Kadirga, late 16th-early 17th century
Country: Turkey
Place: Naval Museum, Istanbul (not a wreck; preserved afloat and later ashore)
Coordinates (approximate): 41.0417, 29.0056
Type: Galley (kadırga) used by the Ottoman sultans for ceremonies and travel on the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara
Identified: Kadırga (“galley” in Turkish)
Dated: Probably built between the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century; radiocarbon dates of 1528-1647 (68%) and 1521-1655 (95%); rebuilt in 1885
Beam: Unknown.
Keel Length: Unknown.
Length Overall: Unknown.
Number of Masts: Not reported.
History of the wreck
The Naval Museum of Istanbul holds a small galley once used by the Ottoman sultans for ceremonies and travel on the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara. Known simply as Kadırga, it may be one of the oldest surviving vessels not recovered by archaeology (Basch 1974: 133). Its builder and date are unknown. An inscription in the stern kiosk mentions a Sultan Mehmed, first thought to be Mehmed IV (1648-1687) (Arcak [year to be confirmed]: 15); others have argued that Mehmed II (1444-1446 and 1451-1481) had it built or obtained it from the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI (1449-1453) (Basch 1979: 49). The museum records are incomplete but mention repairs below the waterline.
The two main plans do not agree. The first proper plans were drawn by the French naval architect Le Bas and published by Admiral François-Edmond Pâris in 1861 (Dönmez Yakarçelik 2018: 177); new lines were drawn in 1957 by Ata Nutku, Director of the Shipbuilding Institute of Istanbul Technical University (Arcak [year to be confirmed]: 19). Le Bas shows a rockered keel continuing upward into the stern, while Nutku shows the present flat keel with a hard angle at the curved sternpost. Recent recording found an inner sternpost following the curve of the true sternpost, with its lower half cut off, and a rudder shortened to fit the present keel (Arcak 2003: 242-243). Le Bas’ plans probably show the ship before a restoration in the second half of the nineteenth century (Pulak 2006: 22). Rockered keels were standard on galleys until the early seventeenth century, which supports an earlier building date than the mid-seventeenth century (Arcak 2003: 248).
Dendrochronology of a floor timber and the keel shows timber felled in the first half of the nineteenth century, used in the rebuilding ordered in 1885 by Sultan Abdülhamid II (1876-1909) (Liphschitz 2014a: 43). Five other samples, from two floor timbers, a futtock, an upper plank and the kiosk, gave radiocarbon dates of 1528-1647 (68% probability) or 1521-1655 (95%). Analysis of over 1,600 samples showed that all the timber is of native Turkish species, ruling out a Venetian gift, and that the kiosk was added after the hull was built (Liphschitz 2014a: 44-47). The ship was probably built between the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century; if the inscription is not later, it may refer to Mehmed III (1595-1603). Another radiocarbon date (1493-1807) and a silver stamp in the kiosk point to Suleiman I (1520-1566) as the first owner (Dönmez Yakarçelik 2018: 174).
Description of the site
Not a shipwreck: the galley is preserved in the Naval Museum of Istanbul. It is more like a historic building, refurbished several times without documentation, so that old and new elements are mixed. Dendrochronology shows that not all the frames and planks were replaced. The description below gives the present hull, with its original and replacement parts.
Figure 1. Stern of the Kadırga in Le Bas’ 1861 drawing (left) and in Ata Nutku’s drawing of the 1950s (right) (after Arcak 2003: 242-243).
Cargo
Not applicable.
Ballast
Not reported.
Anchors
Not reported.
Guns
Not reported.
Iron concretions
Not applicable.
Hull Remains
Kadırga is single-decked. A heavy shelf clamp and an adjacent wale support the outrigger; below the wale a recessed strake, thicker than the rest of the planking, adds longitudinal strength. Fifty-four beams span the hull, covered with longitudinal deck planks. Stanchions on the keelson support the corsia (central gangway) under the beams. The present section has a slight deadrise and a round bilge, matching Le Bas’ 1861 drawing (Arcak 2003: 246).
Keel, keelson and mast step
The present keel is a nineteenth-century replacement of an earlier rockered keel with a rabbet. It is rectangular, flat-scarfed to the stem and half-lapped at the stern, and has no rabbet. Both posts are curved and made of two pieces scarfed horizontally. An apron covers the first bow frames, bolted to the stem, and its after end is flat-scarfed to the replacement keelson (Arcak 2003: 244).
The keelson is also a nineteenth-century replacement: it is square and does not fit over the floor timbers. Le Bas’ drawing shows that the original keelson was rebated over them (Arcak 2003: 244-245).
Frames
Floor timbers are hook-scarfed to overlapping futtocks, fastened with three iron nails double-clenched outboard. The floor timbers are rectangular and the futtocks generally square. The room-and-space is about three or four times the width of a frame. The original hull had two master frames amidships (Arcak 2003: 244-245).
Planking
The planking is thin (3.5 cm), as suits the small size and light weight of the vessel. As on Calvi 1, a pair of massane (stern wales) is fastened outside the junction of the lower Y-frames and their turn outward to support the after deck, running into the planking toward midships (Arcak 2003: 245-246).
Ceiling, thick stuff, and wales
There is no ceiling in the hold. Three stringers are present: one between the keelson and the turn of the bilge, one partly over the overlap between floor timbers and futtocks, and one along the middle of the first futtocks. The first two are planks; the third is heavier, recessed over the futtocks, with chamfered upper edges, and seems to be the only original one (Arcak 2003: 245, fig. 36.7).
Caulking
Not reported.
Size and scantlings
Planking 3.5 cm thick; room-and-space three to four times the width of a frame; 54 deck beams.
Wood
All the timber sampled (over 1,600 samples) is of native Turkish species (Liphschitz 2014a: 44-47).
Bibliography
Arcak, [initial not given]. [Year to be confirmed.] [Full reference to be completed.]
Arcak, [initial not given]. 2003. “Kadırga.” [Full reference to be completed.]
Basch, L. 1974. [Full reference to be completed.]
Basch, L. 1979. [Full reference to be completed.]
Dönmez Yakarçelik, [initial not given]. 2018. [Full reference to be completed.]
Liphschitz, N. 2014a. [Full reference to be completed.]
Pulak, C. 2006. [Full reference to be completed.]
Bendig, C. 2021. [Full reference to be completed.]