On June 21, 1824, the island was invaded by the Turks. The resistance of the Psariots ended on July 4 with a last stand at the town's old fort of Palaiokastro (alternative name "Mavri Rachi", literally "black ridge"). Hundreds of soldiers and also women and children had taken refuge there when an Ottoman force of 2000 stormed the fort. The refugees first threw a white flag with the words "Ἐλευθερία ἤ Θάνατος" ("Eleftheria i Thanatos", ""Freedom or Death""). Then, the moment the Turks entered the fort, the local Antonios Vratsanos lit a fuse to the gunpowder stock, in an explosion that killed the town's inhabitants along with their enemies — thus remaining faithful to their flag to their death. A French officer who heard and saw the explosion compared it to a volcanic eruption of Vesuvius.