This 106-foot schooner-rigged mahogany-planked and teak-decked
schooner
Turn to a Sister Yacht Cruising the Greek and Turkish Aegean Turn to a Second Sister Yacht Cruising the Greek and Turkish Aegean Turn to a Third Sister Yacht Cruising the Greek and Turkish Aegean Turn to Another Five-Cabin Yacht Cruising the Greek and Turkish Aegean This page last updated on 03/16/2011 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 about cruising the Greek and Turkish Aegean may be obtained by
clicking on the blue links immediately above. Thank You. You must be searching for a holiday
cruising the Greek and Turkish Aegean. One or the other. Perhaps both. Well, you have found that for
which you search, a fast and comfortable schooner-rigged yacht cruising the Greek and Turkish Aegean
and offering a holiday not to be forgotten, a holiday cruising from one pine-clad cove on the Turkish
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Aegean to the next pine-clad cove on the Turkish
Aegean. But a mahogany planked and teak decked yacht also cruising among Greek Aegean islands, cruising
from pastel-hued waterside town in the eastern Aegean to Greek blue and white waterside town in the
central Aegean, from Dodecanese island to Cyclades island. You have found a crewed schooner cruising
from her homeport in Bodrum near the birthplace of Turgut Reis; that's him depicted at the right. One
of Turkey's more capable corsair captains and Ottoman admirals, you may wish to put into the nearby
town called Turgut Reis in his honor. Known in the west as Dragut, Turgut was born around 1485 to a
Greek mother under yet a third name lost to history. Soon after his 12th year he was inducted into the
Ottoman standing army, some reports have it at his widowed or abandoned mother's request. This may sound
strange, but life on the Turkish coast in the late-15th century was difficult, doubly so for an Orthodox
catholic single mother on a Latin catholic peninsula, and all Ottoman conscripts were of a similar age.
All Ottoman conscripts received a first-class education, as well, and Turgut's likely including a stint
at Constantinople's artillery school at Tophane in Galata, likely because by his late-teens he had
developed a proficiency in gunnery which served him well at sea when in 1504 or 1505 he became a protege
of Sinan of Smyrna and of Acsac Reis. Both were master mariners, and both were then in the employ of
Ottoman Prince Korkut, governor of Antalya Province, as well as in service to Mamluk Sultan Qansuh
ruling both Syria and Egypt. It was during these years that Turgut cruised the Greek and Turkish Aegean
to the detriment of Latins settled on nearby Aegean islands as well as in Bodrum itself, then called
Petronium by the Hospitaller knights resident there since 1407. At sea Turgut proved to also have an
aptitude for navigation. An able gunner and an able navigator, his share of Sinan prize money enabled
him over the years to acquire an interest in a merchant brig, and brig profit eventually led to his own
18-banked galliot. First one, then several. On many of his excursions Turgut visited his mother on the
Bodrum peninsula and on one of them enlisted his
younger brother. By about 1512 all four, Sinan, Acsac, Turgut, and brother were lured to the western
Mediterranean by the Barbarossa brothers. But that's another story, too long to be recounted here.
Turgut/Dragut was still sailing in his 80th year when felled at Malta in 1565 by a cannon ball splinter.
While too long to be recounted here, the saga of Turgut Reis may be recited by many a good Turk,
including the crew of Xenos IV. Come join us aboard Xenos IV for a sail through ancient and medieval
history, for a sail in Dragut's wake along the coast of his birthplace and among Greek Aegean islands.
While you holiday. While you holiday aboard a crewed yacht exploring the Turkish Aegean's many
pine-encircled coves. While you sail leisurely from one intriguing Greek Aegean island to another.
Charter a schooner-rigged sailing yacht to cruise in Dragut's wake. Have fun at the crossroads of
history. Starting in Bodrum, depicted above during the late-medieval period. Are you searching for
Bodrum in Turkey? Well, it's about twelve nautical miles northeast of Kos Town on the Greek island of
Kos. Both Bodrum and Kos have international airports, and at either place we can put you aboard a crewed
schooner for the holiday of a lifetime. We can put you aboard a charter yacht with an experienced crew
able to show you the sea Dragut fished as a boy, and able to show you the sea he hunted as a corsair and
Ottoman admiral. Xenos IV, a fine crewed yacht available to cruise the Greek and Turkish Aegean. Contact
Blue Cruise Yacht Charters today at