
A ''gulet'' () is a traditional design of a two-masted or three-masted wooden sailing vessel (the most common design has two masts) in Turkey, particularly built in the coastal towns of
Bodrum
Bodrum () is a town and district of Muğla Province, Turkey. About 200 thousand people live in the district, which covers 650 km2 and includes the town. It is a port town at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Known in ancient times as Hal ...
and
Marmaris
Marmaris () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Muğla Province, Turkey. Its area is 906 km2, and its population is 97,818 (2022). It is a port city and tourist resort on the Aegean Sea, Mediterranean coast, along the shorel ...
, and may have originated in ancient
Ionia
Ionia ( ) was an ancient region encompassing the central part of the western coast of Anatolia. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionians who ...
with similar vessels found around the eastern
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
. Today, this type of vessel, varying in size from 14 to 35 metres, is popular for tourist charters. For considerations of crew economy, diesel power is now almost universally used, and many are not properly rigged for sailing.
History
There are differing opinions about the history and etymology of ''gullet'' which took the Turkish name "gulet" from the Italian word ''goletta''. There is still controversy on whether it originated from the
schooner
A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...
, which has long been used as a sweeping net, trawl net or sponging vessel in Turkey in the
Aegean and
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
shores, and as a freight vessel in the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
; or it originates from the fishing vessel ''guletta'' (''gouëlette'' or ''goélette'' in French), that has come up with the evolution of the word ''
galea'' or ''
galeotta'' for the old Italian naval vessels or "goleta" in Spanish. Others have argued that it resembles the ''American gullet'' used in line fishing in the
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
banks, or the
clipper
A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century.
Clippers were generally narrow for their len ...
s carrying goods from India or Australia to England in the periods of colonization.
The evolution of gulet from practical maritime vessels to luxurious yachts traces back to the mid-20th century. The turning point arrived when the exiled Turkish writer,
Cevat Sakir Kabaagacli, popularly known as the Fisherman of Halicarnassus, began using gulets for yachting holidays. His explorations coined the term "blue cruise," a name that quickly resonated with the local and international tourism industry.
By the dawn of the 1970s, gulets had become increasingly popular as yachts. Their designs were gradually refined to create more space for relaxation and leisure, in response to the growing demand for gulet cruises. This surge in popularity resulted in a rapid increase in the number of shipyards and workshops building gulets in the region. By the 1980s, gulet cruises, or "blue cruises," became significantly more affordable, paving the way for today's thriving gulet tourism industry.
The origin of the Bodrum-type schooner vessels falls to a nearby date, to the beginning of the 1970s. These types of vessels have come up as a result of the need to carry tourists, who have come in numbers to the Aegean region and especially to Bodrum and Marmaris at the end of the 1960s, to nearby bays. The first samples of the vessels called the ''Bodrum gulet'' are seen in those years with the addition to meet that demand of chambers and seating on the back of the deck to the chamberless ''gulet'' used in fishing or sponging till those years.
Etymology
The
Turkish word ''gulet'' is a
loanword
A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
from
Venetian ''gołéta'' (
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
''
goletta
La Goulette (, ), in Arabic Halq al-Wadi ( '), is a municipality and the port of Tunis, Tunisia.
La Goulette is located at around on a sandbar between Lake Tūnis and the Gulf of Tunis. The port, located 12km east of Tunis, is the point of co ...
''), itself a loanword from
French ''gouëlette'' (present-day spelling ''
goélette''), meaning "
schooner
A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...
". The French word is probably related to ''
goéland'', meaning (and etymologically related to the word) "
gull
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...
", ultimately of
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
origin.
Boat construction in Bodrum
The boat construction in Bodrum is not a process that started solely with the construction of Gulet. A long construction process has been there starting from antiquity times to the Ottoman times (although with certain interruptions) due to the geographic and historical position of the place. The insufficiency of war hardware such as cannons and shells for the war vessels built in Istanbul within the structure of the main docks opened the search for new production facilities in the second half of the 18th century. New shipyards were constructed in various regions at the turn of the 19th century. In the shipyard in Bodrum, along with those in settlements like Sinop, Gemlik, Rodos, Fatsa and Amasra, galleon construction was started in the beginning of the 19th century.
Galleon construction in Bodrum was interrupted in the middle of 19th century, however boat construction continued for use in fishing, sponging, and especially commerce with the islands (till the years 1935–1936). Construction of Bodrum-type Gulet started to meet the demand in parallel to the development of tourism in the beginning of the 1970s. This development caused the growth of the boat construction sector, particularly for the successful schooner examples made by the local boat masters, which increased the interest in such types of boats.
Bodrum type schooner
As the schooner construction methods in Bodrum are observed, it is seen that the basic construction approach has not generally been subject to great change. Other than the use of electrical equipment, laminated materials, high power engines and similar high technology products, the schooner construction starts with the construction of the iron spine and continues with the use of traditional weights. The only dimension that changed in the weight usage is the use of heavy metals in the vessels constructed with high quality using high technology instead of stone used as ballast in the traditional method. Although the essence of the weight changes, the spine still filled in with the traditional method form the basis of both the balance of the vessel and the construction of the ribs, frame and curves.
In schooner construction, the frames are placed from the head to the end, the board form is created with the measure of the eye, the side coatings are handmade and the shell is finished. The finishing of the shell is one of the most important stages where the tradition is kept for both the traditional/local boat masters who do the construction without a plan and almost all of whom have learned from the famous master Ziya Guvendiren of Bodrum as well as the constructors who produce according to international standards like
RINA or
Lloyd's Register
Lloyd's Register Group Limited, trading as Lloyd's Register (LR), is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research ...
. With the finishing of the shell, the construction of the deck and the chambers is completed after the celebrations that symbolize the “seamanship” of the wood.
The schooner, the construction of which takes 9 to 12 months according to the method employed, is launched to the sea over skids oiled with melted suet. The schooners constructed in shipyards away from the sea, sledged through narrow straits with the help of skids and brought to the shore make up scenes that in turn make Bodrum matchless.
The Bodrum schooner that is pulled on land for maintenance each year continue sailing in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas with its aesthetic silhouette gained with its large back deck, spacious chamber design and low board.
The preliminary doubts on the seaworthiness of the Bodrum schooner and the claims that it is a vessel type “bulky, unable to speed, not suitable for setting sails” and “traveling only with the engine power” have disappeared with the boats that are built in the last 20 years and have proven themselves in the Bodrum Cup Wooden Yachts Races. The investment approach to boat construction has changed in time, construction of other types of boats other than Gulet have started and this sector specialized from boat design, materials, construction techniques and construction teams have turned into one of the most important economic sectors in Bodrum.
Canadian Motorized Goélettes
The basic hull form has been used in the
Province of Quebec
Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
for powered wooden goélettes that have been employed in the coastal freight trade. In his 1974 book ''The Lower St. Lawrence'', the historian
Ivan S. Brookes included illustrations of motorized wooden goélettes that he photographed on the
St. Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...
. These included the ''Riv. Verte'' at
Baie Comeau in 1955; ''Eric G'' at La Malbaie Wharf,
Murray Bay; the ''Orleans'' underway in the
Saguenay River
__NOTOC__
The Saguenay River (, ) is a major river of Quebec, Canada.
It drains Lac Saint-Jean in the Laurentian Highlands, leaving at Alma and running east; the city of Saguenay is located on the river. It drains into the Saint Lawrence River. ...
; the ''Rose Helene'' loading pulpwood at
Rivière du Loup, and old goélettes that had been retired from service and abandoned at St. Louis,
Ile aux Coudres. Canadian goélettes generally have had the wheelhouse and engine far aft, although the ''Orleans'', evidently a newer vessel, had them located amidships.
A somewhat similar type of small freighter, also wooden but steam powered, and with wheelhouse and engine placed far aft, was built for service on the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
during the lumber era. Cargoes included lumber, shingles, lath, salt, stone, coal and pig iron. Lake sailors called them "rabbits". Typical examples included the ''D.F. Rose'' of 1868, the ''Charles. Rietz'' of 1872, the ''City of Mt. Clemens'' of 1884 and the ''Minnie E. Kelton'' of 1894. Apparently the last survivor of the type was the steamer ''M. Sicken'', built in 1884 at
Marine City, Michigan
Marine City is a city in St. Clair County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the west bank of the St. Clair River, it is one of the cities in the River District north of Detroit and south of Lake Huron. In the late 19th century, it was a m ...
and sold for scrapping in 1937.
The steel fishing trawler ''Goelette'' (IMO 7359747) was built in 1974 by
Ateliers et Chantiers du Havre at
Le Havre, France for service in the
South Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...
. Registered in
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...
, as of 2022 this 690-ton, 164-foot vessel is owned by Gendor Fishing of
Walvis Bay, Namibia with
Lüderitz
Lüderitz is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island. Lüderitz had a population of 16,125 people in 2023.
Th ...
as its home port.
[File ''Goelette IMO 7359747'' at balticshipping.com]
See also
*
The Blue Voyage
*
The Turquoise Coast
* Marinas in Turkey
*
Tourism in Turkey
References
Sources
* Osman Kademoglu "Denizlerin Guzelleri"; Duran Kitap,
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
2000
* Avram Galanti and Arı İnan "Bodrum Tarihi"; BOSAV Yay. Ankara 1996: pp78-79
External links
{{commons category-inline
Sailboat types
Maritime industries in Turkey