View onto the Latmian Gulf from Herakliea. Almost all islands have harbour monasteries, as does the mountain itself.
“[8] Next comes the Latmian Gulf, on which is situated “Heracleia below Latmus,” as it is called, a small town that has an anchoring-place. It was at first called Latmus, the same name as the mountain that lies above it, which Hecataeus indicates, in his opinion, to be the same as that which by the poet is called “the mountain of the Phtheires” (for he says that the mountain of the Phtheires lies above Latmus), though some say that it is Mt. Grium, which is approximately parallel to Latmus and extends inland from Milesia towards the east through Caria to Euromus and Chalcetores. This mountain lies above Heracleia, and at a high elevation. At a slight distance away from it, after one has crossed a little river near Latmus, there is to be seen the sepulchre of Endymion, in a cave. Then from Heracleia to Pyrrha, a small town, there is a voyage of about one hundred stadia.
[9] But the voyage from Miletus to Heracleia, including the sinuosities of the gulfs, is a little more than one hundred stadia, though that from Miletus to Pyrrha, in a straight course, is only thirty–so much longer is the journey along the coast. But in the case of famous places my reader must need to endure the dry escriptions of geography.
Strabo, 14.1.8-11
Gigantic Byzantine Fortress on a monolithic rock in the Latmus
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus, (AD 23–79) The Natural History
Strabo (born 63 BC or 64 BC, died ca. 24 AD), Geography
Pausanias,( 2. Century AD) Periegesis tes Hellados
Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier, Le Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce (1782-1822),
Maps from: Eski Haritalarda Bati Anadolu, Nezih Basgelen, Istanbul, 2005,
Engraving from: Gravürlerle Türkiye, Volume IV, Rep. of Turkey, Ministry of Culture, Ankara 1996
Domatia, or Eski Doganbey is a quaint village, in the process of being carefully and tastefully restored. It is one of the few places in the area where men seem to build and rebuild in harmony with nature. Gateway to the “Samsundag Milli Parki” for those who would like to hike on Mt. Mykale.
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus, (AD 23–79) The Natural History
Strabo (born 63 BC or 64 BC, died ca. 24 AD), Geography
Pausanias,( 2. Century AD) Periegesis tes Hellados
Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier, Le Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce (1782-1822),
Maps from: Eski Haritalarda Bati Anadolu, Nezih Basgelen, Istanbul, 2005,
Engraving from: Gravürlerle Türkiye, Volume IV, Rep. of Turkey, Ministry of Culture, Ankara 1996
The fertile plains of the Menderes River, or the Meandros, form the northern border of Caria. For a mariner, one of the many fascinations lies in the fact that these plains have formed only relatively recently and continue to form: Their extension into the Aegean Sea increase by several metres per annum. So here we have the chance to travel over sea, or to be more precise, over what used to be the sea, by foot, on a bike or another land vehicle.
The “Medal of the Ottoman Crescent” Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg.
“Knight of the Ottoman Crescent”
The English Admiral Nelson died due to the wound he received in the Trafalgar Naval Battle on October 12th, 1805. The said naval battle resulted in the total defeat of the united French and Spanish fleets and was to determine the future of Europe for more than a century [*].
Nelson’s corpse was placed in an oak barrel filled with cognac that came as a war spoil and he was taken to England [*]. His casket made from the mast of the French ship l’Orient [*] captured seven years ago was ready; he had kept it with him, sometimes in the hold of the ship and sometimes in his own cabin.
Nelson was buried in London in a very stately and deeply sincere ceremony [*]. What especially interests us here is one of the titles placed on Nelson’s casket:
“Knight of the Ottoman Crescent”, that is, “Osmanlı Hilali’nin Soylusu”.
Nelson used this title, for example, when he signed the armistice of the Copenhagen Naval Battle (April 9th, 1801) as the victorious commander.
This issue attracted my attention for the first time during my visit of the section of the Greenwich Maritime Museum dedicated to Nelson. There was a notice under one of the pictures about a “tchelengh”. When I read this I looked at the picture more carefully and then I noticed the ornament on the admiral’s hat. First I thought this ornament could possibly not be a “çelenk”, a “wreath” in today’s Turkish. It could, at best, have been “a plume, a plume worn on a hat”. A quick look into the dictionary of the Turkish Linguistic Society revealed a second, albeit archaic, meaning: “a plume worn on a hat made from jewel or some metal”…
Lemuel Abott’s portrait of Lord Horatio Nelson dated to 1798. Here the frail admiral is more pale than usual. This particular portrait was made little later after he had lost his right arm. On his head was the “crooked hat” of the English sailors and on it was the “tchelengh”. The “Medal of the Ottoman Crescent”, the uppermost one of the three insignias on the left side of his chest. Greenwich Maritime Museum, London.
The plume, the plume worn on a hat. What was this thing doing on the hat of this exceptional Englishman who used to state, with pride, that his father was a priest?
I researched the subject within the limits of my means and here I present my findings. I am not a historian, but I was able to read the records of Nelson and those who fought together with him. Sadly, I was unable to read our Turkish primary records due to the change of the script [*].
Let us look at the picture again. Now look carefully at the medals on Nelson’s chest. You can make out the crescent and the star on one of them, can’t you?
Nelson’s wax statue at Westminster Abbey. The “Medal of the Ottoman Crescent” on admiral’s chest, the outermost one, can be seen clearly.
The Viennese painter Heinrich Fuger’s Nelson portrait dated to 1800. One can make out the “Medal of the Ottoman Crescent” clearly and one can tell the importance Nelson gave to this medal because of its central location on the portrait.
Egypt and the “Ottoman Palace”
The time was the period of the Sultan Khan Selim III (1789-1807) – Selim III, the Reformer. The Khan Selim III, who established the Nizam-ı Cedid, the New Order, was a poet and interested in music, and was, at the end, in spite of all the efforts of Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, strangled and his corpse was thrown out of the palace by the reactionary mobs. Egypt was very important for Istanbul; “Konstantiniyye” was receiving its rice and sugar from there. The Ottomans were in the midst of an economic change of which they could not make much sense; the ships from Egypt were arriving late, there were constant hikes in prices in Istanbul, it was a total disorder.
Just around this time, Napoleon (not yet the “Emperor of Europe”, just a French general) was given the task of invading Egypt. Napoleon defeated the Mamluks at the Battle of Pyramids and thus reinforced his presence in Egypt. The goal was obvious: India. On the way to India Egypt was the second strategic point. It was officially an Ottoman land, but ruled by the Mamluks, who in return sent provisions to Istanbul.
Two empires were not pleased by Napoleon’s passion for Egypt: The Ottomans and British Empire. The former was worried that it was going to lose its provisions and face a riot in Istanbul and the latter did certainly not want to lose India. France was in a good position. It had a shore on the Mediterranean and it was close to Egypt. But settling in Egypt alone was not enough. The heart of any military was its navy and therefore, it was very important to give it the utmost care possible; it took five years to build a ship.
England had decided to destroy the French navy in order to protect its gateway to India. Admiral Nelson was assigned to the job. As to Istanbul, it could unfortunately not do anything but watch the developments passively, though with pleasure.
The task was not easy. The French fleet was to be found, trapped somewhere and destroyed and all this was to be done thousands of miles away from England. The French, on the other hand, were in their own backyard. They had virtually occupied Egypt and the forts and the towns were controlled by French soldiers. Accordingly, Nelson set sail for the Mediterranean, but he had to leave some of his ships in Gibraltar. He began searching without the four patrol frigates he desperately needed for this search. Storms and unfriendly governors were of no help. Let us not forget that there was no radio, nor telegraph. One came across a boat or ship by chance, changed course, caught up with the other vessel, set over by the use of tenders and asked whether or not they might have seen the French. Sometimes signal flags were used. It was a difficult job. But Nelson eventually found the French fleet. It was already well positioned in the Abukir bay of Egypt…
The Battle of Nile
Nelson knew, as any other admiral, that a fleet was well resistant to attacks if it was anchored in a harbor; there are examples.
It was summer time. The wind blew from northwest. The French navy was anchored in a line; their ships were facing northwest and their broadsides faced northeast. In other words, they were in a position to shoot anything that would sail into the bay.
Nelson was a different kind of person. His journal, from which I quoted in the beginning of this article, reflects sincere feelings. Oddly, he was a humanist shaped by blood and powder. He was fiery and restless, but he respected the law and the rights of others. He had qualities which were not yet fashionable in his time. For example, he listened to and consulted others. He had enormous, portable (!) meeting lounges built in his ships. He hosted the captains of his ships and the other administrative personnel in these lounges. [*] He knew his men well, he could almost read their minds. He knew to appreciate their abilities and encouraged them to share their opinions. He used to conduct endless brain storms. Especially before every attack, every thinkable scenario was played over and over again without ignoring even the slightest possibilities. However, he never neglected to end these discussions by giving the message that “a real conflict may develop differently. Do what you think is right, and always remember that I will back you.”
“The Battle of Nile” or the Abukir Naval Battle is a victory granted to England by bright strategies and brute force. Nelson, who knew very well that the circumstances were hardly advantageous, made an important decision and immediately, without any rest, right around dusk, started his attack. This was a first in the history of naval battles and just one of the risks Nelson took in his life, for there was no doubt that in a battle that was going to take place at night, those anchored were at even greater advantage. Moreover, Nelson did not even have detailed maps of the region. Brueys, the French admiral, was waiting calmly. Perhaps he did not expect Nelson to attack… Try to picture it: An anchored fleet, ready to fire, with the broadsides turned to a fleet trying to come upon it in darkness in uncharted shallow waters. The forts around were fitted out with the French fire power. The French were rested and the English soldiers were just arriving from a long sail.
On top of this, to the fourteen ships of the English, the French had seventeen ships, thirteen of which were ships of line. Among them was the famous l’Orient. With 120 cannons, she was an enormous ship. Just her one line of cannons had more firepower than total firepower of any one of the English ships. She was a gargantuan fortress under sails.
“Surprise is fundamental in War”
The Naval Battle of Abukir. The explosion of l’Orient.
Nelson did not let himself get demoralized and the first English ships attacked. The day was August 1st, 1798, around six o’clock in the evening. The English ships approached the French line almost perpendicular. They were able to make to the French line without receiving much damage as this way they made small targets. But they could not fire their cannons on the broadsides, either.
Right at that moment, a French brig made an attempt to force the English to the shoals by a diversionary attack; but either the English knew that shoal or they guessed the intention and this attempt ended up with failure.
Right at that time, HMS Goliath, the first boat attacked, made a maneuver completely unexpected by the French:
Everybody was expecting Goliath to position herself parallel to the French line by turning to southeast. She was broad reaching and by just falling off she would have been able to fire her port cannons. Instead, Captain Foley made a different move by first getting closer to the wind and then falling off. This way she was positioned to the port side of the French line – between the ships and the bay’s beach. As said, this was a move the French had not expected, and thus were not prepared for it: Their port cannons were not ready for replying and the port sides of the ships were not in shipshape condition, the French had stowed everything to their port sides in a makeshift manner.
The Captain “who left the Line”
This decision of Foley, the captain of Goliath, was much discussed as Foley conducted this maneuver on his own initiative. As mentioned above, Nelson did encourage this kind of initiative and he himself was once a captain “who had left the line”. Some claim that Foley must have planned this change ahead of the battle. He probably decided to carry out this preconceived possibility as he approached the French line.
How did Foley make this decision?
François Paul Brueys d’Aigailliers, the French admiral, had his fleet anchored in a very strategic bay, but when the English approached they noticed this: The French ships were swinging on their anchors! That is, instead of kedging the ships from the sterns as well, they were on only one anchor, free to wing. Only due to the wind and the current the ships were facing northwest. Now, this had implications which the English picked up: If the French ships were swinging then there should have been sufficient room between the French line and the beach to accommodate the English ships without going aground.
Goliath advanced until between the French line and the beach, fell off and then dropped her kedges and held onto their kedges – a very difficult maneuver, when done on the fly. Dropping the kedges and slacking the cables carefully, the Captain Foley brought his ship to a full stop. He had reached the ideal position; he devastated the first two French ships with one volley. This formed the start of the close battle. In the meantime, and following the example set by Goliath, HMS Zealous and Orion, too, made their way to the port side of the French either by beating to windward or through the anchored ships and began firing on the French. As expected the French reply remained weak.
Nelson was on HMS Vanguard, the fourth ship. Vanguard was still partially damaged from the storm experienced off the coast of Corsica and described by Nelson in a letter as the storm that punished his arrogance [*]. Swiftly, Vanguard and those behind her approached the French line, this time to the starboard side of the French line, and began their attacks. Due to the chaos that had erupted, the French could not even use their starboard cannons efficiently.
As the last English ships were entering the bay, HMS Culloden sounded ten fathoms and immediately afterwards, without finding the time to sound again a further time, she went aground. Seeing this, the ships following her immediately changed course and one by one they passed from the leeside of Culloden, which had become a mark now. So the English had won this victory even with one less boat [*].
As you would see, in all this maneuvering there was the risk that the English could hit their own ships while bombarding the sandwiched French ships.
Nelson’s injury
Nelson’s left eye was not functional; due to an injury suffered in a previous battle, he was blind in this eye. This time, during this close battle, he was hit above his right eye: “A piece of skin dropped over his only eye that could see, the bone came out and the English admiral sank into the deepest darkness.” Those around him thought, because of the immense bleeding, that his wound was fatal and they took him to the “cockpit”, “operating room” [*]. The operating room was an unpleasant sight. Heads, arms, legs. The walls were painted red, so that blood stains would not show. When the ship’s surgeon left the patient on whom he was operating and moved towards his admiral, Nelson instructed him, according to some in a manner worthy of the historical moment, and according to some at the risk of losing his life, “after my gallant friends”. Obviously he was trying to keep the morale of his sailors high. Upon this, the surgeon first took care of the “friend” he was already operating on and then moved again towards his admiral, but Nelson insisted on waiting for his turn, according to the witnesses who reported this incident. If he had not acted in this way, this would have probably resulted in disorder. When the surgeon eventually treated him, everyone was relieved to find out that the injury was not fatal.
The light from l’Orient reflects on the injured Nelson. A portrait painted by Guy Head in 1798.
Meanwhile, the news that there was a serious fire on l’Orient had made it to the cockpit.
The French ships had not removed the paints and oils they needed to paint the broadsides (they could have done it easily) and it had now become impossible to put out the flames started from those barrels.
Nelson immediately gave the order for the English lifeboats to go to l’Orient and save the French. At the same time, he asked for the pen officer in order to dictate the victory letter to be sent to England. But the pen officer, one Mr. Campbell, was in no shape to write such a letter; so Nelson wrote the letter himself [*]. At 10 PM, the news that the fire on l’Orient had become overwhelming reached him. Now the whole bay was bright because of the fire; one could “distinguish the flags of the vessels”. Upon this, Nelson sneaked out of the cockpit to the deck and continued to observe the battle.
Explosion of l’Orient
Right at that moment, the inevitable happened and l’Orient, this gargantuan ship, the most magnificent ship of the period, exploded as the fire reached its armory. Thereafter there was deep silence as if “an earthquake had happened” – all the firing had stopped. Then masts, yards, rigging, deck pieces, boards, cables, whatever there was began raining down from the sky. The English had already taken the necessary measures and wetted their decks, “tightly wrapped the sails”; they were prepared for potential fires and so they got out of this final, too, without much damage [*]. To some, this silence had lasted for twenty minutes and the explosion of l’Orient was heard from Alexandria, fifteen miles away.
L’Orient After the Explosion
Cutting their anchor cables, the first four ships of the French line set sail towards France; only two of them succeeded.
The Pagan and Christian Traditions Mixed
This is the summary of the “Battle at the Nile”: Istanbul, the Palace and especially the “Grand Seignieur” , the Great Sir, Sultan Selim III Khan was much pleased from the results of this important battle that took place along his shores, but unfortunately without any positive or negative contribution from him. And, thus was born one of the sources of boasting in Nelson’s life.
Firstly, The Grand Seigneur – Our Great Sir – granted Nelson one of the plumed ornaments of one of his turbans. This alone was an extraordinary and exceptional gesture. “Granting a plume” is a tradition that existed among the Ottomans and whose roots go back to our pagan past. But there is no example in our history of granting a plume to a foreigner, especially to a non-Muslim. Among the Ottomans, plumes were granted to the commanders-in-chief and the state officials of highest rank as the greatest compliment. I wonder if with this grant Selim III Khan had intended to make a gesture appropriate for his “new order”? Whatever it may be, Selim III Khan did not stop here and granted Newton a medal as well [*]. Hence the “Medal of the Ottoman Crescent”. This was also the very first medal in Ottoman history. Again we come to an interesting point: The tradition of medals come from the Crusades. Here I would like to point to the fact that the German word for medal, “Orden”, has a double meaning. As this word refers to an medal, it also refers to a “cult, sect, class”, that is, to a group of people who turn their back to worldly values for the sake of Christianity, their religion, and who vow to sacrifice their lives for their religion [*]. Thus, Selim III Khan rewarded a Christian admiral with a gesture coming from a tradition in essence hostile to him and with this step started the medal tradition within the Ottoman state. In time, the origin of these medals were forgotten and with the “Medal of Independence”, the tradition was transferred to the Republican Turkey.
The chelengh granted by Selim III Khan to Lord Nelson.
I wonder if Selim III Khan had already known the contradictory nature of the compliment he made? Or was this another knowingly executed reform by him? I have no answers.
Sultan Selim III Han (1761-1808)
Mihrişah Sultan, mother of Selim III Khan, too, sent Nelson a box covered with valuable stones in order to express her gratitude. In addition to these, a fur coat and a sword granted by Selim III are mentioned, but in the records and the official documents only a plume and a medal are seen; that the other gifts were granted by the royal family is only a guess.
In spite of this, on the Trafalgar Day of 2002, that is, on October 21st, in an auction conducted by the famous auction house of Sotheby, “Nelson’s lost sword” was sold for 330.000 pounds.
“Nelson’s lost sword” revealed in 2002 by Sotheby
“Arrogant” Nelson
It seems that placing the insignia on his hat was Nelson’s preference and he did this with royal consent [*]. There is no other example of an English mariner placing an insignia on his “triangle hat”; after all, a plume/insignia is a decoration designed for a turban. Nelson’s insignia had another feature: The diamonds in the center of it were moved by a mechanism behind it and thus formed a very shiny glitter; it is told that Nelson often used to take off his hat during receptions and wound up this mechanism. Unfortunately, in 1951, the insignia was stolen from the Greenwich Museum. We can now only enjoy it through its photographs and Lemuel Abbott’s Nelson portraits exhibited in the Greenwich Museum, those portraits which had directed my attention to the subject.
Nelson’s two contemporary caricatures. On the left, Nelson is subduing the Nile crocodiles. One can see that some crocodiles are shedding “crocodile tears”. I think “Britannia” is written on the stick Nelson is holding. On the right is a grotesque Nelson. With his sable fur, insignia and “Oriental” sword, he seems helpless. James Gilray, 1798.
Epilogue
Mehmet Ali of Kavala, a Rumelian, accomplished what the French failed to do. He took the lead of the Mamluk army in 1805 and defeated the English in 1807. The English withdrawn from Egypt and could come back only 75 years later.
Nelson (red routes) entered the Mediterranean through Gibraltar on May 9th of 1798. On May 20th, the fleet was caught in a storm. Nelson’s ship, HMS Vanguard, lost its bowsprit and rig, and almost went aground near Corsica. Alexander Ball, the captain of HMS Alexander, which was next to Vanguard during this incident, took in tow Vanguard while Nelson was on board and eventually saved her, despite orders to the contrary by Nelson. Later Nelson would mention this incident as “God punished my arrogance”. A lifelong friendship was established between Nelson and Ball, with whom he had kept his distance up until this incident. Following this unpleasant experience, Vanguard managed to arrive at the San Pietro harbor of Sardinia. There, although unable to receive any assistance officially, Vanguard was ready to set sail again in three days, thanks to the initiative of the governor and the determination of Nelson. Gibraltar had estimated that the repairs would have taken thirty days.
The storm had created another issue: Nelson had lost what he called “my scouts”, his frigates. Assuming that Vanguard would return to Gibraltar for repairs, the frigates had returned to Gibraltar and were waiting for the fleet. Nelson’s job had become much more difficult without the frigates, the scouting party of the fleet (For he did not want to separate the ships of the line from each other). Thus a historical pursuit began. Nelson first sailed up to Toulon, arriving there on May 31st , where he received the news that two groups from the French fleet (the blue routes) had left from Marseilles and Toulon about ten days ago to “an unknown target”. Napoleon Bonaparte was with the fleet.
Nelson headed for Italy. At the same time, a third group from the French fleet left from Civita Vecchia. Nelson followed the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea and stopped at Messina and Syracuse. He did, of course, not know that the French fleet was at Malta at this time. Nelson continued from Palermo to Crete. Interestingly, unaware of Nelson, the French followed the same route to Crete. On June 22nd , the two fleets actually came very close to each other, within each other’s line of sight, but an exceptional fog prevented them from seeing each other and Nelson passed the French, arriving in Chania of Crete on 25th and continuing without any rest. Had he spent the night there, he would have come across the French, since they arrived in Chania just on June 26th, 1798.
Nelson continued, entering Alexandria on June 29th. The French were, of course, not there yet. Again without any rest, Nelson turned back to Crete by the way of the Syrian coast. Upon arriving in Crete, he received the news that the French had been seen there. As he could not make use of his scouting frigates – they were in Gibraltar waiting for Nelson – he made an assumption and set sail to Syracusa. Naturally, there were no French over there, but a merchantman told Nelson that the French were sailing towards east. It was now obvious that the French fleet was in Egypt. He took on water, firewood and in five days he was again in Alexandria. The harbor of Alexandria was completely empty, however there were some French infantry soldiers on land. The English began searching and finally, on August 1st, 1798, during dusk time, the lookout on the mast shouted that ahead there was “a forest of masts”, 15 miles east of Alexandria, offshore of the Abukir (Ebukır, Ebugur) anchorage place towards Raşit (Rosetta) near the mouth of the Nile. The famous attack took place at the end of the pursuit, right that very night, without taking time even for a very short rest.
Nelson’s fleet members started the battle in highly trained condition thanks to having sailed for months on every possible route in the Mediterranean, not much different from today’s sailing racers. Therefore they were able to carry out the maneuvers needed during the battle with necessary agility and precision. Nelson, like any good coach, kept his crew at a very high performance level and knew that this would give him the edge he needed over his adversary.
“Dragut was superior to Barbarossa. A living chart of the Mediterranean, he combined science with audacity. There was not a creek unknown to him, not a channel that he had not sailed. Ingenious in devising ways and means, when all around him despaired, he excelled above all in escaping by unexpected methods from situations of great peril. An incomparable pilot, he had no equal in sea warfare except the Chevalier Romegas. On land he was skilful enough to be with the finest generals of Charles V and Philip II. He had known the hardship of captivity and he showed himself humane to his own captives. Under every aspect he was a character. No one was more worthy than he to bear the title of King.”
Admiral Jurien de la Graviere of France (1812 – 1892),
as quored in “Malta 1565, by Tim Pickles”
VERSION 1
When Turgut Reis was the Master of the Seas, once, he was greasing his seven or eight pieces of ships at the Island of Djerba and at the Port of Qantara. So it happened that the Captain of the Infidels, Dzagala [His family was the famous renegade dynasty of the Visconte di Cigala, the Istanbul Quarter of Cagaloglu is named after them, YC] and the Admiral of Venice came with hundred and fifty vessels that way and laid siege to the narrows.
And thus Turgut was beset.
They sat in satisfaction, saying “All is made. Once his stores are used up we will have him and his ships.”
They even despatched a note to Genoa and wrote “Dragut, the Master of the Seas, who has put our household on fire and who has demolished our property – he and his ships are all now ours.”
And many a high born hurried towards Djerba saying “Let us fit up a ship and let us watch.”
And Master Turgut relied in God. By His mystery there happened to be a river – a river shedding into the sea and with just enough draught that a pinnace may walk on it. Immediately he put his privates and some slaves on cutting a road. He cut about two miles and passed over his ships to the open sea.
And, he left a pitched tent at the shores. Whenever the Infidels saw the tent they would imagine Dragut in it. Alas, sixty miles away the Master was in a harbour and greasing the rest of his fleet.
And then he sailed out.
On his way he happened to meet those high born, he attacked and took them all.
As of then the Infidels used to say “No doubt that Dragut has witchcraft. He can make ships walk on hard.” And they keep wondering.
From Katip Çelebi, also known as Hadzi Qalfa, Tuhfetül Kibar fi Efsaril Bihar, Tercüman 1001 Temel Eser, İstanbul 1980, Published by late Orhan Şaik Gökyay
Portrait of Turgut Reis in his youth as “Dragut, Corsaro di Barberia” (Dragut, Corsair of the Barbary Coast). Oil on canvas by Feyhaman Duran (1886-1970), 1948, 81 cm x 63 cm, Istanbul Naval Museum painting Collection, DB:1082 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turgut_Reis.jpg
VERSION 2
The lamentations of his victims roused Doria, who had the good fortune to surprise the Corsair as he was greasing his keels in the strait behind Jerba.
This strait was virtually a cul-de-sac.
Between the island and the great lake that lay behind it, the sea had worn a narrow channel on the northern side, through which light vessels could pass, with care ; but to go out of the lake by the southern side involved a voyage over what was little better than a bog, and no one ever thought of the attempt.
Doria saw he had his enemy in a trap, and was in no hurry to venture in among the shoals and narrows of the strait.
He sent joyous messages to Europe, announcing his triumph, and cautiously, as was his habit, awaited events.
Dragut, for his part, dared not push out against a vastly superior force; his only chance was a ruse.
Accordingly, putting a bold face on the matter, he manned a small earthwork with cannon, and played upon the enemy, with little or no actual injury, beyond the all-important effect of making Doria hesitate still more.
Meanwhile, in the night, while his little battery is perplexing the foe, all is prepared at the southern extremity of the strait. Summoning a couple of thousand field labourers, he sets them to work; here a small canal is dug — there rollers come into play; and in a few hours his small fleet is safely transported to the open water on the south side of the island.
Calling off his men from the illusive battery, the Corsair is off for the Archipelago. By good luck he picks up a fine galley on the way, which was conveying news of the reinforcements coming to Doria.
The old Genoese admiral never gets the message. He is rubbing his eyes in sore amazement, wondering what had happened to the imprisoned fleet.
Never was admiral more cruelly cheated, never did Doria curse the nimble Corsair with greater vehemence or better cause.
From: Stanley Lane-Poole, The Barbary Corsairs, London 1984, Darf Publishers Ltd
Below a passage from the letter of Babur Khan [3] to his son Humayun Khan, 20, and at that time in Kabul. It was written in Chagatay Turkish and in the Emperor’s own handwriting in Agra in India. The letter was delivered to Buyan Shah, the servant of Humayun Khan on Friday, the fourteenth of Rabi’i (27 November 1528)
The picture: Babur and Humayun with Courtiers (Detail), The Late Shahjehan Album, India, Mughal Period, ca. 1650.
(…)
Yana men degen dek bu hattlarini bitip sen ve okumai sen,
As I asked, you have written your letters, but you didn’t read them over,
ne üçün kim eger okur hayal kisan edi, okuy almas edin.
for if you had had a mind to read them, you would have found that you could not.
Okuy almagandin son elbette tagyir berür edin.
After reading them you certainly would have changed them.
Hattinni hud tesvis bile okusa boladur, veli [a]sru muglak tur.
Although your writing can be read with some difficulty, it is excessively obscure.
Nesr mu’amma heç kisi körgen emes.
Who has ever heard of prose designed to be an enigma?
Imlan yaman emes, egerçi hayli rast emes.
Your spelling is not bad, although it is not entirely correct either.
Iltifatini ta bile bitip sen. Kulinc’ni ya bile bitip sen.
You wrote iltifat with the ta; you wrote qulinjwith a ya.
Hattinni hud her tawr kilip okusa boladur,
Your handwriting can be made out somehow or other,
veli bu muglak elfazindin maksud tamam mefhum bolmaydur,
but with all these obscure words of yours the meaning is not entirely clear.
galiba hatt bitirde kahillikin hem osbu cihettindür. Tekellüf kilay dep sen. Os cihetten muglak boladur.
Probably your trouble in writing letters is due to the fact that you try to make it too fancy.
Mundin nari betekellüf u revvsen u pak elfaz bile biti.
From now on write with uncomplicated, clear, and plain words.
Hem sana tesvis azrak bolur ve hem okuguciga.
This will cause less difficulty both for you and for your reader.
(…)
[1] Wheeler M. Thackston, The Baburnama, Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor, Oxford University Press, 1996, New York
[2] 1528/1529
[3] Zahirüddin Muhammed Babür Padisah Gazi (1483-1530), Born to Ferganah, Timurid, Emperor of India
Just beyond Bodrum Milta, above the “ancient” boatyard, at the foot of the “Kaplan Tepesi”, the“Tiger Castle” is a sea people’s cemetery. The most remarkable grave is the small Mausoleum of Captain Cafer Pasha, the Grand Admiral of the Ottoman Navy. He was a seaman “who knew every creek of the Mediterranean, fathom by fathom” although very close to the marina few seapeople visit this really well kept place nowadays.
Tomb and Graveyard
In this tomb, Mustafa Kemal Pasha of Kizilhisar, who played a crucial role in Ottoman naval history, and his son, Grand Admiral Kaptan-i Derya Cafer Pasha, are buried. According to the Book of the Mustafa Pasha Vakfiyesi, the Admiral’s Foundation, the tomb was built around 1727.
While the governor of Rhodes, in addition to his ship building and systematic naval defense against pirates, Mustafa Pasha of Kizilhisar also contributed to the civil rehabilitation of Bodrum by building mosques and schools. As he is cited to be the “late” Mustafa Pasha in an archive from 1741, he must have died before this date.
His son. Captain Cafer Pasha, is described in Ottoman texts as a seaman who knew the Mediterranean sea “from end to end, fathom by fathom”. In 1770, he was appointed grand admiral for some three months. His last appointment was the governorship of Rhodes. Like his father, he contributed to the growth of Bodrum. Along with building galleons, he has a bath and a medrese attributed to his name. According to an archive note of 12th March, 1773. He too is cited to be “late”, thus he must have been deceased by that time. After the burial of Mustafa Pasha in his tomb, this area became a historically important cemetery. The oldest tombstone in the graveyard is that of a lady dating to 1751/2. Surrounding the tomb are the graves of Cafer’s brother Ahmet Pasha (dec.1787/8), who also served as the governor of Rhodes; cafer’s wife Mahbube hanim (dec. 1800/1) and Ahmet pasha’s wives, ladies Habibe and Nefise.
Information extracted from the tombstone inscriptions and the craftsmanship of carvings on the grave stones clearly indicates the elite character of the graveyard. This historic cemetery continued to be a burial place after 1928, the date of the latinisation of the Turkish alphabet. The tombstone inscriptions bear witness to the striking experimentation with the “new alphabet” in its earliest years.
Katabatic Winds in the Gökova Körfezi (account by a professional seaman)
Strong ‘meltemi’ conditions
Towards the end of June, we anchored our 76ft motor yacht in the ‘Gelibolu Bükü’,the cove of Gelibolu, situated in the eastern part of the Gulf of Gökova, at around 14:00. This lies on the southern side of the Gulf of Gökova, just to the east of ‘Sehir Adalari’, Şehir Islands.
We dropped anchor in deep water at the western most extremity of this cove and took two stern lines ashore. The conditions here were calm and clear skies. On our way from Bodrum we had encountered strong ‘meltemi’ conditions. I’ll explain: Around Bodrum the wind was northwesterly, gusting to approximately Force 6 in places. As we progressed further east into the Gulf of Gökova, the wind became more pronounced from the west, causing, in turn, a strong swell. At times we could surf this swell and in future, I would not tackle it again!
The swell was particularly strong around the area of ‘Akbük Burnu’
(the north side, west of Sehir Adasi). Once we hadpassed this area the swell was less powerful. At the time I inspected ‘Akbük Limani’, the AkbükHarbour, whilst we cruised by, my assessment was that it appeared an uninteresting bay but a useful escape hole from bad conditions…I was later to appreciate it!
At around 1630 – 1700 the day boats all started to leave
During the afternoon several day boats anchored nearby us. We launched tenders to explore the islands (Sehir Adasi etc) and my guests relaxed in the sun. The bay was pleasant as the wind did not reach around the promontory of rock on the western end.
At around 1630 – 1700 the day boats all started to leave. Within 15 minutes they had weighed anchor and motored away at high speed. I considered this and began to feel uneasy about my chosen anchorage. My guests were happy so I checked the strength of my anchor and lines, then grabbed a coffee and scanned the pilot book for options.
By 1730 – 1800 there were pronounced choppy waves coming directly across from the northern side of the bay. As I assessed the situation I took in the majestic vision of the high cliffs to the north and my uneasy feeling developed into one of impending disaster!
I made the decision to leave, ‘Akbük Limani’ springing to mind as the destination. Our jet boat was shipped; no mean feat as by this time the northerly waves were rocking us considerably. The crew in the other tender made to remove the shore lines from the rocks. The increasing sharp waves made this difficult and rather dangerous – each time the pilot neared the rocks the tender would be picked up and thrown forward. By going astern he could narrowly avoid damaging the craft, but the second man was thus unable to get ashore. We were now being buffeted so much by the increasing swell that I considered it a real danger to the yacht as the anchor could be jerked out of position at any time.
The crewman eventually got ashore and released the lines from the now wet and very slippery rocks; in the process he twice ended swimming in the water far away from the helpless tender. As soon as my stern was free we could raise the anchor and begin to motor north away from the anchorage. I took the tender on a long (20m) tow line as it was too risky to hang around and lift it onboard.
The water was blown flat by the wind, with the long spray streaks!
My thoughts were thus – motor directly north to the northern shore then west to ‘Akbük Limani’. I could now understand that this ferocious wind was pounding down off the mountain, a beautiful example of the Katabatic winds one normally only reads about!
As we reached approximately halfway to the north shore we could see that the water was blown flat by the wind, with the longs spray streaks typically found on photos of gale conditions.
Under the cliffs we saw several small, well developed water spouts and numerous spiraling sprays. We could feel that the wind was blowing vertically down the mountain before pushing across the water. A most disconcerting experience!
We reached ‘Akbük Limani’ and prepared to drop anchor in 14 – 18m of water. In our haste we had not been able to flake the chain properly upon weighing, so had to untwist 100m of chain by hand! Once secure we were lying in 20-23m of water with 110m of chain – I wanted no risk!
The speed, with which the wind arrived was astounding
My guests were, understandably, a little shaken up by our adventure as was the crew member who bravely tackled the slippery rocks. I was also somewhat rustled; the speed with which the wind arrived from the moment the choppy waves started to a full gale blowing was astounding. Even safely anchored in the new spot, we had strong gusts which stretched us back on the full extent of our chain.
If I remember correctly it was after dark that the wind dropped off and it became calm; during the night, when I checked the anchor, the water was glassy and not a breath of breeze could be felt!
My lessons learnt
A month or so later whilst cruising around Göcek, I spoke with an experienced guletcaptain. Upon hearing my account he laughed and explained that the mountain was locally named ‘GrandMountain’ and everyday it produced the ‘Grand Wind’! Further, he happily pointed out that to the south west of the area were some lovely little bays which we should have visited instead! My lesson learnt, I considered the following points:
• Local day boats and guletsmay appear to be sea-going cowboys, but their knowledge of the area and its conditions is not to be scoffed at. Take heed of their movements and of their advice!
• Obviously pilot books do not always have all the information. The advice given about the area around ‘Sehir Adasi’ says only that the wind can sometimes swing to the north east. Nothing indicates the possible ferocity or sudden appearance of the phenomenon.
• Always take notice of your surroundings, planning an escape route may sound like boring old seaman talk; however you never know when a little foresight will ease a sticky situation.
At certain points of the Turkish coast, two climatic regimes, the arid and dry weather of the Anatolian Plateau and the moist and Mediterranean climate of the coast, come close together. This proximity causes some local winds, which the “Bodrumlu”s call, in general, “Yayla Tepmesi”, “The Kick of the Highlands”. What is meant by this, is a so called katabatic wind, which under certain conditions may blow off the plateau – only for a short time, but with considerable force. The picturesque Akbük is in Sadun Boro’s words “in the eye” of the Kiran wind.
In his enchanting “Vira Demir” – “Heave Ho”, Second Edition, Sadun continues on page 143:
The indications of the Kiran:
“The Kiran will occur in the summer months and usually in July and August. It happens at night and a Poyraz (boreas, the northeaster) must have blown before. Prior to the Kiran the weather has to be exceptionally dry, no dew will precipitate, the hygrometer will fall. There will be no fog, no haze, visibility will be excellent. Then, when at the summits the clouds start to roll to the south. (…) and he continues on page 183: then mariner, it is time that you quickly heave your anchor and seek refuge at the north of the bay, close to the ruins of an oil press.(…) At the jetty (of Akbük) there is no way that you could stay.”
I have tried to explain the “devastator” below. With very special thanks to Burak Günsür, a naval architect.
On a warm summer day, air will warm up at the sea shore as well as on the plateau. Conditions are dry, sunny and calm.
The effect starts already in the late afternoon. The relatively moist air at the seaside has a higher specific heat, in other words, it has higher heat inertia than the dry air in the highlands. The air 3000 feet above cools down more than at the seaside…
Comes in local effects: The landscape traps the cool and thus heavy air in the moulds of the plateau. This air would like to sink, if it only could!
Comes in Murphy: A local turbulence happens somewhere, enabling the heavy air to find an escape…
The escaping air “auto siphons” the rest of the air. Pretty much like honey at the rim of the honey pot. Masses of heavy air accelerate to high velocities. Sufficiently high to devastate anchorages in the vicinity.
