A Charter Sailing Schooner Vacation Cruising Greece And Turkey Another Charter Sailing Ketch Vacation Cruising Greece And Turkey This page last updated on 04/17/2009 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 charter sailing ketch vacations cruising Greece and Turkey may be obtained by clicking on the gray links immediately above. Thank You. Could you be considering a sailing yacht vacation cruising Greece, a yacht charter holiday cruising from one far-removed Greek Aegean island to another far-removed Greek Aegean island? Or might you be thinking of a yacht charter cruising the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean coasts of Turkey, of a vacation cruising the crossroads of history? Might you even be thinking of an oak-framed, chestnut-hulled, motor-sailing yacht vacation cruising both Greece and Turkey? Whichever or all of the above, how about vacation cruising aboard a crewed charter yacht with accommodations for twelve, a yacht with room for you, your family, your friends, and for history and geography texts, too. A yacht, a two-masted ketch, familiar with the coast of Turkey and neighboring islands of Greece. A ketch such as Elifsu II cruising in the wake of Ottoman reis (sea captains) and Hospitaller Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, wake left in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries at the height of Ottoman sea power and during the transition from oared galleys to square-rigged sailing ships. This was wake left by the four Barbarossa brothers from the island of Lesbos in Greece, and wake left by the two Dragut brothers from the Bodrum peninsula of Turkey. This was wake left as well by Hospitallers when as the Knights of Rhodes and as the Knights of Malta their galley caravans patrolled the sea lanes of the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. Hospitallers like Jean Parisot de la Valetta, a sea commander at Rhodes and a Grand Master at Malta, and Gabriele Boisbaudran des Chambres, for two years captain-general of the Order's galley squadron. While these few are among the more famous, there were others who might have been as notable had there been scribes to record local events. One such was Abdul Rahman Kust Ali. Born about 1523 at Tripoli in modern Libya, Kust Ali Reis was the son of a renegade who had taken the name of Ibrahim and had himself become an Ottoman corsair raiding into the Aegean from that north African port. Ibrahim Reis earned a place in history in a Spring 1541 engagement with George Schilling von Cannstatt, captain-general of the Knights galley squadron at the time. Ibrahim came out on the short end of that engagement and on the long end of a Christian galley oar. Thus he followed in the wake of a line of prominent Ottomans sent to the oars, including Aruj Barbarossa in 1492 and Dragut Reis in 1540. But this was a two-way street, and in September 1541, only months after Ibrahim had been taken, Abdul Rahman Kust Ali, then about 18 years of age and a protege of the peg-legged Acsac Reis, known as Zoppo, and of Kara Mustafa Reis, later to be accorded high Ottoman honors, came out on the long end of an engagement with Jean Parisot de la Valette, and the latter went to a Muslim oar. Then began urgent negotiations for Ibrahim's release, and twelve months later he was exchanged for the future Grand Master. We imagine there was a rather close relationship between that father and son. The aforementioned Gabriele Boisbaudran was not so fortunate. He went to a Muslim oar for twelve years during which he must have wished for an agent such as Kust Ali. Kara Mustafa had earlier been taken captive with 130 others all of whom had either been hung or sent to the oars. Kara Mustafa was spared both rope and oars and held not only for ransom but more immediately for the intercession of his own liberated Christian oarsmen who testified to his benevolence. Aruj Barbarossa slaved for about two years on a Hospitaller galley before being swapped for a score of Latins held captive by Korkut Sultan, son of Beyazit II and governor of western Turkey. Dragut toiled at a Genovese oar for four years and was released only at the insistence of Kheir-ed-Din Barbarossa commanding an Ottoman fleet numbering 210 ships then threatening to reduce Genoa to rubble. As for Kust Ali Reis, he exited the pages of history when taken captive in 1554, taken captive and sent to the oars by none other than Jean Parisot de la Valette. So come aboard Elifsu II and soak up anecdotes such as these while also basking under an Aegean sun. That's right, come have a family-and-friends holiday cruise aboard a crewed sailing yacht exploring the crossroads of history. Have a holiday cruise aboard a charter yacht proceeding leisurely from one intriguing locale to another. Perhaps detouring into and among mid-Aegean Cyclades Islands as did all of these sea captains. Sounds interesting, doesn't it. Chartering a crewed yacht to cruise the crossroads of history under an Aegean sun reflecting on an azure sea. Starting in Bodrum. Or Gocek. Are you searching for Gocek in Turkey? Well, Gocek may be found in the NW corner of that big gulf thirty miles ENE of Rhodes Town. In Bodrum or Gocek or elsewhere we can put you aboard a crewed sailing yacht for a holiday to remember. We can put you aboard a holiday cruising yacht with an experienced crew able to show you the flat sailing waters of the Gulfs of Gocek and Fethiye, able to show you corsair and knight tracks along the coast of Turkey from Smyrna to Antalya, able to show you Greek islands from Patmos and Rhodes to Paros and Sifnos. Elifsu II, a superb charter sailing ketch vacation cruising Greece and Turkey. Contact Blue Cruise Yacht Charters today at blcryacht@aol.com |
