Down to the Sea in Ships

A few weeks ago, I got the following invitation from the American Research Intitiute in Turkey. "From Sultan's caiques to fishermen's rowboats, Istanbul's life has always been dependent on small wooden boats for transportation. Hundreds, even thousands of these boats, would ply the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn during daylight hours. Today very few of any age have survived, and the best collection is now in the Naval Museum in Be?ikta?, especially the section containing the galleys of the Sultans, which contains the only surviving 16th century Ottoman galley. (The Naval Museum has been closed to the public for several years, and will be opened specially for us.)" After that, we would travel by ferry to the Koc museum to see some more modern boats. Our guide was to be Gencer Emiro?lu, a small watercraft sailor and specialist. I signed up immediately.

Gencer got us in the back door of the Naval Museum, which will not open to the public until July 1st. Whereas there was evidence everywhere that they had much yet to do, the boats themselves were almost ready. Pointy at both ends, oar driven, decorated with gilt and inlaid structures, the caiques were as much for demonstrating wealth and power as for transportation. Gencer knew the construction,composition, strengths, weaknesses, and purpose of each craft and helped us trace the development of marine technology over time.

The Koc Museum had less appeal for me, other than the nostalia for the gorgeous teak Criss Craft of my youth. Just as we were about to pack it in, a lovely bit of serendipity. I noticed a small craft not unlike some of the old Armenian boats we had seen in the museum, and asked Gencer about it. He immediately recognized it as belonging to an Italian who had recently rowed and sailed the tiny boat from London to Istanbul, a distance of 5,200 km, to draw attention to environmental issues. The "Man on the River" himself was there, so our tour ended with a talk with this modern mariner. Seemed like a nice, full-circle experience.

At the end of the day, after the official tour was over, I learned that Gencer had taught at Robert College up until two years ago. Huge city. Small world.