Tuesday, January 24, 2012

TURKEY – Cover from Bursa, Turkey to Braga, Portugal

Cover with stamps from the 2009 ‘The Sultan’s Boats’ stamps issue posted on December, 17 2011.
(A very special thanks to my friend Baris Yakar)


The set of stamps shows us the Sultan’s boat an imperial caique used by the Sultan and his family for local travel.
The name used is SALTANAT KAYIGI for this craft.
Each Sultan had one built for his own use, and the last was used till World War I.
The craft is heavily ornamented along the sides and at the stern and bow.
Bow elongated and horizontal or upturned and recurved.

Commonly she carried a figurehead of a golden bird, this craft was known as a bird caique.
An ornate pavilion at the stern provided shelter for the Sultan his family and guests.
She was double banked and rowed by 26 men, steered by a rudder with a tiller.
The early boats were also equipped with double sails.
Length between 30 and 32 meter, beam and depth between 2.5 and 3 meter.

The Sultan’s boats were used by the Sultan on the Bosporus and Golden Horn.
But many of that type were used as ferries across the Bosporus and Golden Horn by local boatmen, only she were smaller and less decorated as the boat from the Sultan.
The Sultan’s boats were always the largest craft of that time.

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