Threads
Harbour and pier
Boats to Nafplio, a pier that never quite worked, and the heart of the village today.
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1688–1715
A monopoly on the ferry, coffee and eels
Under Venice, transport between Nafplio and the mills was a state concession. The leaseholder had the sole right to carry people and goods by sea between Nafplio and the mills of Kiveri, to bring grain to the mills and…
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1700
Grain by boat, flour back to Nafplio
In his introduction to the Venetian cadastre of Argos, the engineer Francesco Vandeyk describes a castle on a high hill near the sea, called Anasiri, or by many 'Old Argos' or 'Helen's castle'. Below it, he writes, water…
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c. 1704
The whole Venetian fleet takes water at the Mills
A Venetian description of the Kingdom of the Morea from around 1704, attributed to G. E. Alberghetti, notes that in the southernmost part of the plain of Argos lie 'the Mills, where the whole navy takes on water'. The…
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1806
A ship from Smyrna unloads iron at the wharf
Leake found the southern mills close to the shore and to 'a small wharf where vessels load or disembark their cargoes'. A ship from Smyrna lay at anchor, unloading iron, and a row of storehouses stretched from the mills…
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c. 1815
Ottoman frigates anchor off 'the Mills'
Pouqueville noted that the frigates of the Kapudan Pasha, the Ottoman admiral, had to anchor off the beach of Lerna, 'commonly called the Mills', and that ships calling there took on fresh water. A century after the…
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31 May 1823
Harbour master and police chief of Myloi, 1823–1824
Spyros Stathopoulos became "general harbour master and police overseer of Myloi" and served until early 1824. After him came Konstantinos Michalopoulos ("Astynomos"), Panagis Orfanos as acting police chief (March 1824)…
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30 March 1824
The government arrives by sea at the mills
During the civil war of 1824, two brigs carrying the members of the government dropped anchor in the roadstead of the mills of Lerna. Nafplio was in the hands of their opponents, so the mills became their foothold on the…
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9 October 1827
A captain claims the harbour office of Myloi
Konstantis Veris asked for the return of the harbour office (limenarcheio) that had been assigned to him. It shows that in 1827 Myloi was a landing place with harbour dues, and that the soldiers holding it collected…
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1829
Myloi's landing stage becomes the zero point of the map
The French surveyors under Eugène Peytier, who made the first modern map of the Peloponnese, chose the landing stage of the mills at Lerna as the starting point for measuring heights, at 0.85 metres above the sea. The…
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1831
Work begins on the road from Tripoli to Myloi
Under Kapodistrias work began on a road from Tripoli over the mountains down to Myloi, the nearest landing place for Arcadia. It took almost thirty years to finish.
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4 June 1831
A boat of USS Boston capsizes on the way back from Lerna
A few days after the visit of the Constellation's officers, a boat from the American sloop USS Boston capsized in the gulf on its way back from Lerna.
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1857
Carts on the road from Myloi to Tripoli
By the mid-1850s the road from Tripoli to Myloi could be used by carts. A Tripoli newspaper reported in 1858 that about ten freight carts a day travelled it, carrying goods between the landing place at Myloi and Arcadia.
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1858
'A landing-place, with a few poor houses'
The English scholar W. G. Clark went by boat from Nafplio to Myloi in one hour and twenty minutes, partly rowing and partly sailing. He found 'a landing-place, with a few poor houses about it', a pebble beach, quaking…
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March 1858
The village councillor welcomes King Otto and Queen Amalia
King Otto and Queen Amalia came by steamer from Nafplio to Myloi, where all the villagers met them with local music. The special councillor (ειδικός πάρεδρος) of Myloi, "Mr Loukas", had strewn the streets with myrtle and…
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12 November 1859
The road from Tripoli to Myloi is finished
A Tripoli newspaper reported that the road from Tripoli to Myloi, begun in 1831, had been completed in 1859. It made Myloi the port of Arcadia until the railway came.
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November 1862
A stagecoach between Tripoli and Myloi
From November 1862 a diligence was announced to run three times a week between Tripoli and Myloi.
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16 December 1865
No customs house at Myloi
Goods landed at Myloi for Tripoli still had to be cleared at the customs house in Nafplio, 'there being no customs house at Myloi'. A Tripoli newspaper complained about the detour this caused for the trade of Arcadia.
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15 February 1867
Deputies propose a customs office at Myloi
Twelve members of parliament from the Peloponnese tabled a bill to set up a third-class sub-customs office 'at Myloi of Argos'.
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14 October 1869
A carriage road and a pier for Myloi
A newspaper reported that a carriage road was being built from Argos to Myloi and that a landing pier (apovathra) was being built in the harbour of Myloi. So the village had a small pier well before the railway came.
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1873
Myloi gets a customs station
After years of requests, a law of 1873 set up 'a customs station at Myloi of Argos'. Goods for Arcadia no longer had to make the detour through Nafplio. In 1874 a newspaper noted that there were public offices at Myloi.
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10 October 1877
The rowing ferry from Nafplio capsizes
Before the railway, people crossed between Nafplio and Myloi in rowing boats, a trip of about an hour. In the autumn of 1877 one of these boats from Nafplio capsized and a carter from Argos drowned.
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1 January 1878
Three boats full of goods capsize at the quay
A newspaper reported that 'at the quay of Myloi of Nafplia' three boats full of merchandise had capsized. The report shows that Myloi had a quay where goods were loaded and unloaded, and how exposed it was to bad…
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1879
Steamers begin to call at Myloi
From about 1879 coastal steamers, among them the Argolis, began to call at Myloi.
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3 August 1881
A telegraph office for Myloi is requested
Newspapers in Tripoli and Athens supported a request for a telegraph station at Myloi, the busy landing place on the road to Arcadia.
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1883
Baedeker: the 'Skala' with the most important mill
The German Baedeker guide of 1883 described Myli as a village stretching along the road at the foot of Pontinos. Below the road, near the chapel of Agios Ioannis, a mighty spring broke out. Part of the village, the…
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9 August 1886
A big station: Myloi meant to be the port of the Peloponnese
A reporter wrote that Myloi station was built 'very spacious, with matching warehouses', because this harbour was to become the port of the whole Peloponnese. The station stood right opposite a 'very high ancient…
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October 1887
Smuggled silks found on the shore of Myloi
In the autumn of 1887 the justice of the peace and the gendarmerie of Argos heard that goods were being smuggled ashore at Myloi. They went to the beach and seized six large crates and a parcel of silk fabrics, neckties…
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February 1888
A ferry boat capsizes on the way to Myloi
Before the road was good, many travellers crossed the bay by rowing or sailing boat between Nafplio and the railway at Myloi. In February 1888 one of these boats capsized in a strong wind: one of the two boatmen drowned,…
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12 May 1888
Contract signed: a railway from Myloi, with a pier and a workshop
Trikoupis and Lomvardos signed the contract with the Belgian consul Louis Rosseels, acting for Ernest Rolin of the Société Internationale de Constructions et d'Entreprises de Travaux Publics. The line was to start at…
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10 July 1888
The pier is planned as a pier on piles
The company's budget set aside 290,000 francs for 'a pier (estacade) and workshops at Myloi and Kalamata'. An estacade is a pier standing on piles, not a solid stone harbour wall. The whole line was budgeted at 21.6…
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26 January 1889
A Spanish steamer brings the first building materials
On a Saturday in January 1889 a Spanish steamer sailed into Myloi with materials for the new Myloi–Kalamata railway. The works began at both ends of the line, Myloi and Kalamata, because materials could arrive there by…
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May 1889
A German traveller sails from Myloi to Nauplia
In May 1889 Georg Behrmann found someone on the beach at Myloi who understood German and helped him hire a sailing boat, steered by 'two cheerful, talkative Myliots', to Nauplia. He noted that he could also have taken…
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19 September 1889
Myloi has a customs post
Under a new customs law, Nikolaos Theologidis was formally appointed head of the customs post at 'Myloi of Argos', a job he already held. Goods landed at Myloi had to pass through his hands.
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1 October 1889
Storm in the harbour: two iron lighters capsize
A heavy storm in the Argolic Gulf capsized two large iron lighters of the railway company in the harbour of Myloi–Lerna. The workers on board, who were unloading the English steamer Pleiad anchored there, were saved 'as…
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14 December 1889
A new head of customs: Nikitas Loudaros
Nikitas Loudaros was appointed head of the customs post of Myloi. He replaced Nikolaos Theologidis, who had held the post for more than two years and was promoted to deputy customs officer on Othonoi.
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6 July 1891
King George I lands at Myloi to open the line to Tripoli
At 6 in the morning the royal yacht Sfaktiria sailed into Myloi with King George I, the princes Nikolaos and Andreas and Prime Minister Deligiannis, greeted by cannon fire as she passed Nafplio. At 8 the king stepped…
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6 July 1891
Back at Myloi in the evening, the king sails home
At half past six in the evening the trains were back at Myloi. The king said goodbye and was rowed out to the Sfaktiria, which lay at anchor off Myloi; the prime minister followed in another boat. The guests left Myloi…
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17 November 1891
Nafplio wants the line extended from Myloi to its own pier
The town council of Nafplio asked for the Myloi–Kalamata line to be extended 'from Myloi to the pier in front of the customs house of Nafplio'. It was an early sign of the rivalry between the two harbours.
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22 September 1892
A change at the customs post
The official gazette recorded that Andreas Papandreou was appointed head of the customs post of Myloi in place of Georgios D. Mousmoulis, who was dismissed. Nikitas Loudaros, an earlier head of the post, was moved to…
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1894
Baedeker: Myli, landing place for boats from Nauplia
The 1894 Baedeker guide told travellers that Myli 'is the landing-place for boats from Nauplia', with three or four trains a day to Myli and one or two on to Tripolitza.
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16 April 1894
The royal family lands at Myloi on the way to Mycenae
The royal yacht Sfaktiria sailed into Myloi with the royal family. They went ashore by boat and boarded a special train that was waiting for them, to visit the antiquities of Mycenae. The yacht waited at anchor off Myloi…
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1 September 1896
1,650 tons of rails unloaded at Myloi
The ΣΠΑΠ put out to tender the unloading 'in the harbour of Myloi (Nafplio)' of a steamer bringing about 1,650 tons of rails and track parts for the company, for the extension of the line beyond Tripoli. The harbour of…
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7 August 1897
Another new head for the customs post
I. P. Digenis, formerly head of the customs post of Kionion, was appointed head of the customs post of Myloi. The heads changed often: in 1894 his predecessor (the name is unclear in the scan) had been promoted…
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23 February 1898
The pier is too shallow: the railway must extend it
A contract of 1898 for the last section of the line obliged the ΣΠΑΠ (article 9) 'to extend the pier of the harbour of Myloi of Nafplio to a depth of three metres'. So there was a pier, but it did not reach deep enough…
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16 December 1899
A new deal: money for Nafplio instead of a longer pier at Myloi
Prime Minister Theotokis and Pavlos Skouzes, chairman of the ΣΠΑΠ, signed a contract that replaced the pier extension at Myloi. The company would pay 100,000 drachmas to Nafplio's harbour fund and lay track along the…
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4 April 1900
'Silting made the pier useless': the extension is dropped
Introducing the bill, Prime Minister Theotokis told parliament that the bottom of the bay and the silting at Myloi made a longer pier useless. He added that the place was so unhealthy that, although the railway had come…
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10 April 1900
'Every attempt to build a pier at Myloi came to nothing'
N. Triantafyllakos, MP for Tripoli, protested that Myloi lay at the start of the line and a good pier there would make goods for Tripoli cheaper. Theotokis answered: 'Every attempt to build a pier at Myloi came to…
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1908
Sailing directions: shallow water off Myloi
The Admiralty's Mediterranean Pilot of 1908 described Myli under Mount Pontinus. 'The shallow ground' prevented large vessels from coming close; the south wind was felt in full, though the holding ground was good. It…
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13 January 1927
'Skala': Myloi as the landing place of Tripoli
An Athens paper described Myloi as a village on the railway to Tripoli, 'well-watered, full of trees and pleasant', with tall eucalyptus trees along the beach where the boats lay. Besides its name from the many water…
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December 1930
The customs post is still open: a new chief in 1930
The Argos paper reported that 'a few days ago the new head of the customs post, Grigorios Dymoperis, took up his post in Myloi'. Customs officers had been stationed in Myloi for at least forty years.
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25 April 1941
General Mackay leaves by flying boat at dawn
Early on 25 April 1941 Major-General Iven Mackay, commander of the 6th Australian Division, flew to Crete in a Sunderland; the New Zealand official history says he left 'from Miloi'. At dawn the bay was full of smoke…
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25 April 1941 – 26 April 1941
Patrick Leigh Fermor arrives in the armed caique Aghia Varvara
Lieutenant Patrick Leigh Fermor, then an intelligence officer with the British Military Mission, sailed the armed caique Aghia Varvara from near Sounion to Myloi, to evacuate General Wilson and Prince Peter if other…
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26 April 1941
Stukas bomb the Crown Prince's yacht in the harbour
The Greek Crown Prince had handed his motor yacht over to the Royal Navy, and it was waiting at Myloi to help with the evacuation. In the afternoon of 26 April 1941 German dive bombers spotted it in the harbour and put…
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26 April 1941
Around 8.30 p.m. a Sunderland flying boat lands in the bay
A Sunderland flying boat sent from Souda Bay came to collect General Wilson at about 20:30 on 26 April 1941. It did not take off straight away: it lay in the bay off the pier until after midnight.
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26 April 1941
At sunset the headquarters is abandoned and the party goes to the pier
'At sunset we abandoned our H.Q. and the whole party proceeded to Myli pier,' wrote Baillie-Grohman. The flying boat and the caique were there, but the destroyer that was to take off the rest of the staff had not yet…
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26 April 1941 – 27 April 1941
Which destroyer called at Myloi: Nubian or Havock?
One version, followed until now on this website, says that HMS Nubian called at 'Myli' in the night of 26 to 27 April 1941 to collect General Wilson and found him already gone. The official despatch in the London Gazette…
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27 April 1941
The caique with Wilson's luggage is bombed and sunk off Leonidio
After Baillie-Grohman transferred to HMS Havock, the caique Aghia Varvara sailed on south from Myloi with Smith-Dorrien, Leigh Fermor and Wilson's aide. At dawn it reached Leonidio, where German dive bombers sank it in…
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27 April 1941
At midnight Baillie-Grohman sails in the caique; HMS Havock takes him off
As there was still no sign of the destroyer, Rear-Admiral Baillie-Grohman left the quay at Myloi at midnight with his staff and beachmasters in the caique chartered by Colonel Smith-Dorrien, heading for Monemvasia. Later…
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27 April 1941
After midnight General Wilson leaves Myloi by flying boat
The pilot could not land at Souda Bay before 06:30 and had too little fuel to stay in the air all night. So after midnight, in the night of 26 to 27 April 1941, the Sunderland with Wilson, Prince Peter, Admiral…
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13 July 1941
Aerial photo: the long pier, the likely boarding place of April 1941
Frame 112 of 13 July 1941 shows the long railway pier with fields running down to the coast. Eleven weeks earlier this was the most likely place where Wilson's party went aboard; a smaller jetty further north is the…
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13 July 1941
Aerial photo: a goods train of about 25 wagons on the pier siding
The photographs of 13 July 1941 show the station yard in use under the occupation: the two-hall locomotive shed, a turntable, two round water tanks, the station buildings and the goods shed with wagons. A goods train of…
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October 1944
The Security Battalions of Tripoli are disarmed at Myloi and shipped to Spetses
Under an agreement made at the end of September 1944, the collaborationist Security Battalions of Tripoli under Dionysios Papadongonas marched in formation, with their personal weapons, to Myloi. There they handed their…
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1945?
Postwar orthophoto: the pier and a stone coastal dam
A historic orthophoto of the Greek cadastre, probably from 1945, shows the railway pier at about 70 metres long, a smaller jetty to the north, the railway and the orchards. From the root of the pier a straight coastal…
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1947
New railcars for the Peloponnese are landed at the pier
In 1947, with the bridge over the Corinth Canal still destroyed, new railcars for the Peloponnese lines were landed at the pier of Myloi directly from a Navy landing craft. A photograph shows one railcar rolling off the…
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1966
A "factory" on the British chart
The British Admiralty chart 1518 of 1966 marks a building labelled "Facty" just north-west of the root of the Myloi pier. It is probably the building of the ice factory «Η Λέρνη» on the beach.