud and autarkic people.

The scenery is filled with aged houses, galore caves, isolated fortified towers, operation houses, huts, fountains, bridges and a multitude of constrictive roads stretching from the astir inaccessible mountains to its beaches, connecting the antithetic parts of the region. These structures constituent retired the unsocial history, societal enactment and manner that developed successful Mani.

Katie Arapakis, a civilian technologist who is besides the woman of Nikolas Arapakis, a 3rd procreation descendant of the legendary seafarer, spoke to Greek Reporter recently astir her household and the concern they person developed retired of their household history.

Arapakis a descendant of Greek War of Independence Fighter

Petros Arapakis was calved successful Charia, Mani successful 1879. He was the grandson of an independency combatant from 1821, Ilias Arapakis.

The Pandora, the sloop successful which Petros Arapakis and George Blythe attempted to navigate astir the world. Credit: Greek Reporter

From a precise young property helium showed his emotion for the sea. At 16, successful a tiny 16-foot sailboat, helium traveled 1,500 miles astir the shores of the Mediterranean to conscionable his friends, defying information and hardship. In 1903, astatine 24, helium was the archetypal to participate the unexplored cave of Vlychada, 1 of the caves of Diros.

According to Katie Arapakis, the legends were that Petros Arapakis carved his sanction connected the cave partition 4,000 feet wrong its interior. Ioannis Petrochilos, a Greek speleologist, confirmed this erstwhile helium explored Vlychada successful 1949.

Sailing Chosen Over Medical Career

Petros Alapakis attended Kalamata High School and past enrolled successful the University of Athens Medical School, pursuing successful the footsteps of some his begetter and independency combatant grandfather, who were some doctors. His emotion for the oversea prevailed, however, and aft a year, helium abandoned aesculapian school.

Arapakis went to England and enrolled successful the Merchant Mariners School successful London.

Upon his graduation helium created an awesome nautical chart. He past traveled to New York wherever helium worked successful the store of a chap Maniotes.

After redeeming immoderate money, Arapakis journeyed to Australia successful 1908. In Sydney helium met a affluent young pistillate named Cecilia Adams. She hired Arapakis to skipper her yacht and it wasn’t agelong earlier the 2 fell successful love.

While successful Sydney, with 2 friends, a German antheral named Friedrich and an Englishman, George Blythe, some men of the sea, Arapakis got into a heated treatment astir which nationality had the champion sailors. Each of the men claimed their ain countrymen to beryllium superior. To beryllium his point, Arapakis said helium would question astir the satellite by vessel to show that the Greeks are the champion sailors successful the world.

Wager: Greeks Are the World’s Best Sailors

Adams offered her yacht, the Pandora, 130-foot sloop of 9 tons, to Arapakis for the challenge, arsenic good arsenic 60 pounds a week to anyone who would travel the sailor connected his daring venture. Blythe agreed to articulation Arapakis arsenic his archetypal mate.

You tin presumption photos of the Arapakis household fable wrong the operation astatine the Arapakis Castle. Credit: Greek Reporter

Adams and Arapakis were engaged earlier helium departed connected the journey. According to Katie, Blythe utilized the travel of American Joshua Slocum, who successful 1895 had crossed the Atlantic unsocial from Boston to Gibraltar, arsenic a usher for the travel with Arapakis connected the Pandora.

They acceptable sail from Western Australia connected May 3, 1910. On May 29, aft a unsafe 2,000-mile sail, they arrived successful Melbourne, wherever they stayed for a fewer weeks. They arrived successful Sydney connected August 16. The pursuing time they departed for New Zealand. On October 2, 1910, the Pandora near New Zealand to task crossed the Pacific aiming for Cape Horn, connected the confederate extremity of South America.

The Horn is the constituent wherever the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet. The waves successful the country are immoderate of the largest connected Earth, and navigating done the country is exceedingly dangerous.

On January 22, 1911, aft coming to the Horn, portion they were lone 3 miles disconnected the coast, a immense question overturned the Pandora — but different miraculously brought it upright again. A Norwegian whaler successful the country towed them into wherever Petros and Blythe were capable to repair the Pandora’s damage. They were past capable to proceed their travel northbound to America. Eventually, the 2 daring seafarers managed to scope New York.

Arapakis sails to New York

According to Katie, Arapakis and Blythe arrived successful New York to an unthinkable reception. Petros moored the Pandora alongside an water liner portion newspapers devoted galore pages to the unthinkable accomplishment of the 2 sailors. A photograph that was published was captioned with “The largest and smallest water liners successful the world.”

Arapakis was courted by galore a businessman who wanted to currency successful connected the sailor’s occurrence — but helium refused. And determination were adjacent those who incredibly wanted to bash harm to the vas truthful Arapakis could not proceed the journey. Petros slept aboard the Pandora to thwart immoderate imaginable sabotage.

Before departing New York, an American sailor, T. F. Day, warned Arapakis and Blythe that their wont of tying the rudder and leaving the yacht to sail by itself was precise dangerous. Nonetheless, they departed New York with a people charted for London with plans to transverse the Mediterranean, get successful Greece and proceed done the Suez Canal to decorativeness their travel backmost successful Australia.

They managed to transverse the Atlantic and were spotted disconnected the seashore of Spain by an water liner — but the Pandora had suffered terrible harm from the storms they encountered crossing the Atlantic. The sailors were successful tattered clothes, agelong hair, beards and were red-eyed from insomnia by the clip they were found.

They had nary h2o and nary food.

They refused to disembark from the Pandora and lone asked for h2o and nutrient from the unit of the water liner. Arapakis was adamant astir this, stating, “I started connected a mission. I volition either get oregon I volition lose.”

According to Katie that was successful March of 1911 and it was the past clip the brace was ever seen alive. Either a tempest sank the Pandora oregon they collided with different vessel oregon rocks on the enactment due to the fact that they had kept the rudder tied portion they were astatine sea.

It is estimated that the courageous men had traveled a full of 122,000 nautical miles.

Arapakis and Blythe made satellite naval history, arsenic the archetypal to sail from Cape Horn from West to East. “A Mariner’s Miscellany” states that they crossed Cape Horn successful 1911 successful the sloop Pandora.

Petros Arapakis, the seafarer from Mani, who traveled The Horn. Credit: Greek Reporter

In 1940, soon earlier the WWII, Cecilia Adams, Arapakis’ fiancée, came to Greece. She wanted to spot the homeland of her beloved — adjacent 3 decades aft helium had tragically fixed up his beingness connected the water. She stayed successful Greece for 15 days. Arapakis’ brother, Giagos-Ioannis Arapakis, a salient doc and Mayor of Kallithea from 1933 to 1941, showed Adams Athens and Mani.

Arapakis’ Descendants Preserve Legend and Castle

Today, Arapakis’ descendants are keeping his representation and his fable alive. They created a hotel, unfastened twelvemonth round, called the Arapakis Castle connected the family’s property successful 2010. At the clip Katie Arapakis told Greek Reporter that they were doing their champion to support the structures connected the spot but it was astatine large cost. They utilized a improvement instrumentality to concern preserved practice buildings by converting the backstage spot into a hotel.

The ownership of the full spot was distributed among 8 household members, each holding rubric to peculiar buildings. Katie states to Greek Reporter that her household owned the operation and the mill. There were backstage homes arsenic well, on with an olive property that belonged to different members of the family. They were each successful statement to person the spot to facilitate its preservation. Today, Katie’s household oversees the cognition of Arapakis Castle.

Within the tower, determination is simply a postulation of humanities photographs connected show of the legendary Arapakis and his shipmate Blythe, arsenic good arsenic excerpts from the published articles of the New York Times astir their travels.

Arapakis Castle seems to beryllium a magnet for emotion stories and adventure. The Greek tv transmission MEGA filmed the bid “Gei Tis Elias,” Land of the Olives, connected the edifice property. Katie told Greek Reporter that rooms wrong the edifice analyzable person been utilized for the filming. The romanticist play takes spot successful the bosom of Mani, during olive picking, an enactment that nary 1 and thing tin stop. It is simply a communicative of 2 young lovers and the secrets that emerge.

Just a three-hour roadworthy travel from Athens, Mani is simply a fascinating abrogation destination, not lone for the summertime but besides for weekends and holidays year-round.

Castle battlements, Byzantine churches, accepted settlements, towers and monuments, cobbled trails and the Diros caves — this is what awaits those who sojourn Mani.

The masterful usage of the chromatic successful each structure, with the diagnostic cornerstones, carved stones, domes, turrets, murder-holes, cages, etc., lend a peculiar morphology to the region’s unsocial and fascinating architecture. It is 1 the astir accepted areas of the Peloponnese with 800 towers and operation houses, much than 1000 Byzantine and post-Byzantine churches, 8 castles, 98 retired of 118 accepted settlements of the Peloponnese, and much than 100 caves, including the world-renowned Diros Caves.

The portion is location to much than 1000 works species, implicit 120 Greek endemic plants of which 32 are locally endemic and unsocial successful the world. The clime is perfect for the maturation of olive trees, which nutrient superior oil. The affluent vegetation of herbs and aromatic plants assistance to nutrient precocious prime honey.

Arapakis Castle offers the accidental to get acquainted with this legendary sailor and to research the wonders of the Mani countryside — oregon adjacent get caught connected camera arsenic a televised romance is being filmed connected its grounds.