More Schooner Group Charters In The Turkish Aegean More Schooner Group Charters In The Greek And Turkish Aegean This page last updated on 01/10/2008 Dear Homo Sapiens, There is no need to continue reading this page. What follows is intended for search engine robots and spiders and not necessarily for human beings. Further information concerning schooner group charters in the Greek and Turkish Aegean may be obtained by clicking on the gray links immediately above. Thank you. Are you a football nut?!? Do you spend days each week pouring over the tabloids or glued to the boob tube? Have you spent a small fortune to wear the black, white, and red colors of Istanbul's Besiktas Football Club? Have you come to this web page looking for Batuhan Karadeniz? Looking for a football player who in 2007 at the age of 16 years and 121 days became the youngest person ever to score a goal in Turkish Super League history? If so, you've come to the wrong place. This web page deals not with Batuhan Karadeniz and not even with the Karadeniz or Black Sea but rather with an eight guest-cabin gaff-rigged charter schooner called Batuhan sailing the Turkish and Greek Aegean. Should the latter be of interest, should you be considering a group charter in the Greek Aegean or a group charter in the Turkish Aegean, well, read on. The schooner Batuhan offers group charters along Turkey's pine-clad cove-indented Aegean coast. She also offers group charters among Dodecanese and Cyclades islands of Aegean Greece. She is further able to take her guests along the crossroads of history, and is able to offer informal classes in geography as well as history, including corsair geography and corsair history. Would that be of interest to the young people in your group? Sailing in the wake of Ottoman corsairs such as the Barbarossa brothers. Sailing in the wake of Khizr Barbarossa's lieutenant general, or senior lieutenant, Aydin Reis? What do you know about Aydin Reis? Anything at all? Aydin Reis was an Ethiopian by heritage and a Coptic Christian by upbringing probably born in Antalya, Turkey, in 1485 or so. Some say he was born at Smyrna on the Turkish Aegean but in either event he was born to the sea, fishing as a toddler, crewing in his teens, learning the marine trade early-on. Learning the marine trade in the company of Sinan of Smyrna, a corsair who was to become Barbarossa's brother-in-law by marriage to a Barbarossa sister. In his twenties and then known as Aydin Caramano, he and Sinan were in the pay of the Mameluke sultan of Egypt attempting to clear sea lanes for the sultan's merchants and, in their spare time, preying on Latin-held islands of the Aegean. Preying on Latins was a favorite pastime of 16th century Orthodox Christians including Copts. Both Aydin and Sinan soon came to Barbarossa's attention while the former rose in ability to surpass Sinan in Barbarossa's esteem, and was assigned the lead role when Aydin and Sinan sailed in company. By 1520 Aydin Reis had become Barbarossa's senior lieutenant and was at his right hand when Tunis was taken in that year. Twelve months later he could be found plundering the (Latin) Spanish coast and offshore Balearic Islands, and in the years to follow he was to make himself familiar with (Latin) Sardinia and (Latin) Sicily, as well. Perhaps his finest day came in 1529. Already known to the Spanish as Cacciadiavoli, loosely interpreted as Hunting Devil, he that year commanded with Hassan Celebi, Salih Reis, and Suleiman Reis a flotilla of eleven ships, mostly small open-decked galliots called fustas. At Formentera while transporting Moors from Spain to Africa he was surprised by a flotilla of eight large galleys under the command of Rodrigo Portundo, Admiral of the Spanish Armada. The battle should have been over in minutes with Portundo emerging victorious. It was over in minutes with Portundo dead and with Aydin Reis victorious having captured seven of the eight galleys, having freed from the benches hundreds of Muslim slaves, and having scores of prisoners to be held for ransom or to fill the vacuum at the oars. Some say the word gulet derives from galley. Why not charter a crewed gulet like Batuhan to cruise through galley history, not, however, to ignore the Aegean's coves and back-bays. Starting in Smyrna, perhaps. or in nearby Foca. Are you searching for Smyrna in Turkey? Now called Izmir, it may be found due east of Chios Town on the Greek island of Chios and proximate to its own international airport. There or elsewhere we can put you aboard a group charter yacht sailing both the Turkish and Greek Aegean. We can put you aboard a charter yacht with an experienced crew able to show you the Gulf of Smyrna and able to sail with you on the Imbat, that famous wind able to move the largest of gulets. And, of course, able to show you Aydin Reis's tracks in pursuit of Latin shipping. Batuhan, a fine schooner available for group charters in the Greek and Turkish Aegean. Contact Blue Cruise Yacht Charters today at blcryacht@aol.com |
