ABSTRACT
Numerous ships, individually and in assembled flotillas, escaped from the carnage during the sack of Constantinople. The largest contingent of vessels comprised a sizeable Venetian flotilla that made its way through the Aegean to the island of Euboea and its port of Negroponte/Khalkis. From there dispatches were sent to Venice to announce the fall of the imperial city. The Cretan ships that were present during the siege and had defended the Golden Horn, under their commanders Antonios Philomates, Sgouros, and Hyalinas, also joined the exodus along with the Venetian galleys. During the siege the Cretan crews had been stationed in the harbor to assist the Venetian fleet in charge of the sea walls and the harbor. Perhaps some crewmen had disembarked and had valiantly defended three towers, although our testimony with the regard to this is late and may prove to be unreliable as it originates with the elaborated text by Pseudo-Sphrantzes.
