13 Haziran 2018 Çarşamba

TNT History Mini-Series: Accidental Turks in Brazil & Beyond (1866)/Part VI

//Ed. Note: This marks the final episode of Engineer Faik's
account of his voyage aboard the Bursa corvette from 
Istanbul to Basra over the course of 13 months.

TNT will continue the story with his Bursa crewmate 
İmam Abdurrahman's account of the Istanbul-Brazil 
portion of the voyage next week.//


Muscat















The Muscat Imamate is one of the small governments on the southern Arabian 
Peninsula.  Its total population is only about 240,000 people. The government center 
is Muscat, on the sea coast, situated at 23 degrees 37 minutes north latitude and 58 
degrees 41 minutes east longitude.  There are ramshackle homes, shops and a 
magistrate office at the mouth of the port and above the city there are four disorderly, 
decrepit fortresses.

The current Imam killed his father and seized power by fighting against his uncle, who 
was the rightful heir to the imamate.  Consequently, no foreign state has officially 
recognized the son as the İmam. Recently, one night the İmam’s uncle seized a fortress 
overlooking the city with 50 men, killed five guards and rained cannonballs down on 
the city for five days.  However, because of a lack of supplies and being surrounded by 
the Imam, the uncle abandoned the fortress and tried to flee.  He was captured and put 
into prison for a few days.  Out of respect for his uncle, the Imam freed him but on the 
condition that he leave the country.  The uncle was given some money, put on a ship 
and sent into exile somewhere in the Red Sea region.

According to what is said here, an English frigate came from Bombay to prevent the
civil war from continuing.  The frigate’s captain told the Imam that if he pressed on 
with the war the frigate would bombard Muscat. There are close commercial relations 
with Bombay and the Red Sea ports because of the dates, cotton and silk produced in 
the Muscat area.  In particular, Muscat’s ‘helva’ (sweet prepared in many varieties 
with sesame oil, various cereals, and syrup or honey.) is quite famous.

Although the Muscat government has 20 warships , from corvettes to cutters, there 
are no regular sailors.  Ships are in port have just two or three watchstanders.  When 
it comes time to sail a broker puts out a call and day-wage seamen are hired on.
There is no one in the fortresses.  When a cannon is to be fired, again a town-crier 
puts out a call for shopkeepers and workers to go to the fortress and assume this duty.

 Events

Upon our arrival in Muscat we received a 21-gun salute as a welcoming gesture.  
Then our Captain went ashore to meet with the İmam of Muscat.  That same day, 
after taking on the requisite coal and other materials, we left the port of Muscat 
in the evening.  Since the winds were calm, we fired up the machines. The next 
evening we entered the Strait of Hormuz and sailed near the Iranian shore for two 
days. On the 12th of November, we reached Iran’s port of Buşehr.

                                                                        
Buşehr City



Buşehr, on Iran’s Persian Gulf coast, is situated at 29 degrees north latitude and 
50 degrees 1 minute east longitude. The buildings in Buşehr are quite dilapidated 
and the streets are narrow.  About 10,000 people live here.  Since it is Iran’s 
port city it serves as an important commercial center.  Commercial ships coming 
from Bombay and from Cidde toward Basra conduct trade here.

Upon entering the port, we fired a 21-gun salute but, in response, they could only 
fire nine cannon shots from the fortress.  Our Captain immediately wrote an official 
letter insisting that the governor explain this lapse.  The governor sent a 
representative, who explained that “Please accept our apology. We only had
that much gunpowder at the fortress so we couldn’t fire 21 shots.” Since nothing 
else of note happened at Buşehr, what I’ve written will have to suffice.

 Events

We departed Buşehr after four hours and next reached the island of Ferata, which 
is under Iranian administration.  We fired a cannon shot to indicate that we 
wanted a guide and one came in a rowboat from the shore.  Right away, we 
weighed anchor, fired up the machines and pressed on. We sailed all night and 
at seven o’clock the following morning we saw a signal on a high point.  At 10 
o’clock we reached Fav and entered the Şattülarap waterway. 

An Ottoman corvette captain named Hoca Bey from the Basra fleet, who lived there, 
came aboard.  This took about 15 minutes, after which we were on our way again.  
We sailed until sunset and then anchored.  That night we washed and cleaned the
 ship, bringing all the cannon balls in the hold up on deck.  At 10 o’clock in the 
morning we sailed on.

It was Monday, the 14th of November, when we hung our regimental standard and 
our sailors, clinging to the rigging, prayed “Long Live Our Sultan!”  At around 
6 o’clock, by the grace of God, we came to Basra and anchored, expressing our 
gratitude with a 21-gun salute.  All of our sailors, each one of them a heroic work
 of art made by our Sultan, together with the populace and Bedouins gathered on 
the shore, shouted “Long Live the Sultan!” till the sound reached the sky.
May Dear God bless every hour of our Sultan’s reign with new abundance.  
May He not withhold his help and support and may He continually increase 
His internal brightness and love. Amen!

 Basra City














Basra city is situated two miles from the shore of the Şattülarap waterway, at 
30 degrees 29 minutes north latitude and 47 degrees 40 minutes east longitude.
There are date trees everywhere in Basra and its perimeter is surrounded by date trees,
 as well.  In past times there were 60,000 people living here but now there are only 
about 15,000.  This is the result of the walls surrounding the city having crumbled 
because of the river overflowing, which, in turn, caused the creation of a number of 
swamps near the city.  The swamps changed the weather and led to deaths among 
the area’s populace.





















Recently, though, the wise and esteemed Namık Paşa has come to Baghdad and,
through his extraordinary efforts and encouragements, the engineers he brought 
have repaired and, in some cases, rebuilt the aforementioned walls to regain the 
peoples’ trust  and ensure their well-being.  Additionally, certain positive measures 
have been taken inside the city for cleanliness and the owls and crows that used to 
occupy the place are gone. Thanks to Namık Paşa’s fine efforts, Basra has 
regained its prosperity.

And the fine efforts of the chief of Basra, the esteemed Süleyman Bey, cannot in 
any way be overstated.  In short, because Basra is located between India and Baghdad, 
it is an important trade center.   An English postal ship comes from Bombay once a 
week and many ships come from Cidde, Muskat and Buşehr for trade.  Basra’s main 
products are dates, rice and cotton.  In some years when grain is abundant in the 
area around Baghdad, it is brought to Basra for export.

There are two Ottoman ferries and two English ones that travel between Basra and 
Baghdad each week. Well-bred Arab horses from the Basra region, and especially 
from the Kuwait Sheikhdom, are brought to Basra for sale abroad and significant 
income is derived from this.

The Basra Shipyard

The Basra shipyard is situated on a site called Işar on the canal that extends 
from the Şattülarap waterway and passes in front of the city of Basra.  Its length
 is about 600 feet. There are no drydocks or other structures that should be found 
at a shipyard.  Besides an office for the shipyard secretary, there are only ramshackle 
warehouses where some materials are stored and a military fortification.

One of the first ships acquired for the Basra fleet, the Lûtfiye corvette, is in need of 
repair so excavation for a drydock has begun at the shipyard.  God willing, it will 
be completed soon.  In addition to this shipyard, there is a place called Münavî  
three miles further on, where there is a barracks for Ottoman sailors to stay and a 
small school for training advanced sailors.

Since the Basra shipyard’s improvement, drydock, shipbuilding yard, factory and 
other buildings are priorities for the aforementioned Governor, Namık Paşa, 
particular officials have been appointed, the requisite site surveys have been 
conducted and the necessary work has begun.  Another three ships have been 
ordered from Europe for the shipyard and, once completed, these ships will come 
to Basra.

In short,  thanks to the successes of the Sultan, the aforementioned Governor’s fine 
efforts will result in the shipyard being constructed in the near future, the number 
of Ottoman Navy ships here will increase and a more orderly state of affairs will 
prevail.  Consquently, this is all I have to say on this subject.

 Final Words

The aim of your humble servant in writing this book was to summarize the events 
that occurred since the Sultan’s ships left Istanbul until they reached their duty 
station at Basra, and to give some information about the status of the foreign ports 
and cities that God allowed us to visit.  For those who desire additional information 
about the referenced cities, they should refer to geography books.

I implore experienced individuals who notice the mistakes and slips of the tongue
made during the writing of this short book to greet these errors with forgiveness 
and tolerance.

End
               

                

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