La dernière galère - article ; n°1 ; vol.14, pg 229-235

Lucien Basch

Description

Archaeonautica - Année 1998 - Volume 14 - Numéro 1 - Pages 229-235
The Naval Museum of Istanbul possesses in its collection a 40 m long oared ship, referred to as the « Sultan's calque» and carrying the name Kadirga. In fact it is not a calque at all, whatever the meaning of this term, but it is a real galley, the only existing one, and Kadirga is not a name, but a Turkish word designating a particular type of galley. It is often dated back to Mehmet IH's reign (1595-1603), but oral tradition dates it further back to Mehmet II Fatih, the conqueror of Constantinople in 1453. certain elements support this tradition, even if the galley has obviously been subjected to several modifications. One hypothesis is that the Kadirga was one of the four «fustes» belonging to the last Byzantine Emperor and which later became his conqueror's trophy.
The aim of this paper is not to exhaust this subject by any means, but on the contrary, to show that such a task can only be achieved by a pluridisciplinary team consisting of, at least, a naval architect (no reliable plan ofthe Kadirga exists: one shows a curved keel, another a straight keel) and a specialist in the following disciplines: comparative galley architecture, Ottoman archives, the history ο f Byzantine and Ottoman art and ergonomy. Considerable sums of money are paradoxically spent each year on certain expensive excavations with chance results or on questionable « reconstructions », whereas the Kadirga, even if only dating back to thè 18th century, would stili remain the oldest ship in the world whose conservation is not due to excavation (and, moreover, is thè last survivor of a line ofships going back at least three thousand years), and which has never been the subject of a thorough study. Should it be scuttled to the bottom ofthe Bosphorus in order to arouse, as a shipwreck, the slightest interest?
7 pages

Informations

• Publié par: ARCHAEONAUTICA
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1998
• Nombre de lectures: 643
• Langue: Français
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Lucien Basch

La dernière galère

In: Archaeonautica, 14, 1998. Construction navale maritime et fluviale. Approches archéologique, historique et

ethnologique. pp. 229-235.

Abstract

The Naval Museum of Istanbul possesses in its collection a 40 m long oared ship, referred to as the « Sultan's calque» and

carrying the name Kadirga. In fact it is not a calque at all, whatever the meaning of this term, but it is a real galley, the only

existing one, and Kadirga is not a name, but a Turkish word designating a particular type of galley. It is often dated back to

Mehmet IH's reign (1595-1603), but oral tradition dates it further back to Mehmet II Fatih, the conqueror of Constantinople in

1453. certain elements support this tradition, even if the galley has obviously been subjected to several modifications. One

hypothesis is that the Kadirga was one of the four «fustes» belonging to the last Byzantine Emperor and which later became his

conqueror's trophy.

The aim of this paper is not to exhaust this subject by any means, but on the contrary, to show that such a task can only be

achieved by a pluridisciplinary team consisting of, at least, a naval architect (no reliable plan ofthe Kadirga exists: one shows a

curved keel, another a straight keel) and a specialist in the following disciplines: comparative galley architecture, Ottoman

archives, the history ο f Byzantine and Ottoman art and ergonomy. Considerable sums of money are paradoxically spent each

year on certain expensive excavations with chance results or on questionable « reconstructions », whereas the Kadirga, even if

only dating back to thè 18th century, would stili remain the oldest ship in the world whose conservation is not due to excavation

(and, moreover, is thè last survivor of a line ofships going back at least three thousand years), and which has never been the

subject of a thorough study. Should it be scuttled to the bottom ofthe Bosphorus in order to arouse, as a shipwreck, the slightest

interest?

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doi : 10.3406/nauti.1998.1209

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/nauti_0154-1854_1998_act_14_1_1209

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