fortified by a wall that reinforces the natural protection provided by the terrain. Over the years the island developed a significant naval power. The Greek Coalition in cooperation with the Russians in the Russian-Turkish war in 1768–1774 turned the powerful merchant fleet of Spetses to a significant power against the Turks during the so-called Orlofika. In response to these events the Turks destroyed the only village on the island in 1770. For some years after the destruction of the island it remained deserted, but was re-occupied in 1774 by new settlers from the opposite coast of Peloponnese after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca that allowed the Russian free movement of ships in the Mediterranean and the recreation of the powerful commercial fleet by using the Russian flag to establish trade routes with neighboring countries. Merchant seafaring was the only source of livelihood for many rocky, non-arable Greek islands, and the brisk Mediterranean and Black Sea trade of the 18th and 19th centuries allowed them to prosper - especially and spectacularly so during the trade embargoes of the Napoleonic Wars, which found Greek merchantmen and crews willing and able work with, or against, both belligerent sides at tremendous profit.
After the re-occupation of Spetses the settlement began to expand beyond the Kastelli region and brought about further growth in the maritime economic activities of the island. When in 1821 the Greek revolution broke out, Spetses was the first of the Greek islands that raised the flag of Revolution the morning of 3 April 1821. The fleet of Spetses, consisting of merchant ships belonging to the island, had become a formidable tool for war and played a key role in the struggle, both by participating in raids against the Turkish coast and the exclusion of fortresses in the Peloponnese. Particularly important is the involvement of the Spetsiote fleet in sieges of the fortresses of Nafplion and Monemvasia and naval battles of Samos
