Odessa: The “Society” Port

Από: Αλέξανδρο Μπιλλίνη
Let's talk about Odessa, the key port for Ukrainian wheat. Greeks were there, the Russians basically subcontracted their exports to Greek shipping, and of course, this is where the Philike Etairia was from. More on this, on Sunday.

Odessa: The “Society” Port
My late father always wanted to go to Odessa. A proud Hydriot, every port had a visceral, nostalgic resonance to him. It reminded him of younger days and open horizons, sailing, like his ancestors before him, the open seas in search of fortune and, more importantly, agency.
The never-visited Odessa had all of this and more. It was here, of course, that the Philike Etairia was founded in 1814 by three regular guys, Greeks employed in various capacities in the southern Russian (now Ukrainian) boomtown. The port was new, built on a coast recently liberated by the Russians from the Turks. The 1700s were a period of Reconquista in Central Europe and the Black Sea region, as Austrians and Russians, at the head of multinational armies, pushed the Turk out of these lands. Fertile lands in Hungary and Ukraine had lain fallow due to the ravages of war, and now both Habsburg and Romanov sought to capitalize on peace dividends.
In a corner of the Adriatic, the Austrians developed Trieste. Here on the Black Sea coast, a port named after the Ancient Greek port of Odessos was founded. Tsarina Catherine the Great figured that a city founded by a woman should take on a feminized version of the name. Hence, Odessa.
Just as the Russians sought their Balkan coreligionists to fight for them in the wars against the Turks, so too did they encourage their commercial and maritime skills. As in Trieste, Greeks (and Serbs) settled and set their commercial skills to work for trade. Odessa particularly became important for the growing Greek fleet, particularly ships from my island, Hydra, which carried the bounty of the Ukrainian plains to ports in Spain, France, and further afield. Russian grain was the foundation of many a Hydriot fortune and indirectly contributed to Greek independence as demand increased the size of the Greek island fleet, as well as their financial power…
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