This page last updated on 12/27/2009

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 in Turkey may be obtained by clicking on the maroon links immediately above. Thank You. Are you searching for a yacht charter-sailing Turkey? Or for a yacht-charter sailing Turkey? Have you considered a schooner charter-sailing Turkey on holiday cruises? A schooner in this instance being a large wooden yacht. A schooner charter sailing the coast of Turkey from one pine-fringed blue-water cove to the next pine-fringed blue-water cove. Perhaps beginning with a cruise along the coast of Turkey's ancient Lycia. Or along the coast of neighboring Caria. Tracing the wakes of Alexander and Cleopatra. Or the wakes of others creating history here. Throughout history the eastern Mediterranean Sea bordering Anatolia has been the haunt of corsairs. A bare five hundred years ago, as ever, there were corsairs or privateers sailing from Macry, modern Fethiye, flying the colors of Islam, and Christian corsairs sailing from Rhodes Town a bare 44 nautical miles distant. These corsairs and others operated both independently of and together with their respective Ottoman and Hospitaller navies. When operating independently they were each wont to raid the other's coastal towns and to intercept merchant shipping of the other faith. In July of 1503 Knights of Rhodes Grand Master Pierre d'Aubusson died, and because his successor Emery d'Amboise had yet to arrive from France, the Hospitaller council feared an Ottoman invasion. The council consequently sent letters to Sultan Beyazid and to his son Korkut, governor of the nearby province of Antalya. These letters affirming Hospitaller wishes for peaceful relations were dispatched on the great carrack (forerunner of the galleass, itself succeeded by the galleon as sail replaced oars) of Rhodes to Physcus, modern Marmaris, 25 nautical miles distant, and in a few days Korkut sent the ship back to Rhodes laden with provisions. The Hospitaller council relaxed. Within weeks, however, a Macry corsair flotilla of 16 fustas (small galliots which themselves were small galleys) put raiding parties ashore on Rhodes which torched the east coast villages of Arkhangelos, Pharaklos, and Kattavia, among others, and which took hundreds of captives destined for slave markets. A Knights flotilla consisting of three galleys, two fustas, a bark, and a privateer galleon belonging to Hospitaller Nicolo Turinco left Rhodes Town in pursuit. Commanded by Diogo d'Allmeida, Prior of Portugal, the Knights flotilla overtook the Turkish flotilla near Cape Sugla (modern Kurtoglu Burnu) in the SW corner of the Gulf of Macry. During the engagement which followed two Turkish fustas went to the bottom and eight others broke up against an inhospitable shore. Thirty captive Rhodians were rescued. In one of the first recorded instances of friendly fire, however, a Knights incendiary ball struck a Knights galley killing fourteen. In an action as inconclusive as recent combat in this part of the world, the remainder of the Turkish flotilla retired to shelter in the shallow waters behind Macri Vecchia and the Knights flotilla returned to Rhodes. There is more to Turkish corsair and Knights history, of course, too much more to recount here. But charter Kayhan 11. Kayhan 11 can take you to all of the stops along the coastal route of those Turkish corsairs. A coastal route of enchanting locales. Or would you prefer to charter a schooner to cruise southeast from Fethiye along the coast of Turkey? Sailing the numerous tracks of still other corsairs who combed these waters throughout much of history? Perhaps sailing the tracks of a large flotilla assembled in Macry by the Ottoman sultan Selim I. As early as 1513 the sultan, soon to be known as Selim The Grim, assembled at Fethiye a flotilla comprising 20 galleys and 30 fustas, most of them corsair vessels when not in Ottoman service. Preparing for war against the Safavid dynasty in Persia the sultan had also assembled a military contingent numbering 3,000 at Macry. The flotilla and the military contingent sailed southeast from Macry past Kalkan and through Kekova Roads to Finike before jumping off to Syria in 1515 and to Mamluk Egypt in 1516. It was in these places that Selim put an end to both the Safavids and the Mamluks. You might charter Kayhan 11 to sail these corsair tracks as far as Kekova Roads. There you might inspect ancient Simena, ancient Teimiussa, and ancient Andriake. You might inspect the Byzantine castle at Simena built atop an ancient Lycian acropolis, or you might inspect tombs at Teimiussa such as those depicted above, or you might inspect the port at Andriake where St. Paul transshipped in AD 60 a prisoner en route to Rome. You see, it is almost impossible to escape history at the crossroads of history. Starting in Fethiye. Do all of this and more aboard a charter schooner with an experienced crew able to show you the routes of local corsairs and of Selim The Grim, among others. Kayhan 11, a superb crewed charter schooner sailing Turkey. Contact Charter Yachts Turkey today at charteryachts@gocekturkey.com