Kassos is an island located in the south-east part of the Aegean Sea, east from the island of Crete and west of the island of Karpathos. Despite its small size (60 square kilometers, around 23 square miles), it is a place with deep roots and a long history that reaches as far back as Homer. Homer himself mentions Kassos' participation in the Trojan War, contributing several boats! It is also well known historical fact that Kassos used to be a popular port facility of the Minoan era, while around 475 BC it became part of the Athenian alliance. Subsequently, the island changed hands to the Romans, the Byzantines, the Venetians, and finally the Ottomans.
According to the French scholar Savary, around 1779 Kassos enjoyed independent and prosperous democratic system. Just before the Greek war of Independence of 1821 it has a fleet of around 80 ships; they immediately contribute them to the revolution to offer a substantial naval advantage during the war. As a result, in 1824 the island is completely destroyed by the combined Ottoman and Egyptian fleet!
It did not take long however, for Kassos naval tradition to reborn; several years later new ships are aggressively built, to make Kassians some of the main players in the shipping industry of Greece. In 1858 several Kassians work for the Suez Canal, and later they apply their experience in the Panama Canal. In both places Kassian captains were among the first ones to sail through the canals.
From 1912 Kassos as well as the rest of the Dodecanese islands
are under the Italian occupation. The 1945 liberation marks the beginning
of a new era for Kassos; the struggle for a better quality of life under
the new freedom almost 150 years of occupation.
For many, Kassos is the boat like island sailing both
the sea of time and the Greek Aegean sea, or as the sailors name it:
the ``White Sea''...
