Blue Cruise Yacht Charters

Designed by Farr Yacht Design,
this powerful 57-foot charter yacht cruising the Turkish coast and Aegean Greece sets a new standard for fast sailing in comfort. Her exquisite details have been so well conceived she may even exceed the aspirations of some semi-custom yards. No other vessel in her class delivers this smart combination of styling, luxury, and performance.

A Smaller Bare Boat Cruising The Turkish Coast And Aegean Greece

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This page last updated on 02/17/2009

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 crewed charter yachts cruising the Turkish coast and Aegean Greece may be obtained by clicking on the gray links immediately above. Thank You. You may be searching for a crewed charter yacht cruising Turkey or Greece. Or you may be searching for a crewed charter yacht cruising Turkey and Greece. Or even for a crewed charter yacht cruising the Venetian Adriatic. If so, you have come to the right place. These Beneteau 57's do their sailing along the coast of Turkey between pine-encircled bays and clear-water coves, between white-sand beaches and rustic villages. They also cruise azure sea lanes between pastel-hued Dodecanese islands of the eastern Aegean and between sugar-cube encrusted Cyclades islands of the mid-Aegean, not to mention among medieval enclaves off the Dalmatian Coast of the former Yugoslavia. In short, these fast French-built yachts cruise the crossroads of history, combining sun and exercise with an awareness of the people and events shaping eastern Mediterranean history. Among the Alexanders and Cleopatras influencing the course of eastern Mediterranean history were countless seamen, Alcibiades and Lysander commanding the triremes of ancient Greece, the Barbarossa and Dragut brothers captaining lateen-rigged galliots and fleets of galliots under the Ottoman flag, and, upon the advent of sailing frigates and larger men-of-war, there were others with quite different skills. Among these was Anne-Hilarion de Costentin de Tourville. Born in 1642 to Norman French nobility, he informed his family at the age of 14 of his wish to become a Knight of Malta. And, presumably, like all Knights of Malta of his wish to be sworn to chastity and moderation. Instead of knighthood, however, he was sent to Paris for further education. This education included pistols at twenty paces with the Count of Malet, both duelists seeking favors of the same woman. That was at the age of 16. One year later his application for appointment as a regimental officer in the army of France's Louis XIV was rejected as the country was at peace and not at war. Thus thwarted he stowed-away aboard a privateering frigate outfitting at Marseilles. Captained by Honore de Hocquincourt, the son of a Marshall of France, the frigate and Tourville were next reported at Malta where Hocquincourt received a letter of marque to intercept Turkish shipping and to despoil Turkish property afloat or ashore. There Tourville is reported to have abstained from the carousing of his shipmates and to have applied himself to mastering the art of square-rigged sailing. In the following year at the age of 18 he distinguished himself in combat with Algerian corsairs encountered south of the Greek Peloponnesus, remaining wounded at his post until victory was assured. Hocquincourt's frigate then retired for repair to Venetian Sifnos in the Cyclades where Tourville took up with the daughter of the doctor attending his wounds. Once healed, Tourville was appointed second in command of a captured corsair vessel and thereafter again distinguished himself in combat, this time against Tunisian warships. During this action his captain was killed and Tourville succeeded to command, and as commander found it necessary to repair once more to Sifnos for attention by the same medical team. Described by historians as blond, blue-eyed, even-featured, and with a personality and elan universally admired, the doctor's daughter apparently found him interesting. Still in command of his own vessel at the age of 19 and master, as well, of the wind, he engaged in the Straits of Otranto three Turkish corsairs, sinking one and taking a second, thereafter continuing up the Adriatic to Venice. His fame preceding his arrival, he was there offered command of a Venetian warship, refused, and there found once again the doctor's daughter, accepted. Exiting the Adriatic some months later in the company of two other privateers he and they bested four Turkish vessels, taking one and sinking another, a Tourville lieutenant placed in command of the captured Turk. Sailing during 1665 with Hocquincourt and a third privateer in the Aegean they wreaked havoc in the vicinity of Chios and Smyrna prior to an encounter with 34 Turkish war galleys off Candia (Crete) in November. The three frigates had the best of the war galleys who were first to leave the field. Twelve months later there was a similar confrontation with 27 Turkish war galleys, the result also similar. There is much more to the Tourville saga which reached an apex when Louis XIV named him Marshall of France at the age of 51. But that was only after he had ended the Sifnos affair and had competed with the Minister of Marine for the affection of a French beauty, and only after he had bested Britain's Royal Navy at the 1690 Battle of Beachy Head, outwitted a superior British-Dutch force at the 1692 Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue, and had again whipped the Royal Navy at the 1693 Battle of Cape St. Vincent. In spite of early ambition, Anne-Hilarion de Tourville, depicted in sculpture above, was never a Knight of Malta. He was, however, a master of sailing warfare. He was also a charming rogue. Why not trace his routes from Sifnos to Chios to Crete or follow his tracks up the Adriatic along the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia to Venice. While you holiday. That's right, while you have a family or friends holiday aboard a crewed yacht cruising just as did Tourville in his square-rigged warships. Enjoying a swimming pleasure he must have enjoyed. Cruising south from Chios along the coast of ancient Ionia, a part of western Turkey, to Kusadasi and Ephesus, thence to Samos in the Greek Sporades and to Kos and Karpathos in the Greek Dodecanese. Try a Beneteau 57. She can take you to all of the stops along Tourville's routes. From Sifnos further into the central Aegean, to Paros, Naxos, and Santorini. Do all of this and more aboard a charter yacht with an experienced crew able to show you the routes of Anne-Hilarion de Costentin de Tourville, Marshall of France and rogue for all seasons, a superb crewed Beneteau 57 available for cruising the Turkish coast and Aegean Greece. Contact Blue Cruise Yacht Charters today at blcryacht@aol.com